appropriate age to diagnose

[teslaguy61]

I'm using the parent posts because we are wondering IF our 5 year old has AD/HD or not. I, the father was diagnosed around 1993, was very active with Chadd locally and went to a few national conferences back in the 90s. We have a 5.75 yr old girl and with some of the recent emotional outbursts are wondering if its getting time to see a professional. Has anyone had a child diagnosed before 1st grade? I always thought the soonest to check is at 1st grade. Olivia, our daughter, is in Kindergarten.

[srwilhelm]

I was diagnosed around 7/8, and started noticing a couple things with my now 8 y/o in the last year. I asked the pediatrician and they said to go ahead and get on a Dr.'s calendar for an assessment.

I'm more of the belief to wait until they are around 8, but I've heard from other ADHD adults that severe cases can be diagnosed as young as two. Write down what you are seeing, how often, and if it is impairing her day to day functioning. I believe Dr. Hallowell has a checklist on distractionpodcast.com. Considering the family history, it's not the worst idea to start looking into Psychiatrists in your area that do assessments (ask your pediatrician for recommendations).

Good luck!

[ENA2018]

Hi. I’m the mother of a 7 year old boy with ADHD. I am also a RN. We started noticing symptoms out of the ordinary/expected around age 3. However, we did not take him for an assessment until about age 6, which at that point he was aggressive at home. When he was in Kindergarten his teacher told us not to worry about an assessment yet, because he was doing so well in school. In 1st grade we started to see some impulsiveness in class, and we took him to a well known child psychiatrist in our area. We have been working on a medication regimen and counseling ever since. I would suggest to you: to determine if it is interfering at school as well as at home. That was the deciding factor in our situation. However, I believe an assessment with someone that deals in this specialty would be beneficial; as I have learned that ADHD is actually passed genetically more from males to their children; and it couldn’t hurt to get some help early..

[Griff76 in reply to ENA2018]

I whole heartedly agree. I took my son when he was in kindergarten to his then pediatrician and was told he was just a normal boy, but he was having problems at school and I was having problems at home. Long story short he has ADHD and an Auditory Processing Disorder.

[ENA2018 in reply to Griff76]

My son has some auditory sensory issues as well; though no formal diagnosis yet.. He hates anything loud. He is terrified of the movie theater. 🙁

[Griff76 in reply to ENA2018]

My son also can not tolerate loud noises.

[Ama7]

My son was diagnosed at 3-1/2 with ADHD (combined) and ODD, and by then it was obvious. We had an idea that he had ADHD at 2 and had him evaluated and then again at 3 but were told he was an average child. It won't hurt to talk to a professional....

BTW, a year after my son was diagnosed, the ODD got better with therapy and medication and he no longer needed an IEP.

[Bluewitch]

You can get your child diagnosed before school. Earlier better.

[nawilliamsjr23]

5 is good according to our pediatrician. And Specialist for IEP at school! Make sure to get them evaluated for an IEP at school...

[anirush]

Both of my grandkids were diagnosed in kindergarten. The oldest we spent half a year taking things away, trying to use a rewards chart, having time outs at school, etc. Finally decided no child wants to be in trouble all the time. Once he started on medication he became an honor student.

The younger one had been having major anger problems since age 4 but we did not start him on anything until kindergarten.

[pwb78]

Hi,

My son was diagnosed at five. My nephew and niece were diagnosed even earlier. My overall thoughts, though, are that if she's having emotional outbursts, and YOU'RE concerned as the parents, it's your right to take her to a pediatric psychiatrist or psychologist for their input. To echo others, it never hurts to talk to a professional.

[Teresa12626]

I have a almost 6 year old daughter she was diagnosed in TK right after she turned 5

[Mamabearof1]

Our son is 5, we've been having problems for the last couple of years (grated they have been getting a lot worse). I wish I had taken him sooner. Tentative diagnosis is ADHD with Anxiety but I think he has ODD also...going back this Friday for the next steps. Don't wait..