Hi!

Yes, many of those symptoms you list can be found in ADD/ADHD. But be careful. They also describe characteristics that are normal for children that they outgrow.

ADD/ADHD is grossly over-diagnosed in children. But doctors make a profit off of this, so there is no incentive to stop.

Teachers today are very overtaxed as they have to deal with many more students than in the past. One of the unfortunate results of this is they are having trouble dealing with energetic children that just need to learn some discipline, organizational skills, social skills, etc. Because teachers don't have time to do anything about this, they blame the kids and say they are "disordered" and request they be medicated. The last teacher I talked to about this told me that "half the children in our school are on ADD/ADHD meds."

Parents can also feel overtaxed by the normal growing pains children go through and want quick solutions. I'm not saying this is you as I'm sure you only want the best for you son.

Also, if a doctor does give your child an ADD/ADHD diagnosis, insist she/he tries other treatments before putting your child on medications. (i.e. diet changes can make a big difference) Drugging children should be resorted to only when other methods don't work.

Good luck!

--Ceara1010