ADHD is the most common neurodevelopmental condition affecting about 5% of school children. It can often be missed especially in girls who usually present with inattentiveness rather than hyperactivity and disruptiveness. It can also sometimes be dismissed as ‘naughtiness’, ‘misbehaviour’, or ‘laziness’.
So how can you tell if your child might have ADHD?
If your answer is yes to several of the questions below, your child probably needs assessing for possible ADHD.
- 1. Does your child seem to be daydreaming or zoning out a lot?
- 2. Do they tend to rush through their schoolwork and/or homework with little attention so that they end up making many careless mistakes and have barely legible handwriting?
- 3. Do they have to keep getting up every few minutes when they’re supposed to be sitting down to finish their homework?
- 4. Do you find yourself frequently repeating what you’ve just said to them or asked them to do because they’ve forgotten?
- 5. Is your child’s room very messy yet they won’t let you help tidy it because they worry they won’t be able to find their stuff?
- 6. Do they keep losing things like school jumpers, P.E. kits, eyeglasses, and/or stationery?
- 7. Does your child seem to be fidgety and find it hard to sit or stand still?
- 8. Do they need to be moving around all the time, even while eating their dinner?
- 9. Do they struggle to settle at bedtime and end up taking a while to fall asleep?
- 10. Do they find it hard to watch a TV show or a film without getting up or fiddling with something?
- 11. Do they seem to talk too much or to be uninterruptable?
- 12. Do they seem to you as if they are driven by a motor?
- 13. Do you always get tired way before they do when you are doing an activity together or when you’ve been out all day?
- 14. At school, do they keep asking to go to the toilet during lessons or keep finding an excuse to get up such as to sharpen their pencil?
- 15. Do you worry about them when they’re out because you’re not sure they will wait for the green man at crossings and not just dash across the road?
- 16. Do they seem to be fearless and reckless with little sense of danger?
- 17. Do they struggle to wait in queues such as at the till in supermarkets, at the airport or at theme parks?
- 18. Do they interrupt you frequently when you’re trying to have a conversation with someone else?
- 19. Does your child seem to lose their friends easily?
- 20. Is your child a sore loser? Do they get really frustrated and struggle to hide their feelings if they lose a game? Do they bend the rules so they can end up winning?
- 21. If you’ve identified your child as having some of the above characteristics, do they struggle as a result with learning?
- 22. Do they struggle with friendships?
- 23. Do their difficulties have an effect on you and your family?
If you’re still not sure if your child might need an assessment for ADHD please contact us to discuss.