ADHD and high ability?

[Vives]

We have been told that our eldest son (aged 6) has got mild ADHD and he has been well looked after by his school so that he's doing averagely (better for Maths) despite his attention problems. We met his Ed. Psych. for the first time a couple of months ago and he suggested a cognitive test. It's now come back and we're in shock because the Ed. Psych. states that it's one of the highest he's ever recorded. He wants to meet up with us again to discuss how to go forward but TBH we don't really know what to do or what they might be considering.

Has anyone else had similar experiences, and what kind of help did your child receive?

My youngest son has severe ADHD aspergers and is also G&T. Made for an explosive little package for his then primary school.

Both ADHD and G&T create a individual mix of learning difficulties and learning needs. The Ed Psych looks at what each child needs to be reasonably happy and able to learn in school. Parents are part of this process as they often notice what helps and what makes things worse for their child. There are behaviour stratergies they can put in place, for example for every ten minutes my son worked in his classroom he was then allowed to have a run round the field then come back and do another ten minutes. If he became frustrated he was allowed to leave the classroom and go to safe soft place and let off steam - it was better than the chair throwing he would do at that point. Then there are the smaller problems that can go with handwriting, socializing and so on. Each child with ADHD has there own set of difficulties from ADHD. The help each child is offered should be in proportion to their identified needs. Chat with the Ed Psych about what they think these are for your own son.

ADHD with G&T can often create a very frustrated child who struggles to stay focused even though they can be quite bright so they can badly underachieve. The Ed Psych will look at ways that this may be reduced that his school can put into practice.
With the support they need a child with ADHD can have a positive experience of school that sets them up to able to learn.

Thank you for that triballeader. The running about between learning is something I will definitely bring up! I've noticed that he just needs to let off energy sometimes and his concentration improves for a bit. Also his social skills could definitely be worked on. He does seem to be fairly popular at school because he has all these really high octane imaginative games but he can be a bit too full on, and also sometimes just ignores people when they try to be friendly to him!

wow I was about to post on exacty the same thing
I think I will PM you if that's OK

How did you get the school to do an assessment for the ADHD?

Because my son has been so bright for his age (youngest of Yr1, but working at top end of Yr3), no one has thought that his behaviour was anything more than immaturity. However his lack of focus and 'moments' ;) are very similar to how you've described your son.

I asked back in F1 for an assessment because of his behaviour, but it was not forthcoming. Are there any key 'things' I can say that will leverage them into taking this seriously? At the moment they are just complaining about his behaviour rather than looking at what is causing it..

Schools cannot assess for ADHD.

That is through CAMHS. GP's can refer you.

Our ds's school picked up on his behaviour first and referred him to the local Early Years Centre which in our area diagnoses SEN before children are aged seven. They (the school) have a very active SEN programme, with embedded centers for speech and language (including attention skills) and other specialties, and they organised all the appointments he needed, with some external professionals eg. the Ed. Psych., Occupational Therapist, Early Years initial assessor etc. coming into the school for assessments during the school day.

Yes - right now he can't really focus in a classroom with a lot of things going on, so although his maths is pretty good he is only really showing that when someone sits down with him one-to-one in a side room. He spends a fair amount of time lying on the floor or hiding under the table because he's either bored or can't concentrate for long enough to do a task. The SENCO has approached the gifted and talented coordinator to add him to their programme but they only take the top 10% by achievement so just having an IQ in the top 0.5% isn't enough, he has to achieve. To get him achieving at a level that would get him the extra help with his strengths, the weaknesses have to be dealt with first by the looks of it. They've recommended the chess club or some kind of children's programme which MENSA put on, but . You're right, that is where the weakness seems to be!

Tell me about it!

Just had the full multidisciplinary assessment and his ADHD seems to be masking his Asperger's :(. If that wasn't enough, they also told us they had a strong suspicion his little brother is also on the spectrum. Life just keeps getting better!