Misleading ADHD symptoms

Well the reason behind this post is, I was nearly close to believing my son exhibited abnormal behavior as early as 3 years. But certain behavior threw me off guard and led me to convince myself that he's normal. I wish to highlight those symptoms which most parents tend to mis-interpret.This is purely based on my personal experience. Hence, please do NOT substitute this information for professional medical advice.

As most readers of this post already know,ADHD has no quantitative metrics for evaluation. So keen observation from your end and others who interact with your child , is needed. Before you head to a child psychologist for evaluation, its better you equip yourself with as much information as possible.If you are a working parent, gather as much feedback as possible from your child's teacher or caretaker.

• How hyper can ADHD children get ?

Most toddlers and kindergarten-going-children have boundless energy and are always on the move. So what is so different about the hyperactivity exhibited by kids having ADHD? Well, the level of energy in them is so high that any task which requires even a minute's idleness is herculean for them. This includes brushing,bathing,grooming and even tucking them to sleep.In some cases like mine,they don't have the patience to even finish his toilet or even walk properly.Even till date, my son will not set his foot fully on the floor while walking.

• Hyperactivity doesn't necessarily mean on-wheels-always

It is true that a dictionary would define the word hyperactivity as above, but ADHD kids don't behave always that way. When my son, stopped his endless running,jumping-and-getting-hurt phase, I was relieved that he isn't hyperactive anymore. But he would instead keep blabbering, talking, fidgeting, biting,scratching etc.Looks like his excess energy was channelized into other activities. 

• How to identify Attention deficiency?

Not many kids enjoy school or atleast the academic part of it.Only a handful of kids do something called as in-class-learning.So most of us would ignore the comment, "your child simply can't pay attention is class" and not even remotely link it to ADHD. While, the above behavior is justifiable,ADHD kids lack attention in any task. If its playing a game, its not likely to last more than 2 minutes.If its watching TV, they will mostly not make it to the end of the programme and they are likely to keep switching between channels. Lest, to say if you are asking them to write, they simply cannot focus on holding a pencil and doing a stroke. I suppose their minds think of 1000's of things at a given point of time and focusing on one task is indeed difficult.

• Amazing memory,talent and creativity

This was THE reason which kept me from going to a pyschologist for an earlier evaluation. My son, exhibited can recall incidents which happened when he was 2.5 years old. He constructed a beautiful theme park which we had visited, using building blocks. Bull dozers, concrete mixers,trucks etc are his favorite. I was surprised to see him make a bull dozer by connecting to of this cars. This led me to wonder, why the hell would anyone call my child 'attention deficit' which he has observed so much and can recall so much. The answer here is, these kids learn a lot on their own, by observation. These are seldom forgotten.But, when told what to do or when expected to follow instructions, they simply cannot concentrate because of their high energy levels.

Now, for all those in a dilemma, I hope this post has thrown some light into the difference between normal and abnormal behavior. Your comments,feedback and experiences are welcome.