Looking for signs

[cinvela12]

What are some of the first signs you noted to signal ADHD? Or in retrospect what are some of the things you should have flagged as ADD/A.D.H.D. in your child? My son is 4.

[anirush]

My younger grandson by age for throwing sometimes hour-long Tantrums. He also had major problems with textures would only wear certain kind of fabric, he would scratch himself raw when he got anxious.

His older brother besides being aggressive really didn't show too many signs until he got into kindergarten. Then no matter what bribes or punishments were tried and couldn't sit down, couldn't finish assignments, would do crazy things like take one of the kids shoes and throw it over the fence at recess. Longest one has had meds adjustments over the years but that has done wrong down. Youngest one never really has had long periods of stability

[cinvela12 in reply to anirush]

Thank you! Yes, to the long, two hour tantrums but those have stopped with homeopathic meds I think that’s why.

[cristinarodriguez in reply to cinvela12]

My son was not a fussy baby, hardy cry was a good eater and good sleeper was always on the go from 4months on would not crawl will pull himself up with the help of furniture so we got him a walker and he love it, hardly never smiled didn't laugh or giggle like babies do, after age 2 always looking for risky behavior in the playground going up to claim where the older kids would go, never afraid or scare of falling , after a good 3hours or more of playing time (daily) in the park when it was time to go will have e the worst screaming tantrums when it was time to put him in his car seat, hardly spoken words at 2 told, at 3and 31/2 spoke the level of a regular 2 y old. At 3and 4 feel like the daily grind tantrums Crying melt downs never ended,got a little better after 5 but after that school presure to perform other issues came up like low self-esteem, heis8 now and he takes the natural RX Vayarin and it seems like it helped somehow is his mood swings takes like 2 to 3 months to see the effect of it

[cinvela12 in reply to cristinarodriguez]

Thanks for sharing so many details of your experience. Best

[christelferrer]

These are the symptoms we observed since birth (which when reading books on ADHD make now sense).

Birth:

Never slept more than 45 min at a time, would not latch, restlessness, hypersensitive to milk, crying almost 24/7.

1 year-4 year

Slept well but very agitated during the day, always on the go, not listening to instructions, no fear of danger, very picky, insane tantrums (over 2 hours sometimes), not complying in pre-school, throwing things, always angry, never happy, aggressive at times, difficulties to keep friends, electronics dependance (we chose not to have any in the house now, it is a life saver for unwanted tantrums, ie remove the cause of the problem.)

My son is now 6, he was diagnosed formerly last September.

We have him on medications, he goes to therapy once a week, we take also family therapy twice a month. He has also a 504 at school and we are waiting to get an IEP.

It is a long road and very, very exhausting since you need to be on your A game constantly, but we saw a lot of progress since we accepted his ADHD and took action. He would not respond to any form of punishment before but now with everything in place (meds/therapy/clear rewards and consequences/charts for weekly goals/consistency/change in diet, etc) we see clearly positive results. Far from being perfect, you will have to celebrate small victories and review expectations you would have normally with a child without this condition.

I hope this helps.

[cinvela12]

Thank you for your thoughtful and detailed response. Sounds like you are on your A game. My son is almost 4. I can’t figure him out yet. Some things like the tantrums hit the mark, but a lot of others do not. It’s wait and see for me right now. Thanks again

[mlarios03]

My daughter is 4 now. She started with developmental delay (late walker, late talker) so she received early intervention around 18 months of age. That's when I and her therapists/teachers pointed out her behaviors, low attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. I heard comments like "she has a strong personality and shes not even 2" or "shes my most complicated case". At one point I thought she had autism. I noticed a lot of sensory issues (running back and forth or in circles, flapping hands, constantly biting her nails, high pain tolerance.)

[cinvela12 in reply to mlarios03]

Thank you for sharing your experiences. Much appreciated

[Love11]

Hi- my son is 6 and was diagnosed at 5. He is adhd combination type. For me when my son was younger it was the inability to self sooth from a very early age. He never took to any pacifiers (and I tried all kinds) never attached himself to one blanket or stuffed animal( although he loved stuffed animals and soft blankets). It was always me that helped to keep him calm. He also didn’t manage himself well. I would send him to preschool with water bottles (although they gave him water sometimes would forget to drink it) because when I picked him up. He was so thirsty. I always reminded him to drink water when others didn’t so I had to tell the teachers to do this as well. When he went to preschool he made friends but would always upset them because he couldn’t keep his hands to himself( which a lot of parents deal with) but it was the amount of times that it happened. It began it interfere with learning always in trouble. Still continued to have melt downs and the teachers had a hard time calming him down. Also the inattentiveness when people called his name he just didn’t answer to it. It wasn’t all of the time but enough to think can he not hear me or is he ignoring me. What’s going on? He was also very active always into something. And still today I’m managing him helping him get organized and reminding him of things. He is on meds and in therapy and doing well in school. We have a 504 program in place and although we still have struggles we are much better off now knowing how to treat his adhd hope this helps. Good luck😊

[cinvela12 in reply to Love11]

Thank you. Best to you too! Sounds like you are on the right path