Does this sound familiar?
On Monday, your son Robby leaves late for the school bus because he couldn’t find his shoes, then he stopped to fiddle with a Lego model on the way out the door.
On Tuesday, his homework that took you hours to get him to complete the night before never makes it off the kitchen table.
On Wednesday, he jumps off a five-foot wall at recess “just because” and lands in the nurse’s office.
On Thursday, he comes home tantruming because other kids didn’t want to play with him during recess.
By Friday, you’re sitting at a parent-teacher conference hearing words like impulsive, distracted, underperforming, can’t sit still, and needs constant redirection. A teacher suggests testing for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder which is better known as ADHD.
If this feels familiar, please know you are not alone. As pediatricians, we’ve sat with many families at this exact moment. It’s natural to feel relief that someone else sees the struggle, and at the same time, worry: What if it’s something else?
That’s such an important question.
What else could it be?
ADHD is common and very real. But several other conditions can look like ADHD—or make attention problems worse. Kids with ADHD are not even necessarily hyperactive. When pediatricians evaluate a child for possible ADHD, we think broadly before landing on a diagnosis.
