How do I know if my son has ADD?

I think it is entirely possible that he does have it. My son is 9. He was diagnosed a year and a half ago. I did not want to believe that he had it, so it took me forever to get him tested. Taking him to the doctor is one of the best things I could have done for him. He is on medication and it has completely changed his behavior and how he does in school. He still has his moments, but those I chalk up to being 9 years old.

..Well, from your story, some could be a sign of having ADD.. however, it would be nice for you to read more about that.. atleast, you will know the level of attention that you need to give to your child.. Some children pass through that stage and that is normal to them.. as if they just want to make fun.. that is the time for them to discover and sometimes, they seem to take it for granted.. your child's pediatrician may not also detect that to your child.. maybe you need to try to refer to a psychologist because they are more knowledgeable about ADD.. and they could also give you some advice how to help your child overcome that.. I hope and pray that you will be able to come up with the real behavior of your child and the solutions..

Our son became autistic at age 12 right after getting the mmr school shot. In our research on autism, we have come to the strong opinion that mercury poisoning causes add, aspergers, autism and a lot of the slow learning that kids have. We have worked hard to help our son by removing the mercury. He is slowly improving. I personally believe that doctors are often the problem and not the cure in these problems. Please do research on mercury and add. I very much want to see your son get well.

Almost every time a child doesn't fit in the "box" someone wants to label them ADD or ADHD. My daughter's grade school report cards all have comments of "Talking too much..." She was an A student, enrolled in GATE classes, and an expressive. Her 4th grade teacher wanted her medicated. I refused and told the teacher to deal with it because it was not affecting her learning and grades proved that. Most of the time she was talking about the lesson material and wanting to help her classmates. My son was a handfull with school... had trouble learning to read. Reading was a chore to him because he was about a year and a half behind grade level and always had to take after school reading. So when he had reading assignments I would read most of it to him. I made him read at least one paragraph per page, more as his reading improved. He eventually made the leap in comprehension in 5th grade but didn't discover reading for fun till he was a teenager. Both my son and daughter made it through school without medication. Your son is young and boys do tend to take longer to settle into a productive learning pattern. Avoiding foods high in refined sugar as well as additives and food coloring sometimes helps with some of the hyperactivity but breaking homework into manageable bits helps too. Use a kitchen timer set for 'X' minutes or set a goal of getting 'X' number of questions answered or problems solved etc then he gets a streach break. Set up a reward system, marbles in a jar or stars on a chart it doesn't matter. Anything that can be seen counted and exchanged for privilleges, extra TV time, game or movie rental etc. Set a reasonable point level. At every book fair I allowed both my kids to choose any fun book so long as they also chose a good story book from the recomended grade level classics. I would read to each for at least 5-20 minutes every night or while they ate breakfast. My son chose things like making paper air planes or baloon animals which came with baloons and a pumper to blow them up. He had to read the directions.... If you have the time to volunteer as a room mother in his class on test days to get a better picture of his school environment and how he actually interacts with others. For my son moving one certain boy away from him helped to calm him down. Good luck.

I was diagnosed with ADD at the age of 12. I'm now 20 years old. So ADD/ADHD is a subject I know a little about. Personally, I think that it's normal for a six-year-old boy to be active and want to run around and play. I think it's normal for any child of the age to want to play. I think you might want to wait a few years and see if his behavior changes. If he stays the same, if he stays very inattentive, hyperactive, and such, then I'd say go and see a doctor with your son. But, like I said, I think six is a little young to think that your son may have ADHD, because he wants to play around and such. I've worked with kids, and most kids that age want to run around and play.

Does your son eat alot of junk food? Has he gotten into trouble at school? Have the teachers said anything about him having ADD? Kids that eat alot of junk food with additivies in it may show signs. I would try to ween him off the junk and see if that doesn't help any problems with distraction and not being able to concentrate that he may be having. Get him tested. Online you can find very good sites to help you diagnose your son. Good luck and your welcome in advance!

I have a daughter 8yrs and I beleive she has a mild case of ADD. There are levels of it moderate to severe. I havent officialy had her tested but to me she shows signs. She is off and on though, somedays she doesn't finish all of here work and is easily distracted and others she works through the day doing all of her school work. There are times I want to run away when it comes to helping her with her homework and other times she can do it all by herself. You have to talk to you pedi. who can reccomend you to a specialist to have him tested. If pedi. doesnt think there is a prob. you can still tell them you want him tested. ADD is very much hereditary(sp) My brother and I think my father have it, it doesn't have to actually come from a parent it can just be someone in the fam. Hope this helps.

well some signs of ADD are inattention,inpulsitvity,and hyperactivity are a few signs also sometimes if a kid cant stay still,dont follow instructions,and sometimes out of nowhere just says or blurts out some things that make you ask yourself did he/she say that,then may so.But you can't be forsure until you go see a doctor and get them checked out,best of luck.