If you have a child with ADHD what was early childhood like?Did your child lose skills or have inconsistent skills?
My DD 6 has always been on the over active side, but has not had attention problems. But gradually, she's been having more trouble with attention. She can't follow directions to do things that she was able to do last year! Like in swimming and dance. Steps and drills she did last year are just too hard for her. She just smiles and bounces around.
But later, she says it's too hard and cries unconsolably (with no prompting).
And she used to sit down and write long stories, but now she only writes a few sentences before she is up and doing something else. She can still read for an hour and can still play with her dolls for extended periods, but just can't seem to follow directions any more.

Has anyone seen this? We are trying to figure out if this is a struggle from within that needs guidance (and/or meds) and an easing up, or if we need to push her to regain her confidence.
Parenting confession: She has always been our child that in retrospect has needed a strong push, which unfortunately, we are really bad at. But, we are aware of the possibilities for ADHD too and don't want to miss that. (She has always met criteria on checklists, but when they are crosschecked with the gifted checklists, she looks more gifted than ADHD)

I can't speak to the ADHD question - although you certainly could have her evaluated for this - but your description made me wonder if something else is going on. Is she frustrated or stressed? Does she perhaps not want to perform in dance this year?

I have been told by a very well-repected pediatrician that ADHD is often diagnosed when in reality, there is a different issue causing the behavior in question. In school, this may be an LD. In other situations, there may be issues of perfectionism, or boredom, or...you get the idea. Maybe ask your DD what's going on - she may surprise you with some insight that may help.

DS11 clearly had ADHD from a young age, but there is no question that he had more difficulty as he got older.

I think that the issue had to do with general expectations. As a preschooler, most of the kids would be somewhat inattentive. As he got older, the expectations changed. So a kid who seemed to fit in with all the other kids suddenly stood out as a problem.

DS7 has ADHD, it is sometimes difficult. We knew very early that he had it- he was like a superball when he was little. At one point, for about 6 months, we couldn't go into public. He's could focus on one thing but was bouncy.

As he has gotten older we have noticed a change to some degree, he will sometimes just zone out and not pay attention to what is going around him. This is not a good thing at tae kwondo during sparring practice. I thought that maybe he was having simple stair seizures, but he will respond if you call him.

He still gets over excited by things. He has come up some coping skills to deal with it. I have also taught him to some relaxation skills. They help, but he still has some issues dealing with a verbal list of instructions.

I hope this helps you.

You are discribing my dd (7) to a tee!!

I hope there are folks that chime in with other ideas! We have had dd to the Opthamologist, Audiologist and Pediatrician. All that came out of all this is that she needed glasses for reading and that she has a personality that is just better suited to nonconformity. In other words, until she learns that she has to do what the teacher asks when she asks and the way she asks, little bear won't do well in school. So we are empty handed as far as what other avenues to follow.

I am looking forward to reading the responses.

Once again, the child tells the parent how to parent. In a quiet moment, I said "mommy and daddy have been noticing some things and are thinking you are needing us to push you more". Without a word, she turned and gave me a high 5. We went on from there, made clear expectations. She said she was doing her worst on purpose.
Some days - most days- I wonder how other parents can do it so well while we are so clueless.
I still wonder about ADHD as she is so close to and maybe has it, but maybe for now, we at least have a plan.

MON- Voila! I knew there had to be something else going on with your DD. Most of what I know about parenting I learned from DD and DS...

Mamabear - could you elaborate about your DD's situation? Are ther 2E issues? Is she bored, frustrated or just irascible? Have you had her evaluated professionally?

My son was diagnosed with ADHD and he's not shown any differences in behaviors than most kids. He goes to the same school where I teach, and his preschool behavior was normal. He had difficulties with writing, but that's all. He excelled in math and anything verbally presented to him was retained for what seemed like forever. :lol

Now that he's in 3rd grade, he needs to move a lot. He also has a table for his work that's away from other kids and traffic patterns. He's really able to focus there. Is that part of being gifted? I don't know. I do know that now that he's receiving some intervention for dysgraphia and possible dyxlexia, the behavior is diminishing. The psychologist's exact words were "He fits the criteria for adhd." When I asked if she thought he needed to be medicated, she said no.

"Mamabear - could you elaborate about your DD's situation? Are ther 2E issues? Is she bored, frustrated or just irascible? Have you had her evaluated professionally?"

I am sorry that it took so long to respond. We FINALLY got the school to respond to our requests. They are going to do a FULL evaluation as we try to figure things out.

I will say that the teacher and the school are being very accomodating. She reads above grade level but math is really horrible for her so they work at both where she is comfortable.

She is probably 2E. We are waiting for the testing to be done. I know there is a "proceedure" but the waiting is hard, knowing that she needs intervention.

Does anyone have a dc that is ADD (no hyperactivity)? We are in the midst of a variety of testing and I am seeing lots of subtle and not so subtle moves toward medications.

I am very leary of medications for a multitude of reasons.

So, I guess I am asking what other avenues we can follow. babybear is not a behavior problem other than she "tunes out" rather than acts out, so she misses instructions, etc.