Would any parents of children with ADHD mind sharing their experiences of very early signs please?

[Maybebabymaybenot]

Just that really.

I know very young children aren't usually diagnosed and I completely understand the reasons for that and it is hard to separate typical toddler behaviour from signs of ADHD but it has been pointed out to me on many occasions that my 2 year old is very hyperactive. This has been the same since babyhood, since day 1 arms and legs were in constant motion and lots of noise, not necessarily crying but just making noises all of the time almost without a break.

Now from 6am to at least 8pm we have constant running around, combining, shouting etc and literally no sitting still under any circumstances.

I also read that being overly forward with strangers can be a sign and we have exam that, she will shout at strangers to get their attention which is nice but obviously unusual at this age!

I will speak to nursery when they eventually open again but they have commented on how fast she runs round all day hyped up and all injuring herself.

Just thought it would be helpful to hear other people's experiences to educate myself a bit better.

Thanks

Unable to follow a point.

Using another person's hand as a tool. E.g. holding parents hand and putting it to the door handle.

Following this as I've also been having concerns RE my 4 year old DS. I've had strong suspicions of ASD since he was at least 1 and a half.
@FlibbertyGiblets he is constantly using others hands as a guide, especially when looking for chocolate!
@Maybebabymaybenot how is she in terms of catching her attention? That was a big one for me - I could call my son's name until I'm blue in the face and he won't respond even with eye contact until he feels like it :(

Unable to get their attention by calling their name.

Unable to follow a pointing finger.

Very limited attention span compared to peers.

No sustained eye contact.

All visible before 2.

Hello, I knew from a very young age. Not joining in playgroup circle, was running around the perimeter of the group ! Very wriggly/ poor eye contact. Bypassed the terrible twos and then shocking tantrums from age 3 onwards. Always fiddling with everything and anything. Made friends instantly and no inhibition. No interest in crafts or anything requiring concentration

@Maybebabymaybenot

Boy or girl? Girls are notoriously underdiagnosed

@FlibbertyGiblets

Would you be able to give examples of the above. My Dd is nearly 16 and was told by a psychologist at CAMHS that she thought she had ADHD or, at least traits of it.

After filling in forms from school, me and her, the diagnosis was rejected as the school didn't see it. Feel a bit of a fraud but we are both still convinced she has it.

So, if it helps, signs were: unable to follow conversation, answer questions but happily talked off her own back.

Constantly on the go, 'into everything ', touching everything multiple times despite being told no or removed, very unsettled as a baby, arms and legs kicking constantly- even in pregnancy! Very poor sleeper. Very distracted, not playing for anything for more than 5 mins, distracted at meal times so ate little. Tantrumy.

And, yes , she did that arm pulling thing to show me stuff. Is that a sign, too??

Never slept. That was the earliest sign.
Only ever slept 3 hours a night until age 6 and never a solid 3 hour block. It was 20 mins here, a half hour there, if I had a solid hour it was a miracle. Had to play and occupy every single minute of the day it was just hours and hours of awake & wanting constant attention. Used to walk their legs off to try and exhaust them but still never settled to sleep, hours and hours of just being awake. So bloody minded that if they wanted to do something & you didn’t want them to the meltdowns were unreal -although ASD as well so I guess that could be that part. As a baby so hyperactive couldn’t even lie still in the cot, would end up spinning round and round constantly so side on then head at foot end then back to side on then the right way-all night.
Very sensitive to certain additives which is very common in ADHD kids and can make the hyperactivity & inattentiveness worse, cause tantrums and also eczema. Annatto (custard, ice cream cones, some pizza bases, candy canes) caused the worst deterioration in behaviour, I really can’t remember them all now as the sensitivity has eased now a teen.
Always clumsy & injuring themselves but always hurting me. Not intentionally, just jumping on my knee too hard for a cuddle, can’t just walk up to me has to leap at me, constantly standing on my feet. When asked to stop doing something because it’s hurting, continuing to do it repeatedly until I have to shout.

Toddler on steroids. Walked early and didnt stop. Destroyed everything, ripped books apart, broke toys. All cupboard doors and draws had to have locks as he would empty them all the time. He climbed everything. Couldn't take my every of him. Totally happy child though. Not very affectionate, loads self confidence starting school - walked in without back ward glance. Didnt care about other peoples feelings - ir perhaps was just oblivious. We honestly thought we were doing parenting all wrong as he was out first. Weirdly ok sleeper whochnis why we didnt peg adhd. It was a teacher in reception who suggested it (he was 4). He was too young but local nhs consultant kept him on file ad she said just by spending 5 mins with him he was adhd. Diagnosed used at 6

Inability to follow age appropriate requests, constant need to stimulation whether good or bad. Very poor sleep. Poor eating habits. Extreme frustrations. Preference to playing alone in fantasy world. Twitching and always moving.

We're now at age 15 and its very very difficult. Not just adhd here though its combined asd tourettes language processing delay stammer no ability to separate fact from fiction. They won't diagnose here after age 5 anymore whereas my son was 9 when he was diagnosed. Its a shockingly bad system to get children the help they need

He is emsicated now and tbh super hard to handle when not medicated. He is 12 but unmedicated he acts like child half his age

All of the above! Sleep has never been an issue for mine though.
I also noticed an inability to understand consequences, or to learn from an experience. Low impulse control. If he thinks something he does it without thought.
Some of that may be hard to see in a child so young. Although I do remember from a young age I would give an instruction and it would fly over his head eg ‘sit in the red chair’ repeated x20 and he would totally ignore it.

Vocal tics came out early too. It didn’t show as you would think Tourette’s would, more random screaming or loud noises, repeating phrases over and over.

I am wondering about this but with my four year old it's not really hyperactivity. Lots of sleep issues, head banging so bad we had to get him a bed with no headboard and just smashes head against the wall. Will push bed back from middle of room. Completely unable to follow conversations, insane emotional meltdowns about anything, cannot seem to understand reading because he can't maintain attention and just talks completely at random.

@Hoohaahoo oh god the repeating!!! Drives me insane. Think he just doesn't to annoy me thought tbh.

Thank you all, I can relate to a lot of points and it helps to know that I'm not necessarily overreacting and I will keep an eye on how things progress.

@arinah she is variable with catching her attention, sometimes she is very responsive but others it is like talking to myself and can't get her to even look!

@unravelingslowly thank you for the tips. I can absolutely relate to the point about the injuries!

@OnTheMoors you have described my daughter exactly, our attempts at playgroups that involved sitting in a circle or doing any activity other than running wild were just a waste of time as she would run round the room shrieking and causing mayhem while all of the others sat quietly.

I am seeing so many of these signs in my almost 4-year-old DD.. It has crossed my mind before to be honest. She is just constantly on the go, definitely low-impulse control.. Very very fidgety, flings her arms around so constantly whacking me, needs a lot of stimulation, doesn't seem to learn from anything, so will repeatedly do something she has been asked not to, very very physical with her two-year-old brother. But, she has started to get quite into crafts and will spend some time sitting doing that but only if in right mood. Will also play with small world toys for a good while but also only if in right frame of mind, so 🤷‍♀️ I think I will broach it with school when she starts.

And yes to the being confident with strangers and running about at our local playgroup or else flitting from one table to the next.

Oh god the running around edge of toddlers groups - totally. I had to stop going when I had my second when eldest was 2.5 as couldn't handle both of them and got tutted at alot.

Also remember theres hyperfocus. Adhders can get totally engrossed in something and literally ignore anything else.

My ds was completely different from what everyone on here is saying. He was always fidgety but we had no concerns at all until he was in year 1 at school. Before that he loved school and was very happy and sociable. In y 1 he suddenly hated school, hated writing (looking back he never liked writing or drawing), never got any work finished and struggled socially with the other children. This got worse until he was in y 3 and was diagnosed.

We think he has traits of autism too but that hasn't been diagnosed. Again though, these signs (aversion to noise (despite being the noisiest person in the house), always making baby noises, getting very frustrated and angry at seemingly minor things) have only emerged relatively recently.

He doesn't look at you when you're talking: it's as though he's always looking over your shoulder and has switched off from what you're saying, so much so that info has to be given in short, simple sentences.

He does hyperfocus on some things though, mainly reading and minecraft. He gets interested in a specific topic and will read and talk about very little else for ages. So far his interests have included Fireman Sam, trains, the Titanic and, now, Minecraft.

Yeah should mention my ds had 3 broken arms and a concussion before the age of 8 🙈

TwoZeroTwoZero - theres two types of adhd. Inattentive and hyperactive/compulsive (I think I got those right). My sons a combined type where his middle brother is primarily inattentive

Wouldnt even thought of adhd for his brother except we had one diagnosis. Inattentive is much harder to diagnose

Hmm.. That's interesting about hyperfocus because when she is playing with her small world toys, she will literally zone out to anything else and go into her own imaginative world with them. Has done that since about 18 months.

She was an early mover - commando crawling at six months before traditional crawling a couple of weeks later and an early talker.

I'm a teacher as well so I couldn't help but compare him with other children I worked with of his age and, although it was difficult to put my finger on how or why, he was/is different from most of the other children. Watching him on sports day or on video clips of his class doing music lessons compounded the feeling: all the other kids in his class were sitting and getting on with the activities as you'd expect whereas he was up & down like a yo-yo and bouncing around all over the place.

I read that it can be genetic and that children with adhd often have siblings and cousins with it and/or autism. Ds has 2 cousins with autism, a grandad with autism and 2-3 other cousins who display many adhd behaviours but their parents haven't wanted or bothered to seek a diagnosis. Interestingly, my eldest nephew is now looking into it as an adult.

Just got diagnosis (aged 6). I knew something was "wrong" from roughly 2 - 2
5 years old (i.e. once confidently walking, not toddling). First flags were inability to participate in organised activities such as baby music / dance groups, where everyone had to sit in the circle. My DS was exactly like described by the poster above, running around in circles when other children obediently sat down, taking turns doing the activity.
Next ones, around age 3, were hyperfocus (on Lego/ construction sets) and constant seeking sensory stimuli.

@Waveysnail yes, ds is primarily attention deficit rather than hyperactive.