I didn’t know about the emotional piece of the disorder, and our daughter didn’t have the hyperactivity traits that are easier to identify. It may be painful and ugly, but it doesn’t scream ADHD - at least it didn’t to me. We get tired and irritable, which of course starts a cycle of stress, time-outs, blow-ups, and more tears. We don’t think it’s a health issue, more just an exhausting child issue. It may start with tantrums when they are really young, but most parents expect tantrums. It can take years to identify the real issue. Your kid is struggling, but you don’t know why. As a parent, it may be less about the symptoms shouting ADHD, and more about feeling like something’s not right.

So it’s not easy to know if your child has ADHD. He may find it difficult to wait his turn, intruding on or interrupting others’ activities or blurting out answers to a question before it’s completed. Someone with impulsive symptoms of ADHD can be moody, reckless, and impatient. But it can also just be the bouncing off a leg or the twirling of a ring. They are the ones who seem like they are always on the go-as if driven by a motor. Hyperactivity is a little easier to spot: running around leaving their seat when they’re not supposed to talking excessively fidgeting and squirming, and basically finding it hard to do anything at a leisurely pace. It’s called childhood - the frontal lobe is not fully developed, kids get bored easily, and some don’t listen too well or do their homework. Many of those “symptoms” are common in most kids. On the other hand, it could be that they are hyperfocused and won’t stop doing something until they are finished. It could mean that they don’t seem to be listening or it could show up in the “shiny object” way - where they get distracted easily and move on to something else without finishing what they’re doing. It could also mean making mistakes, difficulty following directions, or choosing not to engage in activities that take too much time. For some kids, inattentive ADHD means losing or forgetting things on a daily basis. Even within those categories, the symptoms are varied, which is why ADD symptoms in children often go undiagnosed. But not everyone with ADHD has those symptoms, and not all three at once. He’d be spewing words when the teacher was speaking, or be running around randomly with no attention to the rules when he was on the playground.įor many, when they think about ADHD, they think about inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. It’s a condition of opposites and extremes.Īt one time, we all assumed that the kid with ADHD was going to be the troublemaker in class, the kid who acted out, couldn’t sit still and had virtually no self-control. On the other side, however, is a kind, generous, and loving kid. It’s something you try to avoid since those can blow hot and strong. Sometimes you may say or do something to set off a small emotional explosion.

Parenting a child with attention deficit disorder ( ADHD or ADD) can feel like walking in the dark: You tiptoe around, unsure of what you will come up against.

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