u/justalilscared

My daughter (2 years and 9 months old) is suspected to have ADHD but is too young to be diagnosed.

She’s super smart and speaks in clear full sentences, but has trouble with emotional regulation, boundaries, other people’s personal space and belongings, just to name a few things. She recently qualified for Early Intervention due to poor social emotional skills, and she’s very sensory seeking (ie. likes to push her body onto her friends at school, crash onto her baby sibling etc)

She’s currently enrolled in a Montessori preschool part-time and for the most part she seems to be doing okay there. They do prioritize focus, order, routines etc and I think that has helped her to some extent, but my gut also tells me it may not be the right environment for her to truly thrive.

There’s another preschool (co-op) that is primarily play based. My girl loves being active and requires a lot of sensory input, so I’ve been leaning towards pulling her out of Montessori and enrolling her there. It would also involve way more group play, which might help improve her social skills.

My husband is against changing what’s working (since my daughter isn’t complaining about her school), and also thinks play-based won’t help her in the areas she needs to develop (like better focus, organization etc).

What are your experiences and which method seems best for an ADHD child?

My daughter (2 years and 9 months old) is suspected to have ADHD but is too young to be diagnosed.

She’s super smart and speaks in clear full sentences, but has trouble with emotional regulation, boundaries, other people’s personal space and belongings, just to name a few things.

She’s currently enrolled in a Montessori preschool part-time and for the most part she seems to be doing okay there. They do prioritize focus, order, routines etc and I think that has helped her to some extent, but my gut also tells me it may not be the right environment for her to truly thrive.

There’s another preschool (co-op) that is primarily play based. My girl loves being active and requires a lot of sensory input, so I’ve been leaning towards pulling her out of Montessori and enrolling her there.

My husband is against changing what’s working (since my daughter isn’t complaining about her school), and also thinks play-based won’t help her in the areas she needs to develop (like better focus, organization etc).

What are your experiences and which method seems best for an ADHD child?

My brief research tells me there’s no signs of ADHD that can be seen in babies.

However, I had a consultation with a neuro pediatrician for my almost 8 month old due to some concerns I have (ASD mostly) and he said he’s actually more concerned about ADHD?

My son is mostly a happy baby (although getting a bit fussier now), engages, gives eye contact (but doesn’t love it up close), claps, responds to his name (though not every time yet), eats solids well, sleeps well. However sometimes he seems completely in his own world.

Example: we do swimming lessons on the weekend. He loves the pool but he gets so distracted by the environment that he’ll barely pay attention to me or look at me. He’ll be looking at the hanging lobster in the ceiling, the other babies in the pool, basically everything/everywhere else. Even the teacher commented playfully that he seemed so distracted. Same thing when he’s in the stroller, completely immersed in everything around him and ignores me if I call him.

Today my husband was giving him cheese and at one point he completely zoned out. My husband had to wave the cheese in front of him and I had to talk to him loudly to snap him out of it and “bring him back”.

Sometimes after not seeing my husband for the whole day, my husband will greet him excitedly and he’ll barely acknowledge dad until a few seconds later. Or his toddler sibling will get too in his face, he will get overwhelmed and look away.

He’s my second child so I know I’m not overthinking or imagining things.

Did you see signs of inattentive adhd in your babies? I have adhd myself (inattentive) and my daughter who’s almost 3 shows many signs of hyperactivity.