ADD without school problems

[JacquillaParticipant]

Hi there…I have discovered that I have a lot of the signs of ADHD (predominantly inattention and impassivity ones) as an adult, (and also have 2 children who have been diagnosed with ADHD) but I did not have difficulties at school as a child. Is it possible that I do have ADHD without having had problems at school…or would it definitely have shown up as behavioral or learning difficulties at school if I do have it?

[Dr. EricParticipant]

Symptoms would have to be present in childhood, but that does not necessarily mean academic or disciplinary problems at school.

I personally graduated 7th in my class. (Probably would have been valedictorian without the ADHD.)
I only had one detention in 13 years of school discipline.

However, my symptoms manifested in plenty of other ways.
Mostly socially and at home, but I also had serious organizational and study skills deficits that created drama with me and my parents, but did not impact my grades (until college).

I also ran about 3 activities a day.. (Musical to swim practice to Karate).. I don’t know what would have happened without that type of physical activity.

[roadrunnerParticipant]

Hi- I just recently been diagnosed with ADHD inattentive type. My youngest son we think has it having behavioral problems in Kindergarten but better now at school. He does very well academically but in kindergarten he was completely bored and overstimulated which we understand now. He loves to learn but bored easily if he is not stimulated. He is very physically active and we have him in several activities which helps. Myself never acted out and did okay in school but had to study really hard in college and only focus on school and running. I was quiet, spacy but very physically active as well. I also have a son who has high functioning autism. Again he is excellent academically but does not socialize with other kids. He spends his recess reading books in the library. Anyways, so I don’t think you have to have trouble in school to have ADHD from my experience. Hope this helps.

[matchaParticipant]

Hello,
I’ve been diagnosed 6 months ago at the age of 29, and never had problems at school before med school (but only realising now that it was ADD related and not me being dumb). I am now finishing my PhD and indeed having some heavy concentrations problems is not helping, but here I am.
All that to say that having AD(H)D doesn’t mean you will have problems at school, if you are lucky enough to have a brain that can compensate, you can be perfectly fine =)

[Author]

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