When can you detect the traits?

[JimDaydreamer]

hi,

I am a parent with ADD and I have a 2 years old son. What are the traits that can be telltale signs of potential ADD? or is it too early to detect at this age?

[Onthemove1971]

Hope we can help. Since children with ADHD are born with the condition I feel it can be detected early. Here are a few things to look for: never slowing down with excessive energy- needing to go and go. Of course the next few.are.a.little harder, but the hyperfocus on something of interest to where they will have a tantrum if you ask them to stop. One last one is they "appear" to not listen. You ask them to do something and they act like they didn't hear you becuase they are usually in the middle of something.

Some times also. Not being able to multi-task can be a sign. It's like they have to finish one task before moving on.

On the positive side super energetic and creative ( a little harder to see this young).

Hope these help.

[Indymama94]

Hi there. My daughter is 3 and was just diagnosed today. I would say we've really known for about a year but in hindsight she was always a hyper baby. Didn't sleep well at all. I can tell you her symptoms and maybe those match with yours. She also has sensory processing so that's a thing you may want to watch out for too because that was a total shock. So She never stops moving. Even if she's sitting shes fidgeting or squirming. Her tantrums are next level and happen extremely fast. Her listening is non existent as is her focus. She can't even watch a tv show like other kiddos can she cannot focus. The only things that slow her down are sensory activities and music. She is non stop little ball of energy from the second her eyes open until she passes out from sheer exhaustion. She struggles hard with transitions. She can't transition from one thing to another easily and can't do more than one thing at a time. Hope some of this helps. It's never too early to bring things up to your doctor. We've been referred to an OT and are getting services at a younger age. Early intervention in these issues goes a long way so I'm told.

[Danseuse in reply to Indymama94]

Now that I look back I realize that their diagnosis was the reason they were so active -not hyper - but very active. We had to leave the house by 9 or 9.30 every morning to go to the park or somewhere because otherwise they’d start getting in trouble. Also, my son would not always follow the rules nor would I EVER be able to give him a standard time out. He would not stay where he was supposed to go for it. The twins would also NEVER let me have a time out if I needed one. I couldn’t get away if, say I needed to calm down. They always followed me wherever I went in the house. I think probably this was related to anxiety. Once I started to try to teach them to read my son would read a page successfully and then get angry and upset. I didn’t realize the mental energy and effort it took him to read. My daughter, who has inattentive type, would not “hear” me even if it looked like she was paying attention. And, of course, lots of talking, and at the same time!