ADD and ADHD

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what are the symptoms if we are talking about a nearly 3 yr old?

so far from what im reading… toddlers are meant to be like that (what older kids are like who have ADD or ADHD)

is there any way to know at this age if your kid is a potential ‘victim’ ?

i ddont know… im worried… i want to take him to his own doc first and ask further… probably send him for a check …

but god im fed up… he cant do anything for more than a min! i cant teach him jack cuz he just wont concentrate… or cant… everything else looks so interesting to him… he has what i would call the attention span of a man married to a nagger.

his caregivers havent said anything as such to me at daycare…

its confusing.. cuz he can focus.. i know he can… you should see him with scissors.. he can sit and cut things out for an hour. he is very tuned to fine details.. but everything else is a joke.

and he cant sit still… its a pain in the rear and the mouth on him… jesus … i actually shout out shut up cuz he just doesnt! EVERY single little thing he does commentary on.. he will talk throughout playtime.. he will talk himself to sleep even! the only time he is quiet is when he is actually sleeping…

no its not cute at all.. its mega annoying… everyone notices it too… we have tried everything to calm him down but… its lke a cat on catnip!

he gets excited and does a 10 min commentary on something as little as grapes!! (when his dad brings em home for him)… infact he gets excited over everything we bring home… remember alec baldwin’s character from the episode of friends .. high on life!

argh…

im so fed up honestly…

i want to hear from parents who may have had toddlers as such… or especially from milly, sehar or any other teachers of young ones that know the characterstics of kids suffering from ADD

oh and can gifted kids suffer from ADD or ADHD?

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Re: ADD and ADHD

I think its best if you take him to child pshchologist. I'd find it extremely hard to try to self-diagnose a child that small. If you seriously think he is a little different from other kids his age, and does things he shouldn't be doing than I think its best to consult a professional.

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Re: ADD and ADHD

khawa - there are many checklist and quizzes out to recognize the symptoms of ADD and ADHD. The correct diagnosis is critical to recovery.

ADHD Symptom Quiz - Does your child have ADHD?

Many teachers or caregivers CANNOT recognize the symptoms. My child was not diagnosed in daycare. Take your child to a child development center and have a behavioral specialist or therapist evaluate him.

They will give you a list of things to do.

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Re: ADD and ADHD

im gonna go through that list.. thanks so much!!

i thought iw as lucky cuz he was declared gifted after a few tests done in daycare... but now.. im thinkin otherwise...

what made you have your child checked out?

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Re: ADD and ADHD

First of all, from what you're telling, I dont think he has ADHD or ADD. He sounds like a hyper 3 year old boy and mashallah you should be happy he is so advanced in terms of speaking. I know plenty of kids, who have problems with speech, which gives them other problems as well.

You also mentioned, that his caregivers havent noticed anything. I am pretty sure, they would do so if there was something. My eldest nephew has the same problem with concentration. He cannot focus on anything unless its a video game. His caregivers were worried. Even with their worryness, we are not anywhere close to a diagnose. He has been at the doc and the school sent him to a speech therapist as well, but as you already know everything happens super slowly in DK. So nothing is happening as for now.

I would be careful about diagnosing him with what you read up on the internet. He honestly sounds like a hyper normal kid who is veryyy talkactive. Beside, I dont think kids at his age are able to concentrate for much longer.

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Re: ADD and ADHD

thats the problem sweetmoi... or maybe not a problem per se... evrything im reading ... its for kids above the 6 age mark... its ultra hard for the toddlers...

njgal: i just read the quiz.. i dont think i can answer most of the q's cuz its for older kids i think...

im gonna have a talk iwth his caregivers i think.... they do say that he talks a LOT... and whilst kids are playing or doing other kiddy things.. he has his mind on a hundred diff things... inside and out!

i havta keep repearing the same thing over and over again before he does it.. gets distracted and off he goes..

maybe im being too harsh for a 3 yr old... ?

confusion confusion...

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Re: ADD and ADHD

Khawa- to me it sounds like he is a very intelligent kid who gets bored quickly and wants new activities all the time. I am very sure that only a smart kid can do a commentary I mean it does involve thinking and brain work. I can not diagnose offcourse but as per my conclusion he is a hyper kid and not ADD and ADHD,

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Re: ADD and ADHD

khawa - I'll try to find you a age appropriate one

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Re: ADD and ADHD

3-YEAR-OLD SOCIAL SKILLS

  • no longer a toddler
  • has become more independent
  • less selfish than two and exhibits less aggressive behavior
  • more aware of and sensitive to the feelings of others
  • more responsive to other children and able to develop friendships
  • capable of taking turns and sharing toys
  • will begin to identify with his own sex and traditionally related activities
  • more interested in structured games
  • spends much of his time in fantasy activity and will have imaginary friends. This is actually a very creative way for your child to sample different activities behaviors and emotions
  • sense of time has become clearer and he'll know his daily routine and will try to figure out the routines of others
  • will have a capacity to understand his own place spatially amongst the family and is able to view you as a separate person
  • wants to please you - - will be less dependent on you because his sense of identity is growing stronger
  • will exhibit a feisty attitude on occasion and resist your requests

3-year-old MOTOR SKILLS

  • losing his baby fat, developing more muscle control and gaining in height
  • is quite agile and can catch a ball and ride a tricycle easily
  • will be interested in tools such as scissors, paper, paint and crayons
  • concentration is required when learning to master precision finger and hand movements

3-year-old LANGUAGE SKILLS

  • will have mastered the basic rules of language and should have an active vocabulary of 300 plus words - - able to talk in sentences of five or six words and imitate most speech sounds but still has thoughts and emotions that can't be conveyed through language
  • can understand pronouns now
  • may mispronounce and will become extremely frustrated when he is not understood
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Re: ADD and ADHD

also don't worry about the labels. if you want to fix a particulat behavior like "staying on task" or "following 1-2 step directions" - you can work on that as well.

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Re: ADD and ADHD

God i hope that list is for normal average toddlers njgal!!! :eek:

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Re: ADD and ADHD

sigh
my eldest was labelled 'gifted' in his primary years....He is 13 now, mashaAllah, n I still wonder if Allah forbid he has ADD or ADHD....
Ever since we moved back to Pakistan, he has had one problem or the other which always always boiled down to his low attention span, and eventually reflects poor time management. If you test him orally, you really can't beat him...be it mental maths or debates on solar systems or geological surveys, you name it. His teachers say he is a genius but has a real problem reflecting himself in written work because he loses focus.
I sometimes feel it is a curse to have a 'gifted' child.... Probably average people like me don't know how to treat gifted people....
Sorry khawa, I'm not of much help here. I didn't mean to discourage you or anything but couldn't really help replying
Hope everything turns out to be best in Aariz's interest inshaAllah

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Re: ADD and ADHD

like I said don't get overwhelmed. Pick one behavior and work on it. It doesn't matter what label you put on it.

Also google ADHD diet which will let you what makes children focus and what doesn't.

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Re: ADD and ADHD

Firstly (only cos it made me gleefully happy), you need to come teach my 6 year olds how to hold scissors! We'l swapsies for a day or two!

Any good child profressional will never, (in my opinion, should never) diagnose a child as young as 3 with any social learning difficulty unless it is very very apparent, in terms of speech delay, lack of social communication, difficultly in processing instructions, difficulty with following instructions, as in doesnt understand, not wont do them.

When I first worked in Nursery (3-4 year olds) I was SO shocked at the fleeting nature of the children. I wanted them all to raam naal sit out! A lot of them would fleet from one activity to another within minutes if not seconds. Their minds are exploring, learning, wanting to find new stimulus all the time. And yes, as an adult it is annoying sometimes as you want them to do certain things. But you have to sell them. They have to be interested. Enjoyment is key for all children from, well, toddler to 16 year olds I would say. They may do things when they are older cos they have to, but unless they are enjoying it, they aren't going to put a lot of effort into it.

The fact that your son can sit and concentrate on activies he enjoys shows a lot of maturity. Cutting is a very tricky skill for most children. I've still got a 6 year old who cant even put his fingers in the scissors properly!

As for the running commentry (I have two boys who feel the need to say every single little thing I do...ANNOYING!). Try whispering stuff to him, like a general instruction, turn it into a game. I used to play 'whisper bingo' with some of my kids who did not get 'indoor voice/outdoor voice', he may have to concentrate harder to whisper and find that he doesnt have too much to say. Playing chinese whispers is good for this too.

The thing with the talking thing is, it's not wrong to talk, it's knowing when is appropriate, so I would be very careful with this one, you dont want to make him feel that he's not allowed to talk. Perhaps make him a visual reminder about talking. Like an indoor/outdoor thing or a wheel which spins on when mummy/daddy have time to listen. Perhaps have a special 'talk time' for when he gets one to one time with you or dad to talk about things. Does he like drawing? Give him a jotter and pencils and ask him to draw out what he wants to say before he says it, it will give him thinking time and time to refine what he wants to say, in the process, he may even forget he wants to say it! Word it like, 'mummy is a little busy right now, draw me a beautiful picture and then we will talk about it later' or something to that effect. Obviously it's all trial and error. So it may not work, but no harm in giving it a go.

As for the repeating instructions, give him visual reminders like pictures, he can even help you cut them out and make them into little prompt cards so hes involved, turn them into a challenge or a game.

He sounds like he just wants to be doing something all the time and one of the things he can do all the time is talk!

I would visit your GP or midwife, (dont know what the system is in that part of Europe) they can refer you to the right specialist.

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Re: ADD and ADHD

Agree with Njay about the labels. They are just fancy names for saying 'individual child'.

As all social learning difficulties come with a spectrum, some children can be gifted and talented in one area and lack development in other areas. But every child is different.

I currently have a boy in my class is mildly on the Aspergers spectrum. He is very very very able in number. Not in shape, space or measures though. He has a hard time understanding social situations, but his parents and I have tired so many different stratgies and some of them have actually worked. I got him to stop throwing chairs at me by using a postive and negative number line. I also do believe he knows when to use some of his behaviour traits. For example, he will use rude curse words with supply teachers, his mum even, and my teaching assistant, but he has never used a rude word in front of me. He can control it, just depends. Most of his aspergers behaviours are very sporadic.