Today we got an unofficial diagnosis of ADHD for David. I took him to his doctor to see if there could possibly be a physical reason behind his constant naughtiness, or if we should look into ADHD. After a little while I said "So after observing David, do you think he has ADHD?" and he immediately said "Yes." He's a family practice doctor, so I don't know if he's able to make it an official diagnosis, but there didn't seem to be any question in his mind about whether or not David has ADHD. We're not going to jump on medication right away, but after the frustrations we've been experiencing lately (even to the point of switching preschool classes), I imagine we will at some point.
I came home and read up on ADHD a little, and the descriptions fit David very, very well. It's been on my mind most of the rest of the evening. How much of what I think of as David's personality is actually ADHD? He has SUCH a hard time focusing when I ask him to do something, especially cleaning, brushing his teeth, getting dressed...I guess everything I ask him to do. So, I guess that's the ADHD talking. So what do I do with that information? It still is incredibly frustrating that I have to ask him 15 times to brush his teeth. And even though it's somewhat out of his control, he still needs to learn to overcome it and be obedient. I'm a little more sympathetic, knowing that some of his misbehaviors are as out of his control as some of my emotional problems were before I got on Lexapro. But I'm also really, really bummed that it means this isn't a little kid phase he's going to grow out of! We may have to deal with it for his entire life (familydoctor.org said about half of kids grow out of it)! Strike one against continuing to reproduce!
The Final Frontier
7 years ago
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2 comments:
really? I didn't know he was having all these troubles, except about preschool. Isn't ADHD like one of the most overdiagnosed things? I hope it ends up being a phase.
It is definitely overdiagnosed, but the more I read about it the more comfortable I get with it being true. I keep finding things that are true of David that I didn't know where ADHD. One of them was frequently blaming others, and he does that ALL the time! Another was giving up easily, and I guess that's more obviously ADHD, but he definitely does that as well. It's kind of a relief to understand why he's so different than all the other kids in his classes.
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