Too early for ADD/ADHD?

[Glamourcide]

Hello all,
feel free to direct me to the correct place if I'm posting in the wrong spot...

I'll try and make this as short a story as possible, to save you all the boredom!!

Ever since she was born, DD has been extremely advanced. Walking at nine months, for instance, and our GP assures me that she is in fact very smart and ahead of other kids her age developmentally (she referred to DD as 'a 3-year-old stuck in the body of an 18-month-old).
Now, as happy as I am to have a very intelligent, inquisitive, independent and gorgeous little girl, there is a downside to the good (isn't there always?!).
Nobody I know can believe how stubborn, wilful, ignorant (of discipline/instruction), rambunctious and just generally mischievous DD can be. She is 17 months old and, while she can do things like use a fork and dress herself, she can also throw a prize tantrum (usually over nothing) and gets very, very irate if not allowed to have her own way.

She is ALWAYS busy - running, climbing, jumping, fidgeting (with things she shouldn't be!), harrassing our pets (and the grown-ups!)... my best friend has a son who is 8 weeks older and he has barely begun walking - he'll sit quietly in a corner playing with his toys, whereas DD can never, ever have eyes taken off her for a minute for fear of her getting into something. Nobody else understands that this is just the way she has always been, it's not because I'm feeding her sugar or artificial colourings, she is just a quirky, mischievous little thing always looking for the next exciting activity to come her way (and yes, she does flit from activity to activity faster than I can pick my nose). To me, she's a perfectly normal toddler - this is how she has been since the day she was born, and since she's my first and only, I only know what I'm used to, and this is it. To me (and I know this sounds awful) every other baby her age is 'slow' and I worry that there must be something wrong with them because they just sit there staring at nothing, whereas DD is never short of energy.


Today, I had an appointment with the midwife at my local hospital for antenatal clinic (my first at the hospital for this pregnancy) and while we were going through paperwork and discussing everything, DD was being her usual loud, into-everything self. The midwife asked me if I'd fed her anything unusual today, and my response was, 'No, just Weet-bix. This is totally normal for her, she's like this all the time.'
The midwife looked at me, looked at DD (who at that moment was climbing a chair to turn the taps on so she could wash her hands) and frankly informed me, 'She's ADD, obviously.'

Well, I don't know. How early is too early to diagnose ADD? What *IS* ADD/ADHD? What are some experiences from other mums out there - do you have noisy, easily-bored kids that are totally normal or is any kid who doesn't sit quietly and eat their dinner a case for medication? Should I take her to our GP to talk about having her tested? What are the tests?

I just have a lot of questions and no answers. I don't know how this would affect us if the midwife is right. I'm not sure what to do or what to think, or how to feel.
Any advice would be very, very welcome. Thanks in advance, ladies.

[AliBaby]

I am not 100% sure but I dont think that they can diagnose ADD or ADD/HD until children are at least 6 yrs of age. Even though signals can appear earlier they can be other things.

It seems that because your child is super intelligent and develpmentally advanced for her age, she may be getting bored easily and needs to have her mind stimulated in a more advanced way than children who are her age.

As much as I love midwifes, I wouldnt listen to someone who isnt trained in the field to diagnose your child and cause you unnecessary stress.

I cant give you much more information as it is not my field of study but as a primary school teacher i do think many children are just assumed ADD or ADD/HD simply because of their behaviour. I am not saying your daughter is simply just 'naughty', but I do think there are other roads to travel down before the ADD or ADD/HD road.

I hope this helps. You are doing the best you can as a mum.

[MantaRay]

Diagnosing conditions such as ADD is a very complex thing, and it is done by medical professionals who are specialists in the field. There is no way that a MCHN would have the knowledge of a condition like that, nor would a child that age be able to be diagnosed.

Your DD sounds a lot like my DS1, who we are on a list to have assessed now that he is (nearly) 4. DS1 was also early with milestones, rolling at 7 weeks, crawling at 5 months, walking at 9 1/2 months. He also could read all the letters of the alphabet by 19 months and can now read really well (this is self-taught too, he learnt by pointing to letters or words and asking "what's that"). He also lacks concentration to do things like eat or dress himself, without a lot of nagging - he is too busy counting, spelling, asking questions etc. But TBH I don't think he has ADD - he is able to concentrate on things he is interested in, just not on mundane things. Also, despite his early milestones, he is now behind with gross motor skills and lacks confidence in his physical ability. The reason we are having him assessed is to rule out ADD and autism spectrum issues. There is such a fine, blurred line between being bright and being ASD that it is really difficult to determine what is what.

I would wait for at least a year and a half before worrying about any of these syndromes. A lot will change as your DD gets older, and only time will tell whether there are any areas for concern or not. And if there are concerns, there will be plenty of time for assessment later. We are only doing it now as it might impact on school choice for next year. GL hun.

[Visitor8]

She sounds perfectly normal to me I have one on both ends of the scale. I had a baby who didn't talk until almost 2, didn't walk until 14 months, didn't crawl until 11 months and would happily play by himself in his own little world all day and never threw a tantrum until he was 4.
Then I had the early walker at 8.5 months, crawled at 4.5 months, first word was at 5 months, and was talking in sentences at 12 months "i want bottle" "yucky poos" etc. and could write his name before he was 2.
Neither of them are abnormal in any way to me, both fall on the scale of normal for all their developmental milestones, as does your little miss. Even though she is advanced for MOST children her age, she is still well within normal
ADD/ADHD is over diagnosed. I have seen children with it, my sister, and a close friends child were bad. Then others who are normal, and people label them which is wrong. I have taken dexamphetamine (sp) which is what they gave my sister and friends child to treat their add, and let me say if you took it you would mellow out too. It's not a nice feeling. THAT is why I think a lot of the time, people give their children these drugs and see an improvement (going quiet, sitting still etc) because it would have that effect on most people, feeling drugged out (I did).

I don't know how this would affect us if the midwife is right. I'm not sure what to do or what to think, or how to feel.

It shouldn't change anything about how you feel hun. You have looked after your daughter fine until now, why should a label like ADD/ADHD effect that?

I would say that she is under stimulated. By her age Chase was almost writing his name, and knew many books off by heart. Maybe try challenging her mind? Teach her to do things that most don't start till later.
Also it could be food related. A LOT of children have reactions to foods, a big one in this house is yellow food dye, so things like twisties are a BIG no no. Doesn't mean they have ADHD.

[Visitor8]

Can I just add, with the tantrums, for her age it is very normal. They are just discovering they have feelings, and wants, and when they don't get what they want they don't have the skills or capacity to express those feelings and desires any other way.

[River]

Simple answer: Yes 18 months is too early to diagnose anything like ADD.

My firstborn was very much the same - same as MR, crawling at 4.5 months, walking right on 9 months, talking early, reading well before school age without being 'taught' anything. But a spitfire of a cracker of a child. Not tantruming, but into everything, constantly in motion. I have come to know that the word Ziana is a verb......she is a doing word. :P

Unfortunately for us, we ended up going for the ADD diagnosis and put her on Ritalin. She was on the medication for about 2 years before I took her off it.

Seriously though, try taking her off all forms of dairy - all added milks and wheys, lable check. Use rice or soy milk. I find that dairy sets off my girl in a huge way. I trialled her on A2 milk without telling her teacher once after a dairy free spell and her teacher had me up for an interview because of a dramatic behaviour shift after a few short days. Also consider homeschooling if its an option for you. We are well beyond that point now as my girl is 10 and pulling her out doesn't sit well with her, but if I had my time to do again I would have homeschooled from the start. We are now paying exhorbinant private school fees to keep her educated at her level.

As MR says, the lines are very blurred for these kids because their brains work in a whole different way to everyday folk - but that doesn't mean that they are ADD or ASD or anything. This personality type is a major benefit in an adult but for some reason we try to restrict it in the kids.

Keep on trucking.

[Lulu]

Pfft to her - what kind of medical professional thinks you can make a diagnosis like that in 2 mins. And the appt wasn't even about DD? She's a freakin MIDWIFE and should stick to that.

Grrrr sorry, these things really crap me off.

[Glamourcide]

*Relief*
Thanks heaps girls, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one out there with a rambunctious kid!! I totally agree with the comments about needing more stimulation, she's starting daycare for one day a week tomorrow to try and give her a chance to do some more socialising and more activities, I find it hard to keep her entertained constantly because I'm a SAHM with a few complications atm (since Emily's birthday last year when her grandma was killed, actually) so I'm usually very, very busy handling not only the day-to-day errands and chores, and dealing with an orphaned 16-year-old (DH's brother), as well as issues like FiL being in prison awaiting trial and all the legal stuff that goes with sorting out a will, an inheritance, frozen bank accounts (gah I could tear my hair out some days! I wish it would all just go away!), and being pregnant goes nowhere as far as helping my energy supplies... so yeah, I'd be very much inclined to think that the majority of her problem is simply being bored and understimulated. I'll see how she goes at daycare over the next few weeks and consider putting her in for an extra day or two after a while as her needs dictate.

The only reason this would worry me is a) when it comes time for her to start school, I have heard some absolute horror stories about kids who are very smart and are super-bored who become disruptive or are just generally energetic kids, their teachers can't/won't deal with them and demand that they be diagnosed as ADD and medicated, even if they're not... as MissyMoo84 said, I have no worries in my ability as a parent so if she were to be diagnosed as ADD in the future it wouldn't change anything at all, I've done it for this long!! But yeah it just bothers me that my bright little spark might be disadvantaged by an overworked, frustrated teacher who refuses to look at any options other than doping my kid into silence - it would hurt her learning opportunities and like any parent I just want to see her reach her full potential.
And b), as absolutely shameful as this is to admit... I worry about how others would judge me. The town I live in isn't *that* small, but it's still small enough (or maybe the residents just have that small-town mentality) for people to judge others, even over things that are out of their control - I know a lot of people who, if it were revealed DD was ADD or whatever, would have endless hours of fun b***ing behing my back, blaming me somehow and 'pitying' everybody who has to interact with DD because, obviously, it's not *their* fault my kid's a 'freak' (so it must be mine, right?). I'm really ashamed to admit that, but I know it happens and I know I'm sad for being so concerned about what other people think or say about me, but I do. Of course everybody's greatest wish is just for a normal, healthy child, for the child's sake as well as their own... well I'm one of those pathetic people who gets judged for every other tiny insignificant little thing that goes on in my life, all I want is one area where people have nothing to complain or pick at!

I agree that a midwife would have very little idea of what she's on about after a whole three minutes of watching DD climbing on chairs and pilfering latex gloves, I just panicked because, as DH said at lunch, 'It all makes sense - she has zero impulse control, you smack her for the same thing ten times and she STILL does it, and look at every other kid we know - she won't play with them because they're just a total waste of her time... maybe she's *too* bleeding smart?'.

I'm very relieved to get your opinions on the subject, from the sounds of it DD is just like a lot of other kids out there (why, oh why can't she meet any IRL?? Most of my friends had babies *and* drug habits so their kids are pretty backward, I was the only one who quit *before* I went off the Pill!!), you've definitely helped put my mind at ease. I'll try to make a better effort to keep her stimulated, she does love reading and so do I, maybe a trip to the library tomorrow while she's at daycare will be in order I've been wanting to start teaching her her ABC's etc but wasn't sure when is a good time to start, so thanks for the advice on that, too, girls

[Lulu]

The only reason this would worry me is a) when it comes time for her to start school, I have heard some absolute horror stories about kids who are very smart and are super-bored who become disruptive or are just generally energetic kids, their teachers can't/won't deal with them and demand that they be diagnosed as ADD and medicated, even if they're not...

Cross that bridge when you come to it (and you prolly wont), you have plenty of things to stress about at present. Don't stress.

But darl, you can't expect an energetic toddler to listen to NO. You have to remove them from the situation or remove the problem. The ain't gonna listen when you tell them not to do something fun!