Hyperactivity, but not ADHD?

JodyBPM

My 5 yr old son has always been a bit of a handful, but he's not in any way extreme in his behaviour. He is achieving at the correct level at school, and although he gets into trouble sometimes, Ive been reassured by the teacher that his behaviour is not extreme or outside the norms expected for children of his age.

He's a lovely little boy, very kind and can be gentle. He's sunny natured, has lots of friends, shares well etc.

I've wondered before about ADHD, but googling it, whilst he certainly has some of the symptoms they describe, he definitely doesn't have many, and in all honesty, I don't think his behaviour would be extreme enough to be considered under that spectrum. However, he does seem to have a lot of the more "hyperactive" type symptoms that I see described.

He constantly squirms and fidgets. When I am trying to give him instructions, he seems half distracted, often fiddling with something, shuffling his feet or playing with his collar/cuffs/ shoe laces/ anything to hand. He cannot sit though a meal on his bottom, constantly up and down in his chair, and he asks to go to the toilet half way through, without fail. He rarely actually gets as far as the toilet, he just seems to need to run up and then back down the stairs before sitting down again for another 5 mins! I struggle to get him to walk nicely, he has to run. When he stops he is always has to climb on a nearby wall, touch a parked car etc. Walking to school with him is a nightmare, I'm constantly having to ask him to stop running, stop climbing, stop touching stuff. He struggles to go to sleep at night, although he is obviously tired - he CANNOT lay still with his eyes shut, he constantly fidgets, gets up and down to the loo, pulls wall stickers off or untucks his duvet or takes the pillows out of their cases etc.

He can however concentrate for an extended period on things he is interested in - he can sit building lego for an hour, play on a computer game for an hour, look at books for an hour or play with action figures for an hour, but he will be fidgeting and foot tapping whilst doing it!

I'm considering having a good look at his diet. In general it is good, but two days a week whilst I work, he is with the grandparents, who do let him drink coke, eat masses of sweets, ice lollies etc. I always took the view previously that since I fed him healthily at home that it was ok for the grandparents to treat him a bit, but I'm wondering about the amount of enumbers he will be consuming.

I'm also struggling to find much information about *simple* hyperactivity - ie not as part of ADHD.

Does anyone have any advice? Is it worth a try to restrict his diet? Does hyperactivity without the attention disorder even exist? Or is what I am describing perfectly normal behaviour for a 5 year old boy?

Allegra

JodyBPM wrote: »

. Walking to school with him is a nightmare, I'm constantly having to ask him to stop running, stop climbing, stop touching stuff.

Why ? Genuine question, not criticism - are you worried about his safety, are you finding his fidgeting and activity upsetting/distracting, or are you just worried that people will think you are not bringing him up properly ?

If safety is the worry, concentrate on trying to restrict the behaviours that are potentially dangerous, such as running into the road, and leave the rest be.

If it's you who are finding it all hard to take, try finding different ways to relax/distract yourself from paying attention to what he's doing all the time.

And if it's other people you are worried about, go tell 'em to take a flying ferque at a rolling doughnut, pardon my Klatchian.

Or is what I am describing perfectly normal behaviour for a 5 year old boy?

If the teachers who see twenty-odd 5 year olds day in, day out, year after year, consider his behaviour to be perfectly normal, then it probably is

Having said that, sometimes teachers do not see the full picture - children sometimes do put the brakes on at school (my DD certainly did, and does) and then let rip at home. There is no harm in looking at his diet and overhauling it in a healthy way, and if you really are worried, take him to see the doc. But do not diagnose by Google, please - that Google, she's a liar, I swear :cool:

sock-knitter

google is most definatly a liar, if you have any concerns about your son, please see doctor, but as previous poster has said teachers can usually spot which is normal behaior,
and kids with the severest adhd, can concentrate on computer games if that is what they are interested in
try the healthier diet approach first tho, as i know many kids who are affected by caffeine and various other additives

delain

I would definitely question the coke... that isn't appropriate for a child his age. There are many perfectly normal children who will go completely haywire after one glass of the stuff.

You are doing the right thing looking at his diet, good luck talking to the grandparents about it, it's not easy. I'm having similar problems with ex mil who just thinks I am a disrespectful child and have no right to tell her what to do after I told her to stop letting them help themselves to sweets all day :eek:

The running and climbing when walking, I'd have said that was normal behaviour for his age, hopefully he will grow out of it if you keep reminding him of how to behave.

My twins have autistic tendencies and I find (only now, at age 7 mind you) that if I explain clearly to them before we leave the house to the letter how I expect them to behave in every situation we will meet and offer some sort of small reward, such as a go on the computer when we get home it has a good impact on them, and I only have to remind them once or twice, on a good day not at all

It depends on your 5 year old's maturity really whether that works or not. It wouldn't have meant anything to the twins at 5

absolutebounder

various E numbers can make kids go hyper as can a lot of sugar.. On the other hand is it better to have an active kid or a couch potato?

blue_monkey_2

Just a quickie because I am making dinner. I would certainly look at his diet, my son does have disgnosis of ADHD but anything with sweeteners in sends him absolutely doolaly and he is 10 times orse then usual. We only have the full sugar versions of juices and foods. Fruit shoots are the very worst things for causing hyperactivity, I am surprised anyone gives them to their children.

If he can control himself at school and you can cope at home then let it be if you can cope with it, just watch what you are feeding him as it will most certainly help, and others MUST abide by your rules, even if you have to buy the food while he is there. Lots of things have sweetners in and you may not realise - yogurts, biscuits, some cheese have colourings in, cereals, etc... What you might think healthy, might not be. Can you post a sample of things he has to eat and maybe some of us can help and advise you some more.

I agree it is better to have him active or not. Get him a trampoline outside if you have the space/money, works wonders for getting rid of all that excess energy and will help tire him before bed.

Make sure you keep him to a strict bedtime routine, even at the weekends, so he body is not upheaved every few days.

Brighton_belle

I have no experience or expertise OP but I always remember a few yrs ago there was a programme on kids with severe asthma who went to an NHS specialist unit for allergy testing.
Cutting the story short, there was one little boy who in the opening introduction was aways wriggling & squirming - couldn't keep still (and this wasn' mentioned by prog or dr as that wasn't his 'problem' asthma was).
So after a severe routine of elimnating dust mites and possibly some dietry changes as a result of the allergy testing, x months later we return and his asthma is dramatically better. But, the facinating thing was, the dr pointed out, off camera that the boy also now sat perfectly still while talking to us/them/ who ever.

So I mention this purely to say, it does appear at least for this child that there were environmental factors that caused that sort of behaviour. I certainly think it is worth making the changes you are thinking of dietwise.
It's a shame you can't have a few weeks run without him being alone with grandparents so you can really give it a good go. But I appreciate that is not possible while you are working.

poggs

JodyBPM wrote: »

Does anyone have any advice? Is it worth a try to restrict his diet? Does hyperactivity without the attention disorder even exist? Or is what I am describing perfectly normal behaviour for a 5 year old boy?

You are describing about 75% of 5 year old boys in the country. Thats boys for you, they are murder until they get older.

Its how they are supposed to behave. They are wild one minute and focused like laser the next. They get bored in minutes when in shops but will play cars/lego for oh sometimes tens of minutes!

Only wierd 5 year old boys sit still and listen to mummy. Doesnt make it any easier though! I spent most of my time with our boys shoutng at them to sit still, do as they are told etc. They dont and neither do their friends. Then they grow up and are just fine. The nightmare years for a boy are 4 to 9.

Girls on the other hand are great kids and shocking teenagers

Do you have an older girl and are judging your son on what she was like?

Dont worry, just make sure you love him and he knows that you love him and all will be well.

We are far to obsessed with medicating our children. They dont need it!

blue_monkey_2

poggs wrote: »

We are far to obsessed with medicating our children. They dont need it!

The OP was not for one minute, asking about medicating her child, but whether she should restrict his diet.

However, you are very wrong. Some do.

In an ideal world no-one would need medication, but lots of people do, and it is not given lightly. I was was one of those people who never thought ADHD existed and that it was a cop out to drug them - however, my son was then born. If my son needs medication to get a decent education then I will give it to him, I do not like the idea of giving it to him but as it makes HIS life better, he has it. I am his parent and I decide for him.

And before you start on the crap about me giving it to make MY life easier, he is unmedicated when he is in my care, he has it for school only because without it he is unable to concentrate on his work and he disrupts others around him.

Rockporkchop

What is your view on supplements as I can't recommend DMG Behaviour Balance liquid highly enough. It's completely natural and will do wonders for his hyperactivity and should help him settle down and sleep too.

http://www.detoxpeople.eu/index.php?l=product_detail&p=2

I have been giving it to my DS for a couple of months and the results have been amazing.

JodyBPM

poggs wrote: »

You are describing about 75% of 5 year old boys in the country. Thats boys for you, they are murder until they get older.

Its how they are supposed to behave. They are wild one minute and focused like laser the next. They get bored in minutes when in shops but will play cars/lego for oh sometimes tens of minutes!

Only wierd 5 year old boys sit still and listen to mummy. Doesnt make it any easier though! I spent most of my time with our boys shoutng at them to sit still, do as they are told etc. They dont and neither do their friends. Then they grow up and are just fine. The nightmare years for a boy are 4 to 9.

Girls on the other hand are great kids and shocking teenagers

Do you have an older girl and are judging your son on what she was like?

Dont worry, just make sure you love him and he knows that you love him and all will be well.

We are far to obsessed with medicating our children. They dont need it!

Spot on! I have a girl a year older who is easy, easy, easy in every way. DS is soooo different to DD, and I struggle a lot to understand why he, at 5 can't behave in the way that DD did at 2 or 3. He is a lovely, lovely boy. But he is hard work.
The school think he is (from his school report) "achieving as expected for a child of his age" and from talking to his teacher, sometimes challenging, but "no more than we would expect from a child of his age."

I'm not trying to, or considering medicating him. I'm considering trying to get the GPs to cut down on the junk, because I *think* he could have hyperactive tendancies. And I need to look at our own diet too, because although its all generally healty, I do use food colourings (in icing when baking), give him squash, ketchup, ice lollies etc.

We've been out at my best friend's house tonight. She's a control/clean freak, bless her, but is chilling out a bit since her DD started walking. And bless him, he's been a superstar - lovely with the baby, totally well behaved and non manic. So I'm dead proud of him, and have told him loads how good he has been. But he has to try really hard not to touch, fiddle etc. He has to use "self control" (school speak) whereas DD does it without thinking!

I don't know. He just throws me. He's sooo lovely and ii love him, but I just don't "get" him in the way I get dd. And why can't he just stand still?