Is this ADHD?

[fudgefeet]

My daughter who is 10 has always been very active and overexcited.
She struggles to control her impulses and seems oblivious to other peoples reactions.
She is a year behind at school although very articulate, loves listening to stories and is great at sports and art. She is messy, loses or breaks everything and has no concept of time.
When she does something well she brags about it and doesn't feel she needs to practice or prepare for anything and often ends up inconsolable when things don't turn out as she expects them to ( ie: gymnastics comps, races, painting or crafts)
The school did flag up possible dyslexia but after meeting with senco they don't seem to think she needs an assesment. Some teachers say she just needs to take more time over her work and try harder.
My main concern is that she doesn't seem as emotionally mature as her friends. Yesterday for example I picked her up from school with 2 of her friends. As I was driving she got so excited to the point where she went pink in the face and started rocking back and forth making lots of noise. I'm used to her being like this. It happens when she reaches her peak of excitement over anything from an icecream to going on holiday. One of her friends turned to her and said " you look weird when you do that" which brought her back down with a bit of a bump. I quietly told her to calm down when getting out the car and she just angrily pushed past me into the house. The next couple of hours she is charging around, showing off, bossing everyone about and causing chaos ( clothes everywhere, wanted a water fight so dragging buckets of water into the garden making the floor all wet and leaving taps running, wet towels all over the floor). She does calm down eventually once the euphoria has passed but seeing her behaviour compared to her friends I can see why she falls out with lots of people and has trouble maintaining friendships.
I don't let her have friends over often as it always gets like this. Sleepovers and parties always end with her vomiting on the floor from eating too much.
Every year at school there has been mention from teachers about her bossiness and conflicting with other children.
Is this normal overexcited child behaviour?

It sounds like your SENCO should refer you for assessment with a paediatrician. You could try to get a referral via the GP too.

It’s very hard to say on a forum what the problem could be, but your daughter is definitely experiencing difficulties that need investigation.

ADHD, ASD and dyslexia often look like each other in some ways, though not in others, and it takes an expert to investigate and asses what’s going on.

Sounds like there is major impulse control problems. I'd print your post out and take to the gp. I'd also ask her teacher to give you a list of any behaviours she exhibits in class.

The boy thing to add is that she may be able to control her impulsivity to a degree in the classroom, but it all comes out once she’s out of school as she’s in a situation where it’s ok to show that behaviour
Try looking at the ADHD Foundation website for more info

The ‘only’ thing....

She's 10 and now her differences are really showing. time to go to your GP and ask for a full assessment of her needs.

Please don't rely on school SENCO to help, some are wonderful, some like yours "don't see" difficulties. Go through the GP.

Hello, thanks for your replies.
If i do go to the doctor would I have to bring her along with me? I really don't want her to feel like she needs any help. She had a tutor for a short while and begged me not to tell anyone.

No you don’t have to take her with you. When I went to my gp to discuss my initial concerns about my dd, I went alone.

I went to the Doctors recently they did ask that I brought my son along.
I went in first and then my son came in later where she just asked him some basic questions.
Today we have been for the Pediatric appointment and everything was discussed while my son was there which I was slightly uncomfortable about.
Now we have to wait 2 months for some forms to fill in and another 6 months for any further appointments-it's a slow process.

It’s excruciatingly slow isn’t it?

We’ve been to the community peads and CAMHS and having the discussions with dd in the room was pretty horrible. Torn between wanting to give them all the information but being acutely mindful that dd was listening 😟.

Just giving you a ✊ bump of solidarity. We are due our first CAHMS appointment next week and I think it will show ADHD. What you are describing sounds familiar