Malika
Well-Known Member
Someone on the forum asked whether J might be gifted. I have honestly never thought that he is, although he is clearly bright and very "aware" in some ways. Yesterday I took him to see a quite famous neurologist in the city, recommended by friends (and with a six month to a year waiting list). Anyway, among others things she said that J was highly intelligent and tested higher on the memory/thinking speed test she had him do than any other five year old she had ever seen, in long years of practice. Amazing! Then I read about how there is a theory that some gifted children have various "over-excitabilities", including physical motor ones and that this is often misdiagnosed as ADHD. I wonder... could fit the bill! And explain why he doesn't have concentration/attention problems as such.
I am beginning to feel that I am getting nowhere with this hunt for a diagnosis. Since he is in such a tiny school, and as long as things continue to go well there, there is no real need for a diagnosis in terms of getting services. Then there is the question of whether or not to medicate - this doctor yesterday said "above all, don't give him Ritalin!" Meantime I am supposed to be pursuing the Connors questionnaire with another child psychiatrist here (who now says she is not sure J is ADHD) and I wonder whether I should just give up. The teacher says that every time I take J for more tests/to see doctors, he is more difficult and "naughty"; she says she thinks it must make him anxious.
I am beginning to feel that I am getting nowhere with this hunt for a diagnosis. Since he is in such a tiny school, and as long as things continue to go well there, there is no real need for a diagnosis in terms of getting services. Then there is the question of whether or not to medicate - this doctor yesterday said "above all, don't give him Ritalin!" Meantime I am supposed to be pursuing the Connors questionnaire with another child psychiatrist here (who now says she is not sure J is ADHD) and I wonder whether I should just give up. The teacher says that every time I take J for more tests/to see doctors, he is more difficult and "naughty"; she says she thinks it must make him anxious.