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Here you'll find advice from parents and teachers on special needs education.

at what age did you notice your child might have ADD/ADHD?

7 replies

sanam2010 · 04/03/2012 14:06

well it's really early days for me to worry about this as DD is not even 2 yet, but I do have some ADD in my family and I find some things about her different than other children her age. So for those of you who now have an older child with ADD, at what age did you notice something was different? what behaviours made you wonder if something was wrong?

OP posts:
GladysLeap · 04/03/2012 14:48

We noticed small things from about 3, but my DS is 22 now and it wasn't until he was about 5 that ADHD first began to be mentioned in the media. The earliest signs for us were that he wouldn't sleep. While our other children went to sleep at 7am he'd still be up at 11am, then he'd be awake again at about 4am. He was also on the go all the time, like someone had flicked a switch. He started crawling backwards at 4 mo and was pulling himself up on the furniture at 5 months. He would eat all the time, but not junk. As quite a small baby he grabbed our sandwiches off the table, and by about 3 would only eat what he considered a proper dinner - roasts, or cauliflower cheese.

He liked to fiddle with things. He fell out of the car at 2 yo because he pulled on the handle as we were going along. We used to lose him when we went out. He'd either be asking somebody (very politely) for food, or one time at a school fete he'd managed to get into the hovercraft they were giving people rides on. No fear.

Everything is black and white - there are no shades of grey. He approached a gang of youths in a park when he was very young and asked them to pick up their rubbish (they did Grin )

We have a 4 yo DD and obviously we've been watching for signs since she was born. She has never been a great sleeper and DS has been convinced since she was a toddler that she has it too. She never stops moving (or talking) and certainly has some sort of SEN. The paed we saw said it's likely it is ADHD given our history, but they won't dx until 7 so she won't commit herself.

Lougle · 04/03/2012 14:58

DD doesn't have a diagnosis yet, she's 6. She goes to Special school, but we don't know what her full condition entails.

From a very young baby:

Wouldn't sleep at night - literally. 10pm came and her alarm clock was on. She would cry/scream all night until about 7 weeks, then until 4am at about 9 weeks, then 1 am at about 10 weeks, then suddenly at 12 weeks would sleep from 7pm, but wake lots during the night.

I vividly remember putting her in her bouncy chair with an activity cradle over it at 3am once she was about 4 months old Blush she just would not sleep but would quite happily sit in her chair bashing the cradle.

As a young child (6months plus) she was literally either on or off. I remember when she was 2yrs 9 months, the nurse at the hospital was amazed. She was screaming and crying in my arms that she didn't need a sleep. She was clearly tired. She quite literally went from crying and screaming to asleep, as if someone had unplugged her. She did that from 6 months on.

Once she could crawl, if we went anywhere, I had to ask the host to put any shampoo, toothpaste, showergel etc up somewhere high. She was like lightening and could get up the stairs, into the bathroom and squeeze stuff out before we could even get to her!

She had/has no sense of danger. Her condition has some physical limitations which have moderated her ability to endanger herself (she has a weak grip, wobbly feet, etc). But she still, despite this, climbs the trellis in the garden if my back is turned. We have to have stairgates everywhere. We have an electromagnetic lock on the door because she worked out that she could use a box to climb up and over; we live near a main road.

She's always talking (despite being speech delayed) always asking questions about what's next, etc. Never content to just 'be'. No concentration span.

The list goes on.

sanam2010 · 06/03/2012 21:56

that's very interesting, thank you so much! This is exactly the kind of things that are worrying me already! She's always been extremely hard to settle to sleep, only breastfeeding and buggy help, absolutely no ability to calm down, where other mums in NCT group put their babies to sleep it was absolutely impossible with her and she still wakes up a lot and is also generally very easily aroused by all kinds of sounds/smells/lights etc.. She's also always on the go, when we go to music classes and other children sit in a circle to sing along she will always roam around and do her thing, same in the nursery, when they do storytime or singing other children participate and she does like it but for 5 seconds and then roams around again, we call her little explorer. It's really cute and no cause for concern yet, but I did wonder if this could be a sign of add in the future, I guess it is still early but very interesting to hear your experiences, thanks for sharing!

OP posts:
nikkibucks · 24/04/2012 11:34

I noticed my DS was overactive as soon as he was crawling he has been dianosed ADD when he was 5/6 he is nearly 8 now .
He used to just wonder off anywhere as a toddler but now its fidgeting etc & attention problemst school. You wont get much help at all till they are at school. It was In reception year I was asked to take him to doctors.

HTH

themightyfandango · 04/05/2012 10:38

I would say I knew DS2 (now 8) was 'odd' from birth and things came to a head around three years old when he was diagnosed (he fell out of the car too btw!)

ADHD is the label he has but there is more to it than just that imo. He also has strong ASD and Tourrettes traits too. It's hard to disentangle all the different things going on tbh.

WomanlyWoman · 09/05/2012 12:46

What you say about your daughter roaming around while the other children sit and sing, that describes my DD exactly at toddler groups. I always just thought she had a bit of a wild personality, but at nursery and then school they wanted her to be seen by a SENCO due to 'bad' behaviour. I've only recently started looking into ADHD after talking to another mum and it all fits. She is constantly on the go, really cannot sit still. I don't have a diagnosis, as yet, she's still only 4, but I strongly suspect she does have ADHD.

wigglywoowoo · 17/05/2012 17:52

Is it possible to have ADHD and sleep well at night? These descriptions sound very much like my daughter who is 5, with the exception that she sleeps fairly well at night (about 8-9 hours)
However, it is impossible to get her to stop during the day and her behaviour is starting to spiral downwards. Reading her a bedtime story yesterday, which she was enjoying and she bit me :(

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