Can children with ADHD behave totally differently at home to in public?
A child I know has been diagnosed with ADHD and to me, he is the quietest, kindess, little mouse I've ever seen, yet the paed has prescribed Ritalin because he is cruel, aggressive and out of control at home.
I had the preconceived idea that ADHD wouldn't be selective, but would also be obvious at the shops, school, park, etc.
Have you only known him since he's been medicated? Maybe he's like that because of the medication. *I* would think ADHD behaviors would be fairly consistent in any situation though.
My DS1 apparently has ADHD (his teachers think so and testing points that way), but all friends and family that know him well can't believe it! He's perfectly normal most of the time, but I'm told his behaviour is a bit silly in the classroom. I think having so much noise and distractions going on triggers his ADHD behaviour. So I guess environmental things play a part?
In this case it seems to be the reverse - he goes to kindy and no one sees any of the behaviours there, yet his parents report that he hurts his siblings, pets, is aggressive, etc at home.
Not ADHD, but my DS is an absolute angel at kindy and generally when we are out and about yet as soon as he gets home to a safe place he has meltdowns over pretty much anything. His kindy teachers were shocked when I told them of the scale of meltdowns and the hours he spends screaming at home considering he is so lovely there.
Does the boy strike you are particularly smart? It seems to be a reasonably common thing among gifted kids to save up the pent up overstimulation/anxiety until they are in a comfortable situation like at home and then all the tantrums and misbehaviour pours out.
My eldest son has ADHD and was horrible at school, fine at home and an absolute angel for anyone else. My parents critisised the use of medication for him as he was always "so perfect for them."
We had our issues at home but it was my normal and I knew nothing else so figured it was just a normal boy thing to do.
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An ADHD question
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