ADD in girls

[mum2JK&TH]

difficult child is ADHD with all the other things and it is pretty severe and very noticable.

In the last two years though I have questioned as to whether easy child may be ADD. She is not hyper or impulsive but something just isn't quite right?

What are girls who have ADD like? Do they ever seem like the lights are on but they are not quite there? I don't know anything about ADD so any insight would be great.

 

[tiredmommy]

I'm not sure, myself. I'll move this up so others will see the thread & respond.

 

[bby31288]

I will answer as best as I can. I have one difficult child, 14 she has severe ADHD...meaning extremely hyper. My easy child/difficult child 12 has just plain ol ADD. And let me tell you, the lights are out and no one is home. and when the lights are on, its only a night light. She looks at you when you ask her a question, and gives you this look, that my husband and I call "the rain man look" apparently she has been giving this look at school recently when she doesn't hand in homework etc. She is not medicated because it seems everything we try, gives her makes her stomach hurt. You send her up for her say shoes, she comes back 20 minutes later with no shoes. She might have one sock on by then...LOL...

 

[neednewtechnique]

I can't tell you from a parent's perspective, but from a personal perspective, I was ADD child, but NOT ADHD. I felt like the biggest difference for me was that, while I still had problems staying on task and sometimes it was difficult for me to focus, I did NOT suffer from the Hyperactivity, or the horrible mood swings that I notice a lot of ADHD kids have.

As far as the lights are on, but you are not quite there, that is very CLASSIC of ADD from what I understand. I think I read somewhere that while an ADHD child will lash out when they get frustrated, a child with ADD might just shut off and be completely spaced out. I know that to this DAY I still have problems with Spacing out...and my kids and my husband all get so frustrated, because they are sitting right next to me, having a conversation with me and I don't even know they are talking!!!!!

 

[bby31288]

Exactly. When easy child/difficult child 12 gets overwhelemed, she shuts down, refuses to answer...just gives you the empty look....

 

[neednewtechnique]

Here is an article I found that sort of Explains what I was trying to say BETTER than I could say it:


*While ADHD is often diagnosed in preschool or elementary school, often ADD is not diagnosed until middle or high school. ADHD can cause behavioral problems that are easier to notice such as disrupting the class and getting up during class time. Children with ADD have more difficulty paying attention or getting organized. They are often seen as unmotivated, underachievers or shy. As children grow up and have to deal with many different classes and organization becomes paramount to their success, ADD becomes more recognizable.

*In ADHD, Hyperactivity can be constant. Someone that is hyperactive may talk endlessly or be in constant motion. Inattention is not always consistent. Someone with ADD may be able to focus on certain tasks that hold their interest. Playing video games, watching a TV show they enjoy, or playing sports may provide a high enough interest and stimulus level to keep their attention. During activities that are less enjoyable or will not hold their interest, their minds will wander. Although this is often seen as lack of motivation or laziness, it is not.

*Those with ADHD are often energetic and can be outgoing. They are more able to attract other people to them, but have more difficulty making emotional connections or maintaining friendships. For people with ADD it is more difficult to attract friends, but they more easily bond with others and can maintain friendships. People with both ADHD and ADD may have a hard time following conversations and often miss details while talking with other people.

*For people with ADHD, activity levels are high, they are often described as excitable, overactive or hyperactive. For people with ADD, energy levels are low and they can be considered sluggish, lethargic or often daydreaming "spacing out".

Even though symptoms may be different, treatment is the same for both ADD and ADHD. The same medications, such as Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall and Strattera, work well to improve symptoms for both ADD and ADHD. Behavior modification techniques should be developed to target specific symptoms that are causing impairment in learning, social situations or career.

 

[skeeter]

while it's a boy, not a girl, perhaps some of the things my son has shared will help you understand.

To him, he says it's like a radio station that's not "quite" on the channel. He gets bits and pieces, but also a LOT of static. So instead of trying to filter out the static and pay attention, his mind just goes off into it's own little world.

Homework is his biggest issue. That's because of all the "steps" it takes to successfully complete homework. One must first hear the assignment. Copy the assignment down. Bring home the required books and papers. Do the work. Put the completed work back in the bookbag. Hand in the completed work. It's just TOO many steps for him. And if we give him a checksheet or planner to keep track of each step? He looses it!

His impulsivity is completely centered around his mouth - if he wants to say something, he says it. In class. Interrupting conversation. In the middle of a TV show. Whatever. Especially AFTER he's "been good" in school all day, he has to let out all those pent up thoughts. Motor mouth doesn't begin to describe it. He's also sometimes difficult to follow in a conversation because his mind is several sentences ahead of his mouth.

Here's a joke he tells that fits:

How many ADD kids does it take to change a light bulb?
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*
Wanna go ride bikes?

 

[Wiped Out]

We just found out this year easy child was ADD. She so does not have the hyper part. She started complaining off and on for about a year that she just couldn't focus. She was having a hard time listening in class and getting homework done was difficult and often didn't get done. Now that she has been on medications she is more focused, she is enjoying school again and her grades have gone way up (knock on wood).

 

[Tau]

Google "ADHD inattentive type" and you'll find all the criteria you're looking for! A lot of clinicians are categorizing ADD that way now.

In our case, its our daughter who has ADHD combined type - all the glory of poor impulse control, difficulty modulating emotions, executive function problems, AND inattention!

I honestly think we would have missed the trouble with my son, if we hadn't been struggling so much to get to the root of our daughter's problems!

He is a well intentioned, quiet but social, sensitive and hard working kid. Still, when he gets overwhelmed, he just "shuts off" - he can be doing his kitchen chores, and just STAND there for close to 40 minutes, avoiding everything that needs to be done.

Instead of exploding, like our daughter, he implodes. Unfortunately, because we haven't caught it sooner, I'm afraid that he's starting to experience some depression and anxiety as a result - which just kills me.

Anyway, loads of good reading out there with those keywords. :smile:

 

[sweepymom]

I have a girl thats adhd,odd. she is 6 and she is hyper, oh god is she hyper and defiant. she takes adderall 25 sr and clonadine just got a medication change. We keep getting calls from school and she is only in kindergarten. I wonder how it will be when she is in third grade. She has been on medications for three months and every medication check they get changed to a stronger dose. Oh yeah she also has developmental delays. Life is pretty awesome in this house

 

[Marguerite]

easy child 2/difficult child 2 is classic ADD, so we've been told. We found it as a memory problem - this is a kid who was assessed at 4, of having an IQ of 145. On the strength of that we got her accelerated into school (she was driving us crazy and had exhausted all her pre-school options, having already spent two years longer in pre-school because she was started in THAT early, by her child care centre). Then over the next few years, some odd behaviours started to show, some of which I think are Asperger's. She would lie on the floor during dance class, for example, because she HAD to listen to the sound of the floor vibrating to the feet.

And her amazing brain - she stopped learning, especially maths. She had begun maths early, doing addition and subtraction, but had a massive blind spot with times tables and as a result, algebra. We sat with her coaching her and she would quickly 'get' the idea, and be able to rush off a number of similar problems. Then we would try to take it further next time, but we found she was forgetting all she had been able to do the previous session. The longer the sessions apart, the more she would forget. Sometimes she would have 'got' the idea in t he morning, had it reinforced through the day but had forgotten how to do it by evening.
We had concentrated coaching sessions on weekends. She would forget how to do simple algebra in that time. She could do the work easily after a short coaching session in Week 1. By Week 2, she could remember having learnt it, but couldn't remember how to do it. By Week 3, she honestly denied any memory of ever having learnt it.

With a kid this bright and previously so capable, this really had us panicked. The situation wasn't helped by her maths teacher, firmly of the opinion that easy child 2/difficult child 2 should never have been accelerated. I think there was also some subconscious sabotage, especially since the teacher's own daughter had a diagnosis of ADD and was on medications. But the teacher also had a son the same age as easy child, and this son was not doing well academically and easy child was. (we had known each other when our babies were in the same child care centre, and teacher was still a student). I think there was some denial by teacher, that my kids were brighter than hers (or that this was even possible). Easier for her to devalue easy child 2/difficult child 2, hence no recommendation for intervention.

This was about the time we were trying to find out what was wrong with difficult child 3, so it took some time, but finally easy child 2/difficult child 2 was started on medications for ADD which were almost miraculous. She could learn, she could retain what she learnt and we noticed massive improvements in behaviour. From doing badly in maths, in six months she was top of her class.

With easy child 2/difficult child 2, the medications also help keep her 'grounded', in mood and behaviour. Without medications, she's very "blonde", as she calls it (she's actually a fair redhead). With medications, she's still loads of fun but her commonsense is within reach.

She's cut her medications back a lot - she felt they were flattening her mood too much. Now she can still concentrate, she still seems "blonde" at times, but at least I can talk to her without wanting to wring her neck in frustration.

There are still problems, which I put down to the Asperger's side of her. But she is doing brilliantly, on only a tiny dose of dex, less than half what her brothers take.

And we can see that IQ still there, hidden but very available.

Marg

 

[BusynMember]

in my opinion, if a child may be ADD, rather than trying to diagnose it yourself, it's best to see a neuropsychologist. It could be ADD and it could be other neurological differences and, in my opinion, it's best not to try to diagnose yourself. NeuroPsychs are great diagnosticians if you find a good one because they run a whole battery of tests that can point to different disorders. It could be, but isn't limited to, ADD/ADHD.

 

[Marguerite]

Good point, MWM. Basically, all we've done so far is describe what we've experienced under what we've been told is ADD. But to assume that what you see is the same thing - you could be missing something else that needs a different approach.

If what people have been sharing rings a bell with you, then it is definitely worth asking whoever you take your child to see. Sometimes parental suspicions are what kick-starts a diagnosis. I know for us, we were getting nowhere with difficult child 3 until I did some reading and shared what I found with the GP, who then agreed with my hunch and made the appropriate referral.

That is your next step. maybe? Or have you already been there and are just looking for comparisons?

If you haven't yet had an expert assessment done for easy child, sit and make some notes. List your concerns, your observations and your suspicions and from there, ask maybe difficult child's doctor for an opinion and a referral, if he thinks it's appropriate.

Marg

 

[BusynMember]

I find that I'm a poor diagnostician because I don't know the symptoms of all disorders. My son, who is Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified, was first misdiagnosed with ADHD and we thought he had it too. Therefore, I always urge parents to see a neuropsychologist because so many disorders mimic one another, but the treatment for each one is different. Spaciness is common in many disorders as is inattentiveness--it's not just ADHD. If you give stimulants to a kid without ADHD, they will get mean or hyper (happened to my son). I like the neuropsychologist approach--they test long and hard for everything and can usually at least point out trouble areas. If we get a diagnosis in our heads, we could be overlooking the real problem. And it's hard enough to get a correct diagnosis even when we don't bias the professionals by saying "I think my son has ADHD." Too bad there aren't any blood tests :smile: