I have a feeling that my son cud be a ADHD?

Question

My son is 3 yrs old... and he speaks lot of words and simple phrasesbut no sentences yet. He is very active and agrresive sometimes. when he is mad at us, he bangs his head on the floor.He rarely responds when called. But likes to do things wjhich he love for many hours.he is already in the playclass and he is not friendly with his peers.This s my first kid i dont know if this is normal or signs of attention deficit problems.

Answer 1

One of the things about ADHD is children don't concentrate on one thing for very long, so while he's still young and the jury could still be out on any learning problems, the fact that he'll do something he likes for hours would seem to point away from ADHD to some degree at least.

I don't think his verbal abilities is necessarily a sign of anything. Many kids at his age do what you describe. Three-year-olds can be a little "troll-ish" at times, too, so any signs of temper aren't necessarily a sign of a problem either.

The one thing that struck me about what you say (and this isn't from any professional expertise or training and is only from what I know about children or have seen in children) is that I might wonder if the fact that he isn't at "the high end" of speech development for his age if that may also mean he isn't very socially mature either (because those two things tend to come together).

For lack of a more sophisticated way to describe it, it sounds to me like he's grouchy and "troll-ish". Children who are grouchy are often either frustrated or else they don't understand why people around them do certain things. As a result, because they don't understand they get angry or upset.

Take this with a grain of salt (as I know you will), but I wonder if what he needs is for you to help him develop more maturity socially. The child who knows how to behave socially is better liked by the other kids. The over-active, aggressive kid isn't well liked and has trouble making friends.

It sounds like he could use a little training when it comes to helping him learn how to control himself. It sounds like he's a child who isn't very engaged when it comes to your talking to him, which makes me wonder if you either scold him a lot or else underestimate his ability to understand what you say and don't talk to him about what you and he are doing throughout a day.

I'm not suggesting you make a bunch of complicated rules, but I wonder if you give him some simple rules like "no running in the living room, you can run in the family room" or "please keep your food at the table and don't walk around with it" it may help him to learn to control his actions when it is necessary. I'm not saying you should stop him from being active. Just have a few simple rules that will let him be active in the right place while also learning how to stop being active when the time or place calls for it. I'm not saying you do this, but sometimes people underestimate a child's ability to follow a few rules (which also helps them develop the part of the brain that is involved with self-control).

Also, when he is aggressive you do need to calmly let him know that isn't ok.

I'm not saying this is your situation either, but many parents these days have trouble finding that middle ground between being too controlling and too structured and just letting kids run wild to the point where they don't develop social skills and emotional maturity needed when they get to kindergarten. As a result, many are seen as having learning disabillities.

It sounds to me like there's the chance he could use just a little, simple, structure and a few simple rules, and maybe some real conversation from you when it comes to explaining what's going on, what he can't do, and why. Tell him what you'll be doing ahead of time, so he won't be surprised at things (and mad).

Sit down and play a simple thing with him - a simple game, building blocks, PlayDoh..... Help him learn to interact with other people when he plays. Suggest things like, "Let's make kitties and then let's make a bed for them." Talk about what color the kitty will be or ask him what he'd like to make and follow his lead sometimes. If you already do this type of thing do it more often. It should help him learn to interact, play in a non-wild way, have a conversation about what's going on, and just have special time with you. I don't know if it will help but it can't hurt.

I have no way to know if this is the case with your son, but I think many times a problem with learning could be prevented if the parents start when the child is your son's age and put in the extra effort and time to help the child develop the abililty to have some self-control, to understand other people better, etc.

Answer 2

If your are really worried take him to his doctor have him recommend you to a neurologist. Basically what they do is give you a sheet of paper and you answer questions on it and that is how they decide, that is what they did for my son, but it could also be that he needs to be disciplined a little more and ignore his actions he'll get the hint. Buy him one of those blow up punching wobbly things like at walmart at have him hit that and tell him if he gets mad and need to hit something then hit that, they have them in cartoon characters. But redirect his anger onto something else, we did that for my son when he was younger. But only a neurologist can diagnose a child for ADHD. And if he's not talking full sentences yet that's not a problem slowly have him add words to form a sentence start off with two words the gradually work up to a few more words, I am doing that with my daughter now and she's almost three. My son is ten and rarely responds you need to be firm and don't give in stick to what you have said and do it promptly. You can't give in to your kids, they will just walk right over you because they now what you will do, and you better start now before it gets to late.

Answer 3

Talk to your pediatrician about this. If you don't get a satisfactory response ( I didn't), find another pediatrician, preferably a developmental pediatrician. I think that Pencil has given you some good advice. He could have autism, aspergers or another type of pervasive developmental disorder. He is old enough to be evaluated through the public school system. Speech therapy could help him a great deal in putting his words together to form sentences. The aggressivness could be due to the fact that he can't communicate with you the way he wants to. He can't express to you what he wants or needs with his words. You didn't mention anything about eye contact. Does he make eye contact with you? When you are talking to him, make sure that he is listening to you. Try to get him to look at you, even if it is just for a few seconds. He may be having a hard time focusing.

Ask your pediatrician for a referral for an evaluation. And have your son evaluated through your public school system too. Sounds to me like he should be eligible for speech therapy through the public schools. Early intervention is very important. I can't stress that enough. Don't be alarmed if you do get a diagnosis. What you want is to help your son.

Good luck.

Answer 4

When my son went to preschool the teacher was the greatest and she knew we didn't know much yet and the people who know it all usually know the least about kids...She gave us a list of age appropriate behaviors and task abilities that served me very well,like this AHA! moment when you realise that children do not play effectively with others at the age of three usually and if they do it is short lived. If your child plays for extended periods happily by himself, that is awesome! I would also note that this is the opposite of an attention deficit, he demonstrates a good ability to focus his attention. Please do not fall into the ADD< or ADHD Dx thing and start medicating your kid , they are just now learning that boys are just wired very differently than girls and require more physical activity to keep their mind engaged so to speak they are more stimulated by hands on learning techniques and frequent breaks and a greater tolerance of squirming, antsy boy behavior....this is for elementary years. One tenth of our young male population has been diagnosed with those disorders and it is reflected in the numbers of boys not doing well in school,check out a public school in Kentucky I think where they seperated the boys from the girls and did all of the things I mentioned above...dramatic and positive results in one year. Brain activity study results are now proving that boys are radically different and that this 10% of medicated young men is a big and very regretable mistake. Enjoy yours, find out what is normal for his age,read and get with other mothers of boys. They are active and aggressive creatures usually, having a boy was a real learning experience for me. There is a lot out there about parenting a boy specifically. My best friend's brother was a head knocker and he turned out just fine....to everyones surprise. Check out Raising Cain a PBS documentary about the psycological development of American boys...it's also a great book about raising boys. Did you ever think of pharmaceutical drugs as products that are marketed to consumers by companies that maybe care more about money than anything else?

Answer 5

My son was like that at 3. Speaks words and no sentences. Barely respond. Failure to make himself understoon often results in agressiveness.

He likes to line things up. And is stuck with toy trains, very good with puzzles. We suspected autism. We brought him to a child psychologist who performed a IQ test, and some others to find out his CARS score, that's when he was labelled.

He went through occupational and speech therapy, and has improved tremendously. He is now 6, and I was told that his is Aspeger syndrome.. These are perhaps some of the terms you can check on the web. Coz ADHD, covers a wide spectrum. And we were also told with it, he has some Auditory Processing Disorder.

Trust your instinct, nothing is more accurate than mother's instinct. Others told me there is nothing to worry about, but I took the first step to assume that he needs help. Observe further. Bring him to a private pedia to check. Early Intervention is always good.

Answer 6

Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder is often misdiagnosed; Yahoo Answers isnt the place for such a diagnosis, which needs a paediatrician, or at least a child psychologist to determine. If he "rarely responds" when called, what do you do to enforce a response? Dont worry too much about his language development, but please talk to a child bahaviour expert.

Answer 7

he might have adhd dont let him bang his head on the floor dont give him a time out or something when hes mad just love him ok..and go to a doctor as soon as possible.

Answer 8

my son is turning 4 in december. he doesnt put senteces together & cant pronounce words properly. he doesnt really listen to me & is naughty all the time. a lady from some department came to asses him & said he has problems concentrating & thats why he might be like this.
its still to early to tell if he has ADD.