A lot of what you said reminds me of myself. My mother has talked about all the Lego creations I made, and the hours I would spend playing with them. I was always able to do well in school but never really enough to stand out until I was in college. I was diagnosed very young as having ADHD and dyslexia. If your son really is ADD or ADHD it could be really helpful for him to start the process now. Medication will help but it's also important for you as his parent, and eventually himself to understand how he learns best. If you find someone to test him sooner than later you can start making the adjustments now that will help him develope good learning habits and a good self esteem. We learn very differently than normal people and to gain knowledge in how he learns best is vital. Good luck with everything, and remember everything will turn out alright either way!

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He sounds exactly like my daughter. Its unfortunate that because they are not struggleing with the academics teachers don't seem to think that they have adhd. So not the case. Adhd is a very wide array of symptoms. Our school has to test the kids if the parent asks. If you can not get help that way, then you need to get him tested somewhere else. Try the Physchiatrist anyway, he will only be giving him the tests. Once you get a written diagnosis, you can take it to the school and proceed from there.

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But don't worry too much. The fact that you are noticing these things is half the battle. The question is are these worries that of an over-concerned parent or are they legitimate. I would say they are probably legitimate but that's only because of the problems that I have had through my behavior passing unnoticed. Teachers generally will only see a problem if there are failing grades or extremely disruptive behavior. The loss is the difference between actual performance and potential performance. This for me affected social interaction and work achievement through my life. Clearly you child has at least some social difficulties if he is scared of other kids. That suggests a difficulty in relating on the same wavelength as others of his age. If he is not comfortable in the school environment for whatever reason and has difficulty with seeing a direction he will probably underachieve. I am recently diagnosed with adult adhd but I had to diagnose myself. I took some time because I don't have typical symptoms. It would never have happened if not for my own experience and work to find out what was wrong. Even the psychiatrist was unsure at first. So what you are doing is good however look at the symptoms first . Also look at other behavior that might not be negative or even positive but seem unusual. Like the lego. What I am trying to say is all adhd people aren't exactly the same and there is a spectrum of behavioral disorders. You need to find an experienced enough professional to get what in the end is an educated guess.

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It is quite common for a gifted child to appear to have ADHD.

Gifted kids in general are far more active than average kids and require far less sleep. Gifted kids are also usually very inquisitive and need to find things out for themselves, they are often testing the boundaries and pushing the limits.

It is also very common for gifted kids to be emotionally less mature. It almost seems like their body has balanced itself out, because its racing ahead in one area it is taking its time in other area's. Gifted kids are often socially out of step with their peers.

I wouldn't worry about the 10 minutes quacking like a duck. That is not ADHD behavior it is perfectly normal kid behavior. Kids often make weird noises because they enjoy the sensation and the sound. This is normal right through the elementary school years, often they get lost in it like someone might get lost in piking at a scab or something and they don't realize that they look or sound foolish.

It does seem strange that your school would not evaluate him if his grades were not bad enough. ADHD is not a learning difficulty and does not affect intellectual ability. Many kids with ADHD have severe behavior problems but are smart and do well with seemingly no effort at all.

I have ADHD and only spent about 10% of my time in class at school and the rest either in the principals office or suspended but I ended up with straight A's without one bit of effort.

However, having said that it does not sound like your son has ADHD. There are two major issue's with ADHD the first is attention deficit which is the problems with concentration. If this is a major issue it would affect your sons grades.

The second, which is the one you seem to be concerned he is suffering from is the hyperactivity and poor impulse control side. Many kids are active and difficult to control. But ADHD is in fact a severe neurological disorder. If he does not have behavior problems at school and is very hard to handle then it is not ADHD.

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