Does your child have inattentive type ADHD - what were very early signs?

[EugenesAxe]

Probably a bit neurotic but just wanted to see if these things were 'normal'. My son is still very young - 3 in about 2 weeks - but I recently had a meeting with his keyworker at his preschool, which he has attended since Sep 2012, that highlighted some things I an a bit concerned about.

This morning I Googled early signs of ADHD and some of the things in the 'inattentive' section stood out. I wouldn't really say he has hyperactivity.

The main one was 'reluctance to try/progress with a task requiring mental effort'. For example, he loves books and will happily sit and listen well if you read to him - but it specifically says this behaviour is not seen in activities that are enjoyed. However, jigsaws he is bored of - unless they are peg/hole types, or other easy ones - around 24-26 months he 'got them' and did many quite big ones without much help, but now he doesn't want to make the effort. If I am making biscuits with him, he will do the cutter but then try to pick them up or prod them on the baking sheet; seemingly out of boredom.

The teacher also mentioned he disrupts other children's tasks - not in a 'may I join you?' way but for the hell of it. She also said he drifts away from things without finishing and has to frequently be reminded to clear up & also what is appropriate behaviour. He often doesn't listen to me asking questions or to do something. In a supermarket he will wander off and get things off shelves or prod them - I keep having to tell him not to and to stay with me.

I can't decide if it's normal toddler behaviour (and a lot of it could be) or whether there is anything I need to be concerned about. The websites do mention a 'consistent for 6 months or more' test, so I'll see how things pan out at nursery as he hasn't been there that long yet.

Sorry for length - it would be good to hear other experiences.

A lot of that sounds very normal to me. My DS 3.3 occasionally does everything you've listed, except perhaps disrupting other's games for the sake of it. His friends of the same age are all similar.

I suppose it depends on the degree and frequency that your DS behaves like this. Being quite easily distracted is one thing, being unable to settle and concentrate at all is another.

Wishing you well. You sound like a lovely, caring and concerned mum.

Thanks Pending... I think I sound a bit of a nutter most times I post on things like this.

I need to see what happens really; I just thought I'd get some other stories torment myself in the meantime!

Absolutely not..he is a normal active little boy. My ds has never sat down to a puzzle and had an attention span of 2 mins prefering instead to run around and shout 'raaaaaaaaaa'! We kept him active (be warned, this doesn't wear them out..it turns them into super healthy athletes!), we taught him manners, we made sure he wasn't bored silly at school and now he is a gorgeous, clever, funny, polite 6 year old..quirky..but that's super.

By the way, it can take a while to learn rules and seems particularly hard for some little people..don't give it a time limit, just keep practising but it may take quite some time! (5 years old or so!!)..he really is only very small currently.