My son has been "diagnosed" as ADHD by his preschool teacher, is it too early to tell & medicate?

Question

My son and I have gone through a big transation in the last 6 months, moving in with my mom, out of the area where he was close to his father, and I have returned to school full time. He is at a new school and has transitioned well, except for the teacher says she thinks he has ADHD because he has a problem sitting still during certain portions of the day. He loves to sit and read books, do music time, and their dance class, but sometimes wants to run around when he's supposed to be sitting. He has been at this new school for about 3 months now, and I think he's just settling into his new environemnt, testing the waters as kids to. He is 5, and will be in Kindergarten next year, so is it too early to diagnose him with ADHD, and is medication the answer now, or would it be better to wait?

Answer 1

First, the elementary school teacher is not a medical professional.

Take him to a doctor, teach him some discipline (that doesn't mean talking sweetly to him to try convince him to act right), and make your own choices about how to raise your son.

Answer 2

there is a formula for diagnosing adhd...However some other problems can cause a misdiagnosis of adhd. Some of the top problems is family issues, new transitions, other health problems, sibling rivalry and the list can go on and on. My son was diagnosed at age 6 however he was in preschool for 2 years and it severely affected his learning and socialization skills. He couldnt transition from one thing to another( putting away toys and getting ready for lunch). we went the counseling route and found that what we were doing was correct. Although the problems were not solved. Finally in kindergarden his teacher agreed we had a problem that hindered his education along with the other children in his class. Thats when we went the med route. Start out with a psychologist if not for the behavior issues, for the family issues. Sometimes we as adults dont think that stress can affect our children but it can. He just moved away from his father, has to deal with a new teacher, new friends, getting used to a new house, and mom has a full plate too. Thats alot for an adult to handle let alone a child. i suggest seeing a psychologist. a psychologist can help the family as a whole get back on track. They can also correctly diagnose ADHD if it truly is adhd. The teacher is just seeing tendencies and that is what they go on. Take him to a psychologist ( if you dont know one ask your family doc and they can refer you to one) Once seeing a psychologist you can make an educated decision on his treatment.

Answer 3

Preschool teachers as a rule have less education then the average person on the street. I'm not being insulting, that is all that is required to work in a preschool. Take your son to the doctor and if the teacher hounds you on this subject, time to find a new preschool. I don't disagree that ADHD is real, I do think that it is over diagnosed by the community, including teachers and some doctors.
Get more than one opinion. Then decide your options. Drugs are often the answer but there are other options also. A 5yr old boy is going to be hyper no matter what. That's their job!!!

Answer 4

i wouldn't think that she could make that diagnosis. unless she was a doctor w/ great pay that decided to become a preschool teacher for fun. my point is, all you hear anymore is"adhd adhd.its 99% probable that you just have an "outacting" 5 yr old . i have a 5 yr old daughter and a 12 yr old son both whichare and were hyper as heck. but the oldest had the same prob in k-2nd gr and has kept an a average 1st-6th gr they are kids and kids will be kds.. dont med your son cause someone else doesn,t know how to communicate w/ your son and make him listen. just ask yourself this .. if your teacher had told your parents this exact same thing would your mom and dad take you to the dr. for adhd or do you think they would have just handled it "in house". i,m only 30 ,and my generation had it EASY growin,' up .i dont know your age but i do know the older you are the stricter the upbringing. im in no way saying whip the boy, i have never had to do that w/either of mine.i just totally oppose the idea of my kid minding and having order amoungst themselves only because they're on some medication. i'm sure you'll se a difference in him after the holidays are over and life in gen. smoothes back down. kids feel the strees we have and put off. they just seem to act diff than us

Answer 5

He's going through some very major adjustments right now that are possibly causing a little anxiety leading to what is being seen as ADHD by his preK teacher, who is in no way qualified to make such a diagnosis. And be aware that there are no actual medical tests for ADD and ADHD.....the testing is very subjective in nature and can be interpreted differently by different people.

Unfortunately, too many people have taken the attitude that it's OK to medicate for any and all behavorial problems. However, most of the medications used can have some very severe side effects, especially in children.

Talk to your doctor about getting a referral to a behavorial therapist. You might be happily surprised to find out that your son is doing nothing more than exhibiting normal behavior patterns for his age group.

Answer 6

the teacher seems to be jumping to conclusions. I have worked with kids with ADHD and although some of them can sit through books and certain entertaining activities it is rare. Kids need to be kids and at 5 they shouldn't be expected to sit still for more then 20 minutes at a time without being thouroughly entertained. If he is up running around he may just be pushing his boundries with a new teacher. How often is he expected to sit? And for how long? Do any of the other children do the same thing he does?
ADD and ADHD is often misdiagnosed in kids that are just more active then others. I worked with children whose parents swear they are ADD, but I found that they were just very intelligent children who became bored easily. I would not medicate your child unless you find that his hyperactivity is interferring with his learning and you have run out of other options. Is he at the level he should be in pre-k? Ask the teacher to evaluate him individually and ask her to give you a copy of the test. You should also do an evaluation to see if it matches with the teachers.
Do not medicate your child until you have run out of options and do not let a teacher tell you your child has ADHD unless he has been evaluated by a doctor.

Answer 7

Don't settle for the ADHD crap my daughter's school was trying to say she had ADHD and they usually don't do testing till there in grade school. My 7 year old wouldn't sit still for anything they thought she had a behavioral disorder and that she had a learning disabiltiy the thought of everything and then I got so pissed off with her school that I pulled her out of the school ( the school she was at had 30 kids to a class room) then I took to a diffrent school out of town where there are no more than 17 kids to a class room and she was still having some problems then I had been talking to my family doc for about 3 years about this suppose problem and we talked with her thearpist because my daughter is a victim of physcial and sexual abuse by her birthfather. Durign this time we had her tested for ADHD and there was some concern that maybe she had it but she didn't fit all the areas so well especially the areas that had concern. So we did a number of testing. Then one day my husband and I where at the ENT's office and she happen to hear my conversation with my husband about our daughter because I was running out of options didn't want her to be medicated and the Hearing Test lady gave me a phaplet about APD Audorty Proccessing Disorder and that was about 3 1/2 hour testing and my daughter has been diaganised with APD which can be mistaken for ADHD and she was also diagnosed with Visual Disturabnce. Look on line and get information about APD and Vision Distrubance before. Talk to your family doc or pedectrian first but your son is to young to be diagnosed for ADHD and to young for medication that is used for meth and other drugs. Please do more reasearch before you agree. your son't preschool teacher CAN NOT diaggnose your son. GOOD LUCK

Answer 8

Your son is five years old, please remember that. Their attention span is very short but it will increase in time. As you said, he is new to his school/environment and possibly exploring what he can do or even get away with. This is a normal behavior of an intelligent five year old such as yours. Your son has no problem, the problem here is the teacher. As you have read in most of the answers you have earlier almost everyone is right in saying so.
First of all, teachers has no right in "labeling" your child that is against the school policy especially in early childhood education. The first thing you may need to do is have a conference with the preschool coordinator or supervisor regarding this matter. Find out why your son was labeled as such. Next thing you want to find out is what is the credential of the teacher who labeled your child. If this teacher went through early childhood education classes she will not be doing this. If the teacher is older, then maybe she need to update her education. Regardless of what you do please do not allow anyone to label your child.
Your pediatrician will tell you the process of determining if your child is ADD or ADHD by a very thorough examinations based on
a series of questionnaire that is about 2inches thick. This questionnaire are observation of the child. You will get one, the teacher will get one, and the pediatrician will get one. Once those questionaire are collected and reviewed the result will be read to you by your pediatrician. This process takes time and should be because this is the future of your son as his mother you are his protector.
Please remember that when your child is labeled, he will be labeled for the rest of his life.
My son was once labeled as ADD by his teacher also when he was in 4th grade, but he had a good pediatrician that took care of this and educated the school staff about labeling a child. My son was just a naughty boy with lots of energy but he was not ADD. He is now 18 goes full time college and full time job. He drives his own car and takes care of everything in his life. In two years he will be taking university in Australia. If I listened to his teacher and his doctor gave him medication, I wonder where and what he will be right now.

Answer 9

ADHD tends to be a knee jerk diagnosis than a real disease in children below elementary level. Boys especially tend to have ants in their pants! Mine want to run around too, they have alot of energy!! ALOT! Are they ADHD? No. Just normal 3 year olds. When we were kids, they called that being a preschooler. Now if he cannot sit and look through one board book, or concentrate on one picture he is supposed to be coloring without disturbing other kids costantly, then I would say to take him to the pediatritian and have a proper diagnosis.

Whatever you do, get a second opinion. Preschool teachers don't usually get degrees in Early CHildhood development and depending on how much experience yours has, I would question how much she works with him on these issues. Your child just won't sit down magically one day and ask for crumpets and tea, he has to be taught these things and she needs to work with him and have some patience!!!

Hope This Helps,
Amy

Answer 10

OK 1st a teacher can not diagnose anything that's not her job put her in her place, these sound like normal 5 year old behaviors she should be glad that's all he is doing, don't dope your child kids are supposed to act this way they are kids for Christs sake, and i do believe that if he was really ADHD then he would not even be able to sit through a book or television show or anything, talk to YOUR doc. not one the school or teacher suggests your own the one hes been going to he can tell you if your son has ADHA not a teacher. Good Luck!

Answer 11

Although his teacher may be familiar with the signs and behavior of ADHD, she does not have the qualifications to "diagnose" anyone, she is not a doctor. Take your son to a qualified child psychologist, not the family doctor, but a specialist is child psychology. This would be the only diagnosis that should be legitimate. At that point medication could be discussed. Good luck!