How do you tell difference between normal behaviour and adhd

[vanessaw200]

My 5 year old daughter is under review with the paed's dr for adhd, we've been given a ratings scale to complete, if left to my hubby he would rate no 3 for all the answers (3 being the highest rate) I'm not so sure for all the answers. I've got to be careful that some of this maybe normal devlopement behaviour but how can I tell what is normal and what is not ??

She is very intelligent and happy and doing well at school, academically, (at school she's on an IEP for some behaviour problems) but in relations to the other kids in her class, to me is different

Thanks

If you disagree or are unsure about the ratings, it's perfectly fine to make a note explaining why you are unsure about particular behaviours. I think the paed will find that as much help as the ratings on the questionnaire which are really only a starting point. We did this when we filled out the ratings scale for our ds.

I asked someone else to go through it with me - he hasn't got ADHD, I didn't think he had ADHD, but we were given the questionnaires at the same time as he was being assessed for other things

I got my sister and a friend to look at it as well, as they both knew him well and were a bit more objective then me - they could also compare him to their kids, to give a wee bit of an idea of 'normal'

Do you have friends or family with a child similar aged to compare your DD to, when I did DS's it was relatively easy as I had an older DD and younger DD who's behaviour was totally different to DS's.

Is that the Connors? We did that not too long ago, and if I remember correctly it was not so much a "normal vs not normal" as much as a "how often does this behaviour occur" kind of thing. So children that do not have ADHD will still have some things up and down but those with ADHD are more likely to have a series of answers with higher results, as far as I could understand.

When we did that questionnaire, we simply took it at face value - how often does he due this particular behaviour? We didn't go into reasons as I think then you're overthinking and making it much less accurate if you find yourself making excuses for this incident or that incident, IYSWIM. Paed does believe that DS2 may have ADHD, although they are still looking into it further, but he also has ASD, dyspraxia, and sensory issues so the "symptoms" can overlap all over the place according to the paed. Such as some of DS2's fidgeting is due to sensory issues, so it can't firmly be placed just as ADHD.

It's easy sometimes, I think, for us to start making exceptions for behaviours sometimes or to think "well, he's not that bad with regards to that" because we feel guilty or like we're betraying them by filling out something that essentially outlines or highlights behaviour that is generally socially unacceptable for their age. That's why while I'm filling out his DLA paperwork I am sipping a nice chilled glass of wine tonight... again.

I've just completed the Connors for my ds aged 7. I took copies and DH and I did it separately. We wanted to see how we each viewed our ds. Surprisingly, we scored pretty much the same on most questions. I was informed by the paed's secretary that some of the questions refer to other disorders ie" OCD, ASD, ODD. My ds did not score a 3 on all questions, mainly in areas of attention, over activity & impulsiveness. Scored quite alot of 2's and quite a few 1's ... so god knows how they are gonna work him out IMHO, if a child is scoring 3's on most of the questions, an ADHD 'only' dx seems unlikely

Thanks everyone

Apparently the rating scale I've got is similar to the connors one (think it might be american?)

I showed it to a friend of mine who knows my daughter quite well, and she says the same as my husband.

I'm trying so hard to do it at face value but it's hard. I've adapted my behaviour so that I can deal with her so I've got to look at her behaviour differently without over analysing the questions

Borderlass - my daughter is an only child, and my nephews are teenagers we don't see very often. I did get a friend to look through the form and she knows B very well.

Triggles, yes your right, it does make you feel guilty filling out these forms