Need more BTDT advice

Ok, DS is 6 on Saturday. I need to know if his behavior is typical of his age or something else. At home he is wild pretty much all the time. What I mean by wild is that he is a sensory seeker. We have plenty of ways he can "work out"--fitness trampoline, we allow couch crashing, jump rope tug of war etc.... DS is just always moving and can't seem to focus long enough to do things like get dressed in the morning. At his parent teacher conference I flat out asked if they thought DS had ADHD. They looked at me like I had 2 heads (this is a school for kids who are "quirky"--they have kids with spd and other issues such as issues with pragmatic language, motor planning issues, social issues--no one there has a asd or asperger's diagnosis--just as background).

The teachers said DS sits and listens and does not have to be told often to stay on task etc... However, at home he is a nightmare. I know that kids will often let loose at home b/c after a day at school (DS's school day is 3 hours for transitional K). DS is like this afterschool, in the mornings, all weekend long. Is this normal for a 6 yr old? I feel that part is DS's spd issues. I also feel like, even though the teachers said no, that we are probably looking at ADHD (however, I don't know enough to know what else it could be).

Anyone gone through this? Any insight is appreciated.

DS is almost 5.5 years old. For example getting dressed is a process. I have little tricks I use to get him to get dressed so we race (who can get dressed the fastest) or one piece of clothing before I count to 10 (in a fun way) or he has to get dressed before we do something fun. Sometimes I just do it with/for him (often). So we aren't in "that was easy" phase for getting dressed. He loves to wrestle and snuggle and jump all over the place.

He will easily put on his shoes or jacket so we are making progress!

DS2 will often (but not always) get dressed himself and needs help with shoes.

I don't think DS1 has ADHD and the above seems pretty normal for me.
HTH
/hillary

racing used to work for DS. He just finished a year of therapuetic listening. Things were much easier while he was doing that. However, he cannot do it forever. We have noticed that DS seems to completely loose focus even if he starts out doing something he has been asked to do. We also break it down into putting one item on at a time. Dressing and breakfast used to take 45 minutes. It now takes 1.5 hours or more. DS needs to be constantly redirected and refocused. We normally repeat ourselves several times. Then we ask him to tell us what he is supposed to do. He gets sidetracked every single time. I think this is our new normal, but I was not sure how normal it was.

Your son has SPD, right? SPD and ADHD can look a lot alike. If he is managing in some environments (school) and not others (home), it is more likely to be SPD issues.

Here is an interesting article:

http://www.spdparentshare.com/spdinf...d/SPDADHD.html

Maybe you need to adjust how you manage his SPD at home. How is his sensory diet? I don't know much about therapuetic listening, but do you know if there were certain aspects of it that were especially helpful? A certain type of music, certain excercises? If so, can you somehow incorporate that into his daily routine/sensory diet. For example, maybe before eating breakfast/getting dressed he needs some time to do heavy work, excercise, or do yoga to music. That means building extra time into your schedule, but if it helps him focus and stay on track it could be worth it.

Have you done the brushing protocol? How about a weighted vest?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HIU8

(this is a school for kids who are "quirky"--they have kids with spd and other issues such as issues with pragmatic language, motor planning issues, social issues--no one there has a asd or asperger's diagnosis--just as background).

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This comment made me chuckle because the things you mention: sensory issues (spd), pragmatic language isues, social issues, and motor planning issues are pretty much the definition of ASD (inc. Aspergers).

Gena,

I know. No one has an actual diagnosis of Aspergers yet (one child with pragmatic language issues, several (including DS with spd). I know most of the parents have taken their kids to developmental peds etc... yet not one person has a definitive diagnosis.

We are doing the brushing now (just started on Monday). I don't know much about the weighted vest (nothing actually).