How did your childs ADHD start?

[Piscesmumma1978]

My 4.5 has changed recently. She's started purposely hurting her younger sister, back chatting and being angry for no reason.

It's like someone flips a switch. She'll be lovely and the next minute she'll look me in the eye and hit her sister. It's like she's possessed.

Sleep is also getting less and less. 5 am wake up this morning after finally going to sleep at 10pm.

Nothing is working to change the behaviour.

I'm just curious if this is how things can start to be visible. She stopped napping very young and would bang her head on the wall at bed times. But her behaviour has never been bad.

Thank you x

DD was always chaotically messy and disorganised, she lost a lot of things, broke a lot of things, was a very hyper and anxious child, she uses to do a kind of dance and gurn type thing when she was really excited, not dry at night until she was 7, very shy with her peers but quite impulsive and rough with adults she trusted, couldn't sit still for any length of time, she also had problems with her speech. However, she was very good in school and was doing well academically, so although I knew she was different in some way to many of her friends, she didn't get diagnosed until she was 12. After a certain age kids can't mask things at school any more and the real problems start. I think life would be much better for her now if we'd had a diagnosis earlier and got her the extra help and support she needed. I would have parented completely differently too.

Thank you. My DD is being put forward for help with speech at the moment.

Did you know earlier that she had it but it took a while for diagnosis?

My DD's were always active and it (looking back) was obvious dd1 was autistic even as a baby. Not sudden at all

No, but I knew something was different. The problem was a lot of it could be explained with age, but as she became older it became clearer. It's often the case with girls as they mask it at primary. Also, she's 13 now, so when she was little ADHD was diagnosed, but more in boys and more linked to the hyperactive type. She has the inattentive type, so it's often missed.

I actually paid privately to get a diagnosis and she took part in a trial with a neuropsychologist where they did very extensive tests, including a test where they check brain activity while doing tasks and a test using virtual reality. This was in Spain. In the U.K. it went unnoticed at school and by the SENCO who she was seeing in the early years due to her speech.

I don't t think hitting a sibling is indicative of ADHD tbh. Has she any other struggles that suggest it?

I'm not trying to have a go but if her change in sleep and mood has suddenly changed I would be looking to see if there is another cause, simply because ADHD is always present, it doesn't just 'start' and if she had had normal development for 4.5 years the cause if much more likely to be something else.

I did miss your further post about speech

This is interesting to read. I have at the back of my mind that my 5 yr old DS has ADHD, but so far school and his nursery said they thought not.

Like you say many of the things are typical for his age. So very restless, impossible to sit still. Up and down at meal times when reading a book etc. talks non stop and loudly ALL the time. Anger outbursts. Speech problems, but I am not sure what speech problems are common with ADHD. His are just pronunciation of some sounds. You talk of a funny dance your DD did when excited, my DS throws himself of the sofa and squirms around a lot when excited, it almost seems to calm himself down. Academically he seems very bright, is a fluent reader and that's self taught and has this insane memory that blows my mind! I just feel in my gut he's different and
Unsure what to do about it or if I need to do anything??

Like you say many of the things are typical for his age. So very restless, impossible to sit still. Up and down at meal times when reading a book etc. talks non stop and loudly ALL the time. Anger outbursts. Speech problems, but I am not sure what speech problems are common with ADHD. His are just pronunciation of some sounds. You talk of a funny dance your DD did when excited, my DS throws himself of the sofa and squirms around a lot when excited, it almost seems to calm himself down. Academically he seems very bright, is a fluent reader and that's self taught and has this insane memory that blows my mind! I just feel in my gut he's different and Unsure what to do about it or if I need to do anything??

DD had problems with letter blends and pronunciation too. She also had certain sensory issues - didn't like loud sounds, certain fabrics. I
think young kids often don't get diagnosed unless they're very hyperactive at school. That's why we went down the private route, but it's very expensive even here in Spain. The study she went on was free through the private psychologist as it was in the neuropsychological department of the university. We got a very detailed report afterwards, which left no room for doubt. However, before that study the private psychologist was still not 💯 sure with the diagnosis, as certain things aren't "common" with ADHD that DD had, but when you go online and watch any TikTok or post done by someone with ADHD, many of them exhibit these symptoms. It's not always clear cut to diagnose and there are many symptoms that can be misdiagnosed as something else. It's a minefield, unless your kid is bouncing off the walls and disrupting the class it can be difficult to get any help early on tbh, unless you pay.

@LaDamaDeElche thank you for your reply. Yes I get the impression that unless really disruptive, or having a significant impact on learning/ social skills it's just left.

I will look into costs of a private assessment if he's still the same by 6 or thereabouts I think.