How can you tell if a child has A.D.D?

Question

I work in a daycare as a preschool teacher. This one little boy was in our room today and I noticed his attention span was a lot shorter then the other children in the room. He's been in other rooms and I've noticed his behavior was like that in the other room with the other children. I'm wondering what the signs are for a.d.d because it's just possible that he might have it.

Answer 1

Short Answer-Go see a doctor and have a test done.

Answer 2

ADD is something that many pediatricians refuse to look at until the child is at least five years of age.

Observe the child as he is "focusing" on things.  Does he attend to certain tasks longer than others?  On what is he focused?  Perhaps he just needs to mature more.

If it was his first time in your room, he was probably very stimulated by a new environment.  

Sometimes a child just isn't interested in what is available.  Take some time to get to know the child and find out where his interests lie.  Then try to create some activities that follow his interest.

Perhaps he just requires more movement than other children.  Give him chances to move around while doing an activity.  Look up Brain Gym.

Try to meet his needs now, and worry about ADD in a couple of years.

Answer 3

first of all, calm down

i could be his age

he will grow out of it

the best thing to do is to try to associate with him by making him feel welcome. Try coloring with him or painting, or make stuff out of paper.

see how he reacts

Answer 4

You usually have to be very careful with this.  Is his attention span really shorter or is his attention span to what you have to say really shorter?  It drove me nuts this week at work when I saw one teacher write in a communication book, "(Child's name) has trouble concentrating."  In reality, he has no trouble concentrating.  He was likely concentrating on the dust on the floor or some detail he sees on the wall.  That's just how he is and it's more normal than what we often try to put our children to fit into.

What you must do is document exactly what you see.  When did it happen and how long did it happen for?  All those questions.  You cannot diagnose ADD.  You can only say that these are the things you see and they might suggest talking to a doctor about the behaviors.

Answer 5

Unfortunately from what I've seen way too many children are getting diagnosed with ADD.

To extend on what Matt said, different children have different interests, different backgrounds, different likes and dislikes-- and all of this effects what they enjoy and dont enjoy. Many parents and teachers wrongly jump to the conclusion of ADD when a child seems disinterested in many things, but are you interested in everything?

Maybe the toy/activity he was doing wasnt something he liked? Or wasnt appropriate to his stage of development.

I think many people are taking the easy option by saying their children have ADD, when really theyre just not being stimulated properly to meet their needs.

Its really sad to see children taking drugs for years and years when theres nothing medically wrong with them at all..