Daughters with ADHD

[Magnolia5454]

For those of you who have daughters that have been diagnosed with ADHD - how did they present around the age of 5/6? What behaviours did you notice that were not typical?
Asking for a close friend who is finding it difficult to get support from school.

Signs she has noticed
-exaggerrated emotions e.g. crying excessively at minor things
-finding it hard to maintain friendships e.g. flitting between friendship groups and obsessively wanting to be in charge when playing with friends
-little white lies e.g. lying about needing the toilet or eating dinner
-appearing to not hear/not pay attention when given an instruction when she wants to get her own way.

Thanks in advance ☺️

We're moving this thread to our Parenting topic at the OP's request.

I have a daughter who has ADHD and she does everything you've mentioned but the most noticeable thing is she is just NEVER NEVER STILL. She's like an excitable puppy. Even if she's watching telly she's springing around. Intense trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep. Huge difficulties with impulse control.

My dd is awaiting diagnosis. I'm pretty sure she has it as I do, and I recognise the signs.

At that age, dd was very high energy and always on the go - a few people used to compare her to the duracel bunny! Never tired, never still, and constantly craving stimulation. Wanted to join every club and activity going, couldn't cope with boredom.

Very intense emotional responses to everything - both good and bad with any difficult feelings threatening to overwhelm her at times.

Bedroom was always a tip.🙄

Very difficult to wind down in the evenings and incredibly slow to get to sleep. Uninterested in food and never hungry.

But luckily no friendship difficulties for dd - she was always ultra sociable and very popular.

I wouldn't necessarily say these are always signs of ADHD, more emotional immaturity, which can be part of ADHD but definitely not enough for diagnosis.

At 5/6 you might notice:

• Constantly on the go- rolling backwards and forwards or getting up and wiggling whilst doing usually sedentary activities, like watching TV.
• Either completely distracted and not concentrating on a task at all or completely zoned in and will not stop when asked.
• Always looking sort of a mess and not having the right things with them- having to send them back into the classroom for water bottle, bag, etc.
• Sensory issues and not wanting to wear certain fabrics or cuts of clothes
• Impulsive- does odd things without thinking and then can't explain why they did it or gets carried away and takes a joke/game too far.
• Can't remember a sequence or list of instructions- will do the first one and then forget the rest.
• Appears "random", interjects in conversations which something that appears completely unconnected to the topic.
• Reluctance to engage in tasks that require sustained effort.