Does this sound like ADD?

[kandb]

My ds is 7 years old and has had therapy since he was 15 mos. (ST, OT, ABA therapy). He was a late talker and has sensory issues. We brought him to 2 neurologist when he was 2 yrs., one thought he was on the spectrum and the other didnt, thought he was delayed. He is now in 2nd grade and shares and aide with 2 other children. He is very loving and bright and has a deep love for animals. He loves to play with toys (plays alot with his twin sister). He is a bit quirky and can be silly and immature. He has problems with his fine motor skills and has low muscle tone, he's not athletic. He is fun and bright but can be inattentive. He has always had a very low frustration point. When he is interested in something, he is super focused but if he doesn't like to do it (math and writing), he will complain about it. (I hate school, it's stupid, I'm not happy etc. etc.). He can kind of go on a tangent if he doesn't want to do homework etc. Just mostly saying he hates it, it's boring, stupid etc. He loves NON-fiction. Even though he loves animal kingdom, he tells me he doesn't like disney because it's all fiction. : We did bring him to a doctor recently and she did say she felt he was inattentive, at times and thought he seemed a little anxious. She said she would give him medication if thats what we wanted. The only way I would consider medication is if if I thought it would help him in the classroom. He does seem to have problems focusing at times. We have him in karate. Has anyone tried medication with their child to see if it would help them. It almost seemed that the Dr we brought him to would let us decide if we wanted to try medication. I just feel that maybe he would have an easier time if he was on medication. Any thoughts, ideas would be much appreciated. Linda

 

[Leajess99]

I would seriously seek out a psychologist and not a pediatrician on this. While it may sound like ADD, your child seems to have other issues as well that could explain the inattentiveness. Any doctor that would leave it up to you to try medicine is probably not one to use on an issue such as ADD. My oldest has ADHD and was ran through a whole battery of tests to include IQ testing, Central auditory processing deficit testing, etc. He was seen by a psychologist and was put through behavior modification.

 

[bookwormde]

Everything you describe are indicators of HFA/Aspergers. Variable attention abilities (able to attend at an atypically intense level to areas of interest and an inability to attend on other items, combined with a strong preference for image based input VS linear (reading, verbal etc) are some of the strongest clues. In the broadest since it is ADD, but since there is such a big social skills component (lack of social impetus to be interested in what want them to be) it goes much deeper. Most of the typical clinical practices for ADD are at best a bandage that covers up an issue that needs attention, and at worst contraindicated and damaging.

You need to bring your child to a major medical center who has a team that is highly experienced in this area for an evaluation. In the interim get a copy of Tony Attwood's "the complete guide to Aspergers" which is available on Amazon for about $17 (most libraries have a copy also) so you can better make your own informed judgments.

Medication should be the last resort, only after all other less invasive diagnostic and clinical supports have been exhausted. I facilitate a state support group for AS and get calls regularly from parent whose children were placed on typical ADHD medication at your child's age and it allowed them to "get by" in school and got little additional support, but in their teen or later years, since they never got the help in the critical areas, they basically come unglued as they mature with some very scary maladaptive manifestations, so be very careful.

bookwormde

 

[kandb]

Thank you so much for your replies. The doctor we saw was out of NYU in NYC and she was a devlopmental/behavioral specialist/MD. She is also a professor, so I believe she was good. She did do tests on my son and spent almost 2 hours with us. I met alone with her part of the time because I didn't want to speak in front of my son. My son likes to play with other children and is social. He might not know what to say sometimes but he clearly likes to be with others. I am going to bring him to a psychologist/psychiatrist to get evaluated since his issues are behavioral. Thanks for your help. Linda