DD has ADD, not ADHD but from what she told me:
- school:
a) constant fidgeting
b) desire to get up and walk out of class, although she knew she couldn't
c) never read a book, because she can't understand them, once she moved on from picture books - I read them all for her and explained what they were about, or I bought her the film, or downloaded a synopsis from the internet to give her the gist of the story
d) could not follow instructions in class like how to do an experiment in biology. She then had to ask her classmates what she was supposed to do. After they had explained it, she still did not know what to do!
e) Used to spend all her time in PE birdwatching! She could not follow the game
f) She was very hyper/silly which made her very popular in primary school, but she could not keep up with conversation with her friends in secondary - by the time she thought of something to say 5 minutes later, the conversation had moved on, and her friends were "Wtf?"
g) She found it very difficult to organise her thoughts in written work at secondary school like essays
h) All communication is functional, so for instance she would write to a teacher "Dear Miss Bloggs - I need a reference for..." where we might write "Dear Miss Bloggs - how are you? I hope you are having a good summer? I would be really grateful if you could write me a reference for....Thank you..."
i) She never filed her notes - at both GCSE and A-level, she put them on her bedroom floor when she got home from school. Then 2 years later, she could not do any revision, because she had no idea what went where out of the massive pile of papers!
j) Her teachers called her "scatterbrained!"
Frequently forgot books, files, calculators, etc for the right lessons.
k) She could not understand what essay/exam questions meant, so tended to write an essay on a different subject unless she checked with us or her teacher, what the question actually meant - we had to proof read all her work, because she used far too many empty words
- at home:
a) never read a newspaper or book
b) never watched the news - she has practically no world knowledge except in a couple of her interests like music and clothes
c) rarely watches a film, because by the end she has no idea what has been going on
d) does not understand formal letters
e) loses all important letters like appointments, medical reports, etc
f) never fills in important forms unless somebody sticks it under her nose and tells her to do it, there and then
g) all papers, clothes, etc are dumped on the floor until its 3 feet deep
h) does not open letters she does not like, such as bank statements for a year or more
i) forgets to go to appointments, or has no idea where they are
j) can only follow conversations where she asks a question, and she gets a short answer. Any more than that, and she just answers with empty words like "Cool!" when in fact she has no idea what has been said!
k) emotionally goes off at the deep end at the drop of a hat - impulsive, angry, self destructive
l) constant fidgeting
m) in the mornings, she has to make silly noises and jump about to get surplus energy out of her system
n) she can use hyperfocus, so she can do something for 12 hours non-stop if its one of her interests!
o) has been told to use diaries, phone alerts, etc to aid organisation but she just loses all those!
p) spends at least an hour a day, looking for every day possessions like her phone!
q) can't sleep - is often awake until the early hours....
For her, the biggest problem is the inability to concentrate on conversation, books, television....For us, the biggest problems are the total disorganisation in every aspect of her life, until she is overwhelmed by the mess; and the emotional ups and downs!