can anyone tell me about Attention Deficit Disorder

[cheeryface]

and how it effects a child in real life as i have read lists of criteria for it but would like some real examples . i am wondering if this is a likely diagnosis for my 12 year old boy.
thanx.

Are you looking for specific ADD examples or ADHD?
With or without hyperactivity?

the behaviour has to be apparent in 2 separate settings - so school and home for example

My Ds1 (15) has ADHD/ADD (school scored him very highly for hyperactivity where as I don't think he is hyperactive).

He was a very easy baby, slept well, cried little, fed well, ate anything never a bit of bother. The only concern I had was that it took him a long time to develop a pincer grip. Looking back I can see that what I put down to being a very friendly baby was probably not "normal". He would happily go to complete strangers and showed no preference for me although I was his main carer. He never had a "clingy phase". He also dribbled all the time. His t-shirts were completely soaked and he still did this at 4 - I'm not sure when it stopped. Everywhere we went he accidently broke things or hurt other children and seemed to be completely unaware of it but he never had a bad bone in his body (still doesn't.)

As soon as he started school I knew there was a problem - if they turned their backs he was up to something and he was always in trouble. Although he appeared to be really bright and his private nursery saying he was very academic he didnt do well and I went to my GP and asked for him to be referred. He was diagnosed at 7.

Now he has a very poor attention span for anything that doesn't interest him i.e. school work, but can totally lose himself in computer games and can play for hours if left. He says it feels like minutes. He is very clever but doesn't apply himself. He would do no homework, music practice etc. if I didn't make him. He didn't have friends in primary school and didn't want them but is now fairly social. He is quite phobic about flies and insects and won't eat outside but I think this may be due to his medication. He has quite an addictive nature would play slot machines or games all day if allowed.

Can't think of anything else atm but ask anything you want.

what's a pincer grip jubilee?

something is wrong with ds2 have posted on here a lot recently. could be low self esteem at the root of it or depression or aspergers or as im now thinking add.
I didnt think there was anything seriously wrong until he started high school but looking back i think i may have had slightly too much of the 'chin up and get on with it attitude' i dont know.
He is having awful outbursts that have got progressively worse and are now violent. says he cant help it. out of control.

He gets suicidal during these outbursts.
he says he has no future and hes a loser etc etc
he seems to have no real friends

his schoolwork was up to par at primary but is now going downhill. although homework has always been a struggle . not willing to do it . screwed up and thrown on the floor sometimes .

he has always been disorganized and has a rubbish memory but is worse now as i am not able to organize him as much.
after homeschooling for 3 months i thought he had a hard time concentrating on his work.
had to write an essay for history and had no clue how to even begin.

has given kids at school money trying to win their friendship / get a date
had a girlfriend and she dumped him , he has kept texting i love u take me back etc .
told a girl his grandad had died so she would feel sorry for him !

has always been really full on , will not entertain himself unless its the xbox or tv.
decides he wants to go somewhere i.e fishing , biking whatever and then hounds dh without let up until he goes .
at the moment hes hellbent on buying fishing equipment but doesnt have enough money so he has gone on and on...selling stuff on ebay and trying to get us to give him jobs to do for money. doesnt want to save up wants it NOW .
small things he makes a big deal out of.
keeps falling out with people.
other kids used to tell me hes a stress head
tells lies all the time
stole money from dh last week and then went to him and said he had just found £20 under his bed .
said he was running away last week during a massive meltdown and went awol with no shoes on.

i could probably go on.

cheeryface I remember your post last week about your ds - sounds really tough
for you all. why did you home ed him? was he not coping in school?

he started high school in september and hated it so much , thats when he really started behaving bad and talking suicidal. i thought he was being bullied and took him out until a new school could take him which was 3 months later.
every day of that 3 months was a battle , he would just refuse to do any work.

are things different in the new school for him?

he sounds exactly like my dd, who like I said in your post last week has ADHD and ODD.

devientenigma - what interventions did your dd receive and were they effective?

Hi kcorn do you mean in class/school or for her school refusal/suicidal tendancies??

he has been telling me hes fine at the new school and does seem better in that he walks home with some year tens and comes in laughing every day but his school report says otherwise.
says hes struggling , keeps putting his head on the desk, not making any effort etc.
doesnt seem to have any real friends euther despite there being lots of kids there that he played footy with at primary.

has he been seen in school by an ed psych?

OK, real example for ADD (ie ADHD inattentive type)

• poor hand/eye co-ordination, poor fine motor control. Can't throw/catch, writing dreadful: didn't learn to write properly till about age 9; can't control pen and brain running too fast for hand to keep up so there's no "point" in writing because forgets what they are trying to say before it hits the paper.
• socially clumsy: can't think before opening mouth, can't do small talk. Bit of a joker/clown to compensate.
• Just Doesn't Do Homework. Would rather eat own arm.
• Conversely, could represent Britain at Flying By Seat of Pants.
• Hopelessly forgetful and disorganised. In Y7, was incapable of bringing the right books to the right lessons so 2 other kids were detailed to pack her bag for her.
• Constantly losing games kit, purse, umbrellas etc. etc.
• Constantly late. Only very vaguely aware of the passage of time.
• Will disappear "deep dive" style into things she finds interesting and not emerge till they are done. If bought a new book, will start reading it on the way up the stairs to her room, sit down absent-mindedly and finish the book on the stairs before moving on.
• good at "thinking" subjects (in her case science, maths &c) and totally rubbish at any needing rote-learning eg languages, history.
• behaves as if lazy/unmotivated but at the same time talks as if totally motivated and engaged and appears genuinely upset by her failures.

That's all I can remember. (It's about me, and I'm 45 now - and of course my recall isn't that good... )

thanx for that insight. doesnt sound too much like ds2 although i am thinking that i may have got so used to running around after him and compensating for things that i dont notice whats there.
he is definately disorganized . he can write neatly but his books are not neat , his writing is hard to read .
he doesnt read books have given up trying to get him to.

no , no ed psych
school nurse is going to see him and ive to let school know what happens at the camhs appointment.

Pincer grip is with the thumb and forefinger. He just grasped with his whole hand.