It was my son who was diagnosed 😊.
It was CAHMS who suggested he was assessed after his MH took a major downturn during lockdown.
We were incredibly lucky to be allocated a Camhs caseworker who noticed his inconsistent focus and felt his depression was a fairly typical ADHDers reaction to ongoing boredom (lockdown, couldn't see his friends, couldn't participate in hobbies, little exercise, few opportunities to grow independence, no school routine etc). He was also barely able to engage with online schooling which caused him huge anxiety and guilt. He genuinely wanted to learn but couldn't focus and began to get very upset about it.
Fast forward to the days before his adhd assessment and I spent several confusing hours completing the required forms.
Things that were included in the forms and assessment really really applied to me too, and I hadn't realised that they weren't typical of most people.
Before I list some of the ones that I can think of I should try to clarify that although many NT people may have similar traits or issues for time to time, the difference is that for a person with adhd these things tend to be fairly consistent and unrelenting and cause real difficulty in everyday life.
I should also say that not everyone with adhd is the same and some traits can actually become almost opposites- e.g. typically adhd causes issues with time blindness leading to lateness. However, some ADHDers may compensate for time blindness by being very meticulous about this and always being early or on time. Generally though this takes huge amounts of effort and is stressful- so unlike a NT person who only has to put a proportionate effort into being on time..
Inconsistent focus: difficulty staying on task; difficulty concentrating on anything not associated with a major personal interest; mind wandering at school, in meetings, during conversations; whilst reading; whilst watching TV.
Impatience: Tendency to struggle to wait turns, interrupt during conversations, finish other peoples sentences (or to want to and have to make major efforts not to) .
Difficultly staying on task, or completing tasks e.g. starts one task and begins another whilst forgetting about first task. Gets distracted and forgets to finish a task. Goes into a room and forgets why. Has many tabs open on browsers.
Poor short term memory.
Forgets meetings, key dates etc..
Poor executive function. Difficulty planning, prioritising.
Poor attention to detail.
Excessive procrastination- puts tasks off until the last moment.
Works better under pressure.
Time blindness. Poor sense of the passing of time. Poor time planning. Poor grasp of time and organisation.
Delayed sleep cycles- often not tired at night and may struggle to fall asleep.
Very busy brain, constant thoughts, brain rarely quiet.