Possible ADHD- would you see GP?

[OuiOuiMonAmi]

DD (17) recently said she thinks she might have ADHD. School have always said she's a dreamer but have never raised any concerns. I was sure she was over-reacting/self-diagnosong but, having read about it in more detail, she may have a point. She functions perfectly well - says she struggles to concentrate at college but she got a good set of GCSEs. She say there's no point in contacting a GP because, in her words, "what can they do" and she gets by fine. But surely it would be good to have it checked out - and if it turns out that she does have it, practical help like being given more time in her A level exams would help. I said there's nothing to lose by contacting GP but she thinks it's making a fuss.

WWYD?

Also, does ADHD range in severity? I work in education and we have some children who really suffer from it and DD isn't affected anything like they are - but I have no idea if it's a 'sliding scale', as it were.

Hi
My son has it. He can't really write properly or take exams. He will get a scribe I hope for them.
He takes medication and it is like night and day.
What makes her think its ADHD? She sounds like a hard worker.

What makes her think its ADHD?

She really struggles to focus and concentrate, even on things she really wants to do. Constantly fidgets, can't take directions in without having them repeated.

ADHD varies greatly from person to person, and opinion varies on whether it presents differently in girls or girls just mask more. There is a lot on the internet now for neurodiverse women or girls/ women questionning whether they might be neurodiverse, so maybe that is a starting point.

Is she year 12 or year 13? If she's year 13, you don't have a lot of time to seek a diagnosis (and you are likely to have to pay privately). However, the bar for "rest breaks" is pretty low. I'd contact the SENCO first - she will gather evidence from teachers. My 7 year old has just been diagnosed with ADHD. There are three types. What you are describing could be the inattentive one. The ADHD society has resources on their website.

She's Y13. Senco is a good idea, thanks!

I think it would be a good idea. It’s one of the few conditions where even a diagnosis can be helpful. You could both research into ways to work with adhd, even if she doesn’t decide to take meds.

Adhd can range in severity yes. I'm an SEN teacher but I also have it myself, well into my 30s.
It caused me absolutely collossal problems at school (to the point I was asked to leave ) and has continuedd to cause issues well into my adult life.

Partly though my work and just growing older I've learned ways to manage it better (but by no means perfectly) and I have always chosen that I wouldn't want to take meds.

My advice would be listen to your daughter (I know you are doing but I mean take her at her word), she's 17 and obviously has a good enough insight into herself to know that she feels a certain way, and that the way she feels is a) potentially different to those around her and b) impacting her negatively. If she feels like this is something that she wishes to explore further then I would do that. You can speak to your GP or, as others have said the Senco at school . If she doesn't feel she wants to contact her GP j wouldn't push it but just allow her the time to think about going and doing so when she wishes.

@Agirlcalled being a hard worker is nothing to do with having adhd or not. I have a degree and a teaching degree - I am an extremely hard worker - adhd has no bearing on how hard someone wants to work, but it does stand in the way. To get those qualifications I have struggled so so much, as I said I was asked to leave my school for a period of time as my behaviour was so violent and uncontrollable, and even when at uni, I was by and large unable tk attend lectures and had to catch up on all my work with tutors afterwards, as even in my 20s I was still extremely disruptive and was asked to leave most lectures I attended (to the point we agreed I would stop going and I would have to access the content another way). As. 20 something, being told that despite the fact I wanted to be there and I wanted to do the work, that my behaviour was so inappropriate that I was no longer able to attend, was absolutely devastating, and mortifying. But I wanted the qualifications so I had to accept that we would have to do this another way. At work, I am open with my colleagues about the issues I have (of which obviously they understand because we all teach SEN!) but it's still a struggle so, whilst I appreciate your experience with your own child, having adhd absolutely does NOT mean someone cannot be a hard worker.

Sorry that derailed things a little OP as this isn't about me - but I also don't like misconceptions about things and want to put them straight.

I hope that you are able to get some advice - I must warn you that late diagnoses of things like ADHD and ASD are notoriously difficult to get especially more so for adolescent females, so please be persistent (if that's what your daughter wishes ) because I would not be surprised if your concerns are dismissed initially. Unfortunately there is a lot of that and it can be a fight to get the correct diagnosis and support, so if that happens and your DD wishes to continue to seek help, it may be a matter of having to push on and keep going until you get somewhere

Good luck , and a huge well done to your daughter, whatever she chooses / wants to do, because it is not easy, especially as a teenager, to identify that you are feeling a certain way and speaking out. She should be very proud of herself

My son has it. We went to the GP initially who referred us to the paediatric dept (he was already undergoing an assessment under the umbrella pathway, which is why I think we got a referral, but getting the referral for ASD in the first place was a nightmare). They had a checklist for him and there are 3 categories (inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness) and the scale was 1-10. I think she said you would have to score over 7 to be considered as having ADHD. I can't remember if you needed to score over 7 in all categories or not (my son did) or if you could just have one form.

My son is medicated at the moment and we are trying to manage it also through other techniques, so that when he's old enough, if he chooses to stop the medication, hopefully he will also have learnt some other coping mechanisms.