To ask about diagnosing adhd in reception age child?

[bobstersmum]

My ds is 4.5 and has always been difficult to be honest. He struggles to concentrate for any length of time, he flits from one thing to another at an alarming rate. He doesn't listen, even if I sit him down to talk face to face he starts talking about something entirely different in the middle of it. Over the last 9 months or so he has become more and more unpredictable, he scares me near roads I have to grip his hand so tightly he seems unaware of any sort of danger even though we tell him about road safety. He runs off, and ignores me or doesn't hear if I shout. He has had hearing and eyesight tested and both are fine. He spends a lot of time running around doing what he calls using his imagination which is basically him tearing around the room with a stick or something random making sound effect noises. His teacher has already told me she is struggling as he just does not listen or concentrate. He is so bright and it's such a shame because he could learn so fast if he could concentrate. He's struggling to interact with the other children as well because he says they don't want to do what he wants to do which is the tearing around. He runs everywhere and is always sweating because of this. Could this be adhd? There is probably more but I'm so tired and my mind has gone blank. Do I take him to the gp as a first port of call?

It could be but it’s likely they wouldn’t diagnose so young. No harm in getting the ball rolling though, maybe speak to his teacher - she will have an idea if what you’ve said is out of the ordinary compared to peers :)

Definitely discuss this with the teacher first. Your gp will write to the school for their observations anyway. It is so hard to say at this young age, but his teacher will know whether he's at the 'active' range of nt or whether there's something more at play.

My son was 5 in July and the behaviour you describe is exactly the way he was this time last year. I don't think it is out of the ordinary and the teachers for children that age should be trained on how to deal with children who find it hard to sit still, so don't let them pass it on as your problem.

Good news is that it does get better and although he has his moments he really understands consequences a lot more and his behaviour is much better, or actually what I mean is socially acceptable

I do know of children diagnosed as young as reception and it sounds like ADHD may be a possibility. Speak to the teacher or go to the doctor and a referral can be made.

Does he sleep well at night op? Poor sleep patterns is a big indicator.

DD was identical to this. It was horrendous getting school to acknowledge it so young but it was so so obvious and I managed to scrape up enough to get a private assessment done with a follow up age 7.
She started taking Equasym and it was like night and day.
It’s a real fight but if you can get the school to acknowledge it properly it improves immeasurably.
Good luck

I'd speak to the teacher a bit more to establish whether it's a constant issue or a now and then issue with the not listening. Your DS sounds a lot like my DS last year but whilst the teacher agreed he could be difficult to focus, she didn't agree that it was anything out of the ordinary. At the time I felt that she was wrong and was waiting for her to call us back in to say that he was unmanageable, but she didn't so I just kept monitoring things. When I did go to the drs about DS I was told he was in the realms of typical for his age, again I didn't believe them but just thought time would prove them wrong.

DS is now in Y1 and has settled down anyone belief, he's matured a lot and as an effect of that his impulsive behaviour has minimised a lot. I'd go so far as saying I wasn't right about ADHD but I know he has an issue with hyperactivity in some way. He has some compulsions, repetitive behaviours which have developed which are like tics, but then he's controlling them better than he was.

It's difficult to get help for children this young, my approach at the moment continues to be watch and wait and I'm happy to do that as long as DS is happy. I do wonder what the future holds though.

ADHD is not usually diagnosed before age 7 in this country. A lot of what you describe in your OP falls within the bounds of typical behaviour for a child of his age. Many children don't develop a sense of danger, for example, until age 5 at least. Even after that, they may struggle with road safety if they see something particularly interesting in the other side.

That said, there's little harm in getting a referral to CAMHS. Different areas of the country have different rules, but your GP or your Ds Sendco should be able to put in a referral.

In our case, nursery picked up on it before dd went to reception, so we had a request in through GP before she went into primary school. Teacher struggled, didn’t think so initially, but by the end of junior infants (our reception) agreed there might be something. Finally got the process of DX started at the start of senior infants (waiting lists) and by March dd had an ADHD and ASD (just moving to the 5th version of Dx model, was Asperger’s syndrome in 4th dx model). And supports started to get put in place straight away.

I’d definitely get the ball rolling now. My DS got his ASD diagnosis at the end of Reception. Once the school made a referral it was actually quite a fast process as I understand there is more funding available for under 5s.

I know it’s a different diagnosis but still, access whatever you can as early as you can.

My son is on the High Functioning part of much of the spectrum, so has no issues academically, self care and toileting and speech all fine but social skills are a real challenge for him and the support has been really helpful. Just the teachers being aware has made a real difference.

I’m afraid to tell you that getting an ADHD diagnosis can be a very long process. I noticed a difference in my baby at 6 months old and it’s taken till 13 to get the ADHD diagnosis. There is also a lot of misinformation about the condition. It is more than a hyper child and often children with the condition are very well behaved, masking the issue.

If the school have concerns, ask them for a letter and a referral to CHAMS to get the ball rolling.

It’s almost impossible to diagnosis ADHD at that age as the symptoms of ADHD are the same as the symptoms of being a 4-year-old. It’s not a problem unless they don’t grow out of it.
However, do take him to the GP and express your concerns about his safely and listening skills and get a referal. There might be support you can get without having any kind of diagnosis, and a pediatrician would be able to screen for a range of developmental disorders and check if he would benefit from extra help :). Good luck!

Thanks everyone for the replies there is some really good insight there. I am hoping he will just grow out of it. The teacher has said that although all the children in his class can be difficult, he is taking up a lot of her time as she is constantly reminding him to sit still, listen, stop running around, do what he's been told to do etc, she says he's not following any sort of structure. He is so so difficult at the moment, every little thing is a battle just getting him to conform, and I feel like we are constantly telling him off. I have tried to ignore the bad and praise the good, but that's hard when he's winding up his brother or pushing his little sister. He does show some signs of ocd as well. I will speak to teacher at parents evening next week as she knows I am struggling too, and ask her if she thinks I should take him to the gp. I wish I could help him to relax.

If you haven't already looked for it, there's plenty of advice online for how to help a child with adhd op, and no harm implementing any of it even if he doesn't end up with a diagnosis.