Tell me about ADHD in girls

[Insertcreativenamehere]

I've been struggling with trying to figure out my daughter's needs. She's 8, fairly bright, but is a big challenge when it comes to homeschooling -- not academically, but in terms of her behavior. I've come so close to putting her into school because she's making it difficult for her brothers to learn, but I don't know if that would just make the situation worse. (I don't want to put her into school, either, and she doesn't want to go - but something needs to change!)

 

In reading about ADHD in girls, she has the following symptoms:

 

[*]- talking all the time, even when asked to stop.

[*]- frequent crying, even from small disappointments. When she has meltdowns, she can't calm herself and feels out of control.

[*]- constantly interrupting conversations

[*]- trouble paying attention

[*]- having a messy bedroom, desk, or backpack

[*]- difficulty finishing assigned work

[*]- low self-esteem

[*]- anxiety and irrational fears

[*]- impulsive

[*]- has started lying

 

Does this sound like ADHD in your experience? What can I do to help her? Is seeing her pediatrician the best first step?

Edited October 7, 2017 by insertcreativenamehere

[PeterPan]

Anything else going on as well? Is she bio or adopted? Ages of siblings?

 

A ped can do meds or a referral to psychologist for insurance. With a list like that you'd like to be sure what's going on. Anything she seeks or does an unusual amount? Anything she avoids?

 

ADHD doesn't have to involve major behavior problems so when you've got them you definitely want to take some time and sort it out. So you look at the full situation to see where the breakdowns are and what can be done. Studies show most people are happiest with behavior work then meds. Depending on the situation you could have some options.

[Crimson Wife]

Hyperactivity and impulsivity are the biggest symptoms my DD has. She also has some inattention but those don’t cause nearly as much disruptive behaviors as the H part of her ADHD diagnosis.

 

The sensory diet designed by the Occupational Therapist and behavioral therapy has helped (and that is what we started with) but the night-and-day improvement happened when we medicated

 

 

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[nature girl]

All of these do look like textbook combined-type ADHD. My DD7 (ADHD with no comorbidities) does show many of those symptoms, and those that she doesn't are also common for ADHD. (Anxiety would be a comorbidity.) Similar to Crimson, DD's hyperactivity is most disruptive. She also had the emotional regulation issues you're seeing, but those have gotten quite a bit better over the past couple of years, in part I think due to mindfulness work we've done, I think, as well as some social skills training to help her recognize her feelings and learn tools to control them. I also think part of the improvement is just age. 

 

Like with Crimson's daughter, meds have helped us quite a bit with attention/being able to finish work, and with her hyperactivity. (She also doesn't talk constantly while medicated, but does still talk quite a bit.) Her behavior has also improved dramatically...Meds help her to not act impulsively, doing things like hitting out or biting when frustrated. We've also used cognitive behavioral training, basically using a token system to reward good behavior (and less frequently threatening to remove tokens to dissuade her from bad behavior.) It works quite well.

 

Your first step, like OhE said, is to get an evaluation to give you a better idea what you're dealing with, and make sure you're not missing anything. Once you have the evals, you can figure out the best ways to help her. You can see her pediatrician, but in the end you'll be better off getting a complete evaluation from a psychiatrist or a pediatric neurologist. Pediatricians usually don't have enough experience in diagnosing, and can miss other issues. Especially since you're seeing irrational fears, you'l probably want to get a psych involved.

[shinyhappypeople]

It might be ADHD.  Or it might be something else.  It's certainly worth digging deeper.  See if you can get a referral to a child psychiatrist and see if they can help you sort it out.   :grouphug:

[Insertcreativenamehere]

 

 

Anything else going on as well? Is she bio or adopted? Ages of siblings? 

She is bio, the third of four children. She has three brothers (ages 12, 10 and 5) and often feels left out as a result. Her youngest brother has Down syndrome and a history of being very medically fragile (200+ days in the hospital during his first three years. That was a stressor for her next oldest brother, age 10, and that in fact is what led us to homeschooling. The 10 yo also exhibited ADHD/anxiety symptoms but maturity and homeschooling have helped.) 

 

She is very sociable and loves her weekly homeschool enrichment program, but at home, her behavior is a totally different story. 

[Ravin]

Sounds a lot like my DD who has ADD and anxiety.

[Southern Ivy]

It might be ADHD.  Or it might be something else.  It's certainly worth digging deeper.  See if you can get a referral to a child psychiatrist and see if they can help you sort it out.   :grouphug:

Agree - it could be ADHD or it could be something else.

Without knowing more, I'm just shooting in the dark, but my dd was diagnosed with ADHD. She also has SPD and anxiety. However, the more I've studied, I've come to realize that her main issue is more than likely Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). CAPD and ADHD look a LOT alike. 

A neuropsych or child psychologist would not be able to diagnose CAPD, but if you think she MIGHT have it, a visit to an audiologist who knows CAPD could help rule it out. 

 

Differences between CAPD and ADHD

 

Signs of CAPD

 

There are some very tell-tale signs making it one or the other, so you know your daughter best. But, wanted to throw it out there just in case there were more pieces that hadn't been mentioned. 

Edited October 8, 2017 by Southern Ivy