My son is 4 years old. He is VERY smart for his age, but has a LOT of energy. I know that this is very normal for little boys, but what concerns me is his inability to pay attention or remember things he was just told. I have started making him look me in the eye when I am talking to him and repeat everything I say. Sometimes I feel he is just in another world. There are lots of instances when I will say his name several times or tell him to do something several times before he responds to me. He also forgets easily what he's supposed to be doing when I instruct him to do something. My doctor told me not to worry about it yet and to work on the discipline, but I was just wondering how soon other kids with ADD/ADHD began showing signs of it. MaybeI am reading too much into his behavior, but I am a little concerned. If anyone dealing with this can give me some personal insight, I'd really appreciate it.

Not paying attention is not enough to think he has ADD. With ADD if the child is in the middle of reading a page or working on a math problem and he hears a car go by on the street and that momentarily distracts him when he looks back at the page he was reading or the math problem he was doing he quit literally has no clue where he was on the page and has to start it all over again. Since he is only 4 true ADD may not really show itself yet unless he reads already or shows some sign of not remembering at all what he was doing if he gets distracted. Most young kids do get distracted easily but can usually go back to what they were doing without much problem. Once he is in school if you notice his not being having a clue where he was on his page of homework etc then I would suspect ADD.

Hi

My son was diagnosed ADHD at 4, and was doing a lot of the things you mentioned your son was doing. First off I would make an appointment with your pediatrician to discuss your concerns and to rule out any other issues that could be causing his problems, such as maybe hearing loss. (My son did have tubes and his hear did improve, but he was still ADHD) I am not suggesting that your son is ADHD, but the earlier he is diagnosed the better it is to get him some help. We decided to put our son in a structured everyday preschool and that really helped. We wanted to wait before medicating him. We made it till he was 5 and then decided to try some medication. We had him re-evaluated and again he tested positive. It was a hard decision, but it was one that we are glad we made. My son was becoming very aware of how different he was from other children and he just didn't understand why. He is now on Ritilan and it is making a tremendous difference. For your own piece of mind I would talk to the doctor, you have nothing to lose. Good Luck!

Oh BTW...my son is super smart as well, AHDH kids are! Does your son tend to hyperfocus? Meaning stay with something for longs periods of time such as tv or computer games? Josh was very focused on puzzles at age 3.

[This message has been edited by joshsmommi (edited 06-22-2003).]

Thank you both SO MUCH for your replies. I have seriously been considering taking my son to the pediatrician because of my concerns. Yes, Andrew is VERY smart. The teacher at daycare said he was doing things some of the kindergarten age kids couldn't. He is also the same way your son is. He could sit and play with puzzles for hours. But is is very easily distracted. If I tell him to pick his clothes up off the floor and something else catches his eye or interest, he will forget what he was supposed to do. This morning I told him to get his shoes on and he got one on, and somehow forgot the other. He was running around the house with only one shoe on like it was the most natural thing in the world. I asked him why he didn't have his other shoe on and he just said, "Oh!" and went to get it on. It is little things like that that make me wonder. I just hope that if its not ADHD that I will get SOME kind of answer! Again, I know that he is only 4 years old and he's a boy, but I see so many other kids that don't act the way he does at all. Thank you again for your input. It is so nice to know there are others out there that understand.

Jennifer..you are describing what I was going through a year ago. The same exact thing! If you would like to talk please email me at jdcimmi@omnitelcom.com .

The reason these kids do well with things like computers and video games etc and can do them for hours was pointed out to me in this similae. Take going out to a movie vs renting a video. When you go the theatre you have the movie seats, the popcorn, the sound system and everything else whereas when you rent a video YOU have to make the popcorn, The telephone still rings and the kids are running around all while you try to watch it on a small TV screen. The video games etc are considered multidimentional since they have the lights the sound and the action whereas paper and pencil are rather one dimentional and boring.

I was told by my son's doctor that the reasoning for hyper focusing on tv as well as video games is because the action on the screens are going soooo fast that thier brains can keep up with is, since their brains are going fast as well. My son can be glued to the tv for hours if we let him, but he is actually terrified of a movie theater. I think it is just too much for his brain to handle. I agree a pencil and paper are pretty boring. LOL But on his Ritilan he can sit and do mazzes and dot to dot, for hours at a time. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by joshsmommi (edited 06-23-2003).]