Could this be adhd? Or add

[Animallover2325]

When does ‘teenager’ become adhd? I mean in terms of how they behave, act, manage etc? Ds is sooo disorganised, can’t follow many insdteictuins, very easily distracted, poor concentration, etc. How do you tell when it’s not typical teen behaviour?

Have they shown any of these behaviours before age 12 - for ADHD diagnosis some behaviours have to be present before then.

I have inattentive ADHD and I would say most of my difficulties started to become apparent when I started secondary school as that's when you really have to start organising yourself. There were issues in primary school but they were less obvious.

Yes he has always had poor concentration and finds it difficult to stick at anything or organise himself but it really came to light more at high school. According to staff he works well and engages in class. He doesn’t. He can’t concentrate, follow instructions, study, he’s failing his exams. The exam bit I’ve spoken about before but the rest is what I’m worried about. We’ve been waiting on camhs since before the pandemic and he’s today gone into sixth year! Or all started when he started high school, he saw someone twice and she said there’s nothing wrong. I don’t agree

My DS is 20 now, and what started as disorganised now looks like ADHD. Because academically he's quite bright, achieved good grades at GCSE with not much effort, his difficulties were not recognised. He was always in trouble for late homework, missing uniform, lost forms etc but it's only recently we've realised that this is an identifiable problem and we are now awaiting formal diagnosis. Online tests suggest he does have ADHD. It started unraveling as he went through 6 th form, where much more motivation and personal organisation is required, and he just found it really difficult. Procrastination and inability to even start independent work , worrying about getting it wrong and being almost frozen with indecision have all been major problems.
Behaviour wise he's never been difficult, but his confidence is quite affected. He's really fidgety .
Just saying all this to give you a picture of what it can look like.
At primary school age, we just thought he was a bit of an airhead, didn't really worry at all, but it's really impacting on him now, and research tells me this is not unusual .
Conversely, I teach some younger children who are more obviously affected in the classic way, can't sit still or focus , find it hard to self regulate.
It can present differently in different children.

My 3 older dcs have all recently been diagnosed with inattentive ADHD - as have I. We all present similarly to @DelphiniumBlue 's DS and through the process, realise that the behaviours have always been there, we found our own ways of coping/masking.

#3 is the most recent to go through it. When I raised it with his school they said they saw no concerning behaviours, although he doesn't focus in class, doesn't hand in homework, doesn't contribute and never completes his independent study🙄When he's had teachers who get him and can see beyond his disorganisation, he's flown academically. His mental health has definitely been affected. We're currently trying to find a medication dose that works for him.

Some schools are better than others when it comes to recognising the inattentive variant. My youngest is at a different place and in Y9 he's already been flagged up due to his ongoing difficulties with homework, temporal awareness and focus so gets additional organisational support, even without a formal diagnosis - that's in the pipeline too.

We were able to go private for assessment - it wasn't cheap and we had to make some hard financial decisions but it has been very worthwhile for all of us. My #2 is in 2nd year at uni and now gets support, #1 is planning to do a masters and is choosing courses based on how flexible they are in terms of recording and assessment.

Seeing the difference it has made to mine in terms of understanding why they have found some things so much more difficult than others, in spite of being academically able, I'm really glad we went down the assessment path.

I'm another one with three kids with ADHD.

Sorry, I was just testing as the app wasn't working earlier!
Our ADHD assessor says it presents differently in every person. I would never have predicted my very bright youngest would have had it until he had major mental health issues. However he was the key to unlock his older brothers potential and his eminently capable sister who just seemed to stop coping at around 15. DH has it but has never been tested. He's permanently shaking his foot and I was told that's a major sign - fidgeting.
ADHD meds work brilliantly on mine.