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

Inattentive adhd in a 9 year old?

4 replies

Couldthisbeeee · 29/01/2024 19:11

DS is unhappy at school and always has been. We changed schools, still unhappy. We’ve had countless chats with teachers, invited loads of kids over (he has friends and doesn’t seem to be a bullying issue) and I’ve spoken to him about it endlessly.

He says it’s boring. Torture. Difficult. I asked what he does when it’s hard, does he try or daydream etc etc. he says he switches off and daydreams.

He has a tutor outside school (because he tells me school is so hard - he’s had her for a couple of months), everyone describes him as really bright - his teacher says he’s one of her “brightest children” and every teacher he’s ever had has said he’s clever and is always near the top, academically.

So I have no idea why school is torture for him!

Today I wondered if he might have inattentive ADHD. I think I do. I always assumed DS was NT.

His school are a bit sick of me, I suspect. They’re also a bit sick of him as he often says he’s unwell so he can go home.

Anyone else’s child have inattentive adhd? How did you know?

He does not struggle with hyperactivity or impulsiveness at all.

OP posts:
Couldthisbeeee · 29/01/2024 20:39

Bump?

OP posts:
londonsquirrel · 30/01/2024 08:13

Inattentive ADHD would be short attention span, difficulties with sustained intellectual effort, dopamine-seeking behaviours, low impulse control.
Having read your post I have a feeling that school might be too easy for your son?
Our local ADHD support group has a tool to figure out the reason behind school avoidance. You can try it: https://angelssupportgroup.org.uk/emotionally-based-school-avoidance-tool/

Emotionally Based School Avoidance Tool

For many parents and carers it can be hard to know where to start if your child is struggling to attend school. This tool can help your child express what they find difficult about school in a visual way. .Step 1 - Print out this image. For the pdf

https://angelssupportgroup.org.uk/emotionally-based-school-avoidance-tool

Couldthisbeeee · 30/01/2024 12:57

londonsquirrel · 30/01/2024 08:13

Inattentive ADHD would be short attention span, difficulties with sustained intellectual effort, dopamine-seeking behaviours, low impulse control.
Having read your post I have a feeling that school might be too easy for your son?
Our local ADHD support group has a tool to figure out the reason behind school avoidance. You can try it: https://angelssupportgroup.org.uk/emotionally-based-school-avoidance-tool/

That resource is fantastic - thank you! I will do it this evening with my son.

It has occurred to me that he’s bored because he’s not being stimulated, but then he says school is hard work and torture - so I don’t know?

During covid I saw how little he wanted to do any schoolwork!! Getting him to do anything at all resulted in tears so I gave up. He was only 5/6 then, of course. (And the work really was dull.)

He can sit and read a book for hours, or play Lego for hours. He does seek out video games a lot (dopamine) but maybe that’s normal? I think if he finds something “boring” he finds it upsetting, rather than a chore to get through. Getting him to do homework is a horrible battle!

I’m desperate to help him before he gets thrown in the deep end at secondary school!

OP posts:
londonsquirrel · 30/01/2024 13:18

My son is 9 just god diagnosed with ASD and ADHD. The school would not notice anything: they say he is able to concentrate, finish his tasks, work on his own. When doing homework it is absolutely opposite. He just can't finish it without me constantly keeping him on the task and explaining stuff...

When he talks about school I am not entirely sure what he says is his own opinion, it sometimes feels he is repeating his classmates' words. In terms of hard - have you tried asking what exactly is hard? Maybe sitting still is hard, maybe it is writing, maybe putting his words into writing. I know it is tricky for a 9 year old to verbalise it. But that school avoidance tool might help.

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