ADHD Diagnosis in Kids
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Isn't My 4-Year-Old Too Young to Be Diagnosed With ADHD? Common Parental Concerns and Answers

Preschool teachers, relatives, and even friends have commented on your child’s abnormal hyperactivity, lack of focus, and daredevil behavior. You experience the extreme behavior every day, but you hesitate to pursue an evaluation for ADHD in no small part because it is scary to think your child has a neurological condition that will impact his health and happiness. Here are reasons parents often give for delaying a diagnosis, and responses from ADHD specialists who strongly persuade them to reconsider.

2 Comments: Isn't My 4-Year-Old Too Young to Be Diagnosed With ADHD? Common Parental Concerns and Answers

  1. My son was diagnosed at age 2, but his ADHD was blatantly obvious to everyone who knew him. We also have a strong family history of it on both my and my husband’s sides, I have it and one of our older children has it. I’m grateful that we were able to get him started with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and in a developmental preschool at an early age. They have helped so much. He’s not on medication yet because we and his doctor wanted to try absolutely everything else first (he’s about to turn 5), but it looks like we may be heading in that direction.

  2. I took my daughter to her pediatrician at 6 years old because I had a nagging feeling that she had ADHD based on some of the impulsivity I was seeing (and inability to stay focused) and I was basically shamed by her doctor for bringing her in because “she was too young to diagnose” and her doctor acted like I was being ridiculous for even thinking that she might have ADHD. That made me completely gun shy to go anywhere else.

    A year and a half later, her teacher expressed some concerns about it also, so that helped me break out of the shame from the first visit. So, I took her to a clinic that specialized in it and low and behold, she has ADHD-c (And not just a mild case; also got myself assessed after reading all the questions and realizing there was a very good chance I had it as well, and turns out I have severe ADHD-c that’s just been undiagnosed my whole life, sigh…)

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