Adhd girls and new situations

Getting overwhelmed in a situation with a lot of stimuli is typical, though it’s usually in situations wiht lots of stimuli (like a “shopping” situation), as opposed to a quieter situation (like going up to a teacher after class and asking for help).

Each child’s presentation of ADHD, girls or not, can be slightly different from the next child. The description you offer of your daughter’s behavior doesn’t leap out to me as typical of ADHD. Inattentive ADD kids, again girls or not, can ‘space out’ and I’d associate ‘spacing out’ more with Inattentive ADD than ADHD.

Has she had IQ testing? I’d want to ask if there’s a split between her performance and her verbal IQ.

In any case, the results of her testing may give you the good answers you’re looking for.

Good luck.

IQ was done at 6.5 and there was no split. What really gets me
she is only like this with new situations. Doesn’t have a clue
as what to do. Very confused. Sometimes she seems nervous. Ask
many questions. What ifs by the hundreds. Drives my dh nuts. Shopping
does not seem to bother her. She did score avg on common sence.(10)
Which was her lowest score. I have mentioned Nld to the doc but
she skipped right on by this idea. Her teacher say’s no Adhd here.
Always completes her work. Psyco. says giftedness is masking
Adhd and will show more as she gets older. Told me the hyper
part in girls sometime shows in talking too much. This she does.
I first thought Nvld this is why I took her to be tested. Mostly because
she has spatial defecits, social problems (pragmatics), and motor
clumsiness. I was told Adhd can have this too. I just do not see
a big problem with attention. Maybe they are right, this will show
later. Thanks for both your replys.

I would think NVLD before ADD too, especially if it’s only new situations, not any situation with a lot of stimuli. Actually, ADHD people often as not *love* new situations (though by no means always!).

Did she learn to read young — and does she get totally lost in books? (This can be a good thing if they’re good books :-))

And what were the other “lows” — and what were the highs- on the subtest scores? I suspect her giftedness is masking subtle LDs — and it might really help her to learn what her weak thinking areas are. One disadvantage to giftedness is that if you can just not use and develop one skill because another is really good, then boy, that weak one just gets weaker and weaker. If you can memorize directions to somebody’s house, you never have to hae a sense of where it is or remember the landmarks (heaven forfend if the road signs fall down!)

A lot of this does sound like NLD, and it’s been suggested (Rourke) that only 40% of kids with NLD will show the VIQ-PIQ split. So no split does not mean no NLD.

The spacial deficits, social issues, and motor clumsiness all can be NLD related, and the total aversion/fear/”incompetence” that comes when confronting and novel (new) situation is classic NLD (and maybe other things too, I just know it’s very NLD). Novel refers to “didn’t do it today” — that is if she went to a book fair last year, she won’t necessarily remember what strategies or be able to apply them to navigate the situation. NLD kids do not generalize information well: so they can practice lots of appropriate behaviors in social skills group (or rehearse with you) and not necessarily be able to apply those behaviors in real life situations. Also her difficulties navigating space can be NLD related (the visual-spatial deficits).

I can’t tell if you’ve had a really thorough neuropsych eval., how is her executive function??? May be time for a second opinion (especially the way the evaluator just “skipped over” NLD. I’d suggest you find a testing center/clinicial who really knows NLD. Where are you located?

Sue, She did not learn to read young, I believe she could have. Let me give you the condensed reason. She has always loved books. We read to her all time. At 3yr. we were in Japan and I put her in a preschool for the first time. On the 3rd day of preschool she began to cry when I picked her up. Telling me the teacher did not listen to her. She wanted to learn to write her name. I was floored and told her I would teach her this. One week later my dh was dx with AML and for the next two years. Everything was a mess. Back to the states CA. One month later transfered to MISS. for more treatment. We lived between motel rooms and family members for over a year and a half. To top it off I was pregnant thru it all at 40!!!!! My dd was left to fend for herself. Two months before Kinder. We bought a home. And started back to a normal type of living. In Kindergarden she began to read over night. Once she learn the Phonics she could read, spell, and write anything. Althou writing was in Phonitics only. She loves to read and is above grade level, but there are problems with comprehension. She is very literal, and has problems with inferences, abstract idea's ,conversations, and idioms. Is witty but does not get jokes. Spatial problem are, she has no since of time at all, no since of direction. She reads the clock like a math problem but it means very little to her. Right and left mixed up all the time. Her lows were comprehension, Picture Completion, Block Design. Her highs were Arithmetic, Vocabulary , Object Assembly. I know for a fact on the outside she looks very capable and calm. But on the inside if it is new work or new areas or new ideas she becomes very confused fightened. We have had many meltdowns in this area. Thanks

I am in central Florida, my insurance is the pits and I am at present
requesting more testing. But when I mention Nvld no one seems to
get it. I am one hour away from University of Florida. I call there and
they have no one who does this testing. There is one Child Psychitrist
who I am trying to get approvel to see and he spiecalizes in AS and
Adhd. He does neuro testing. Besides this I don’t know where to
look. Thanks

NVLD is still “new” (it shouldn’t be, but it is). Lots of professionals still don’t get it. THat’s NOT because it’s not a real problem.
Sometimes big highs and lows — the lows being a legitimate disability — just don’t end up with a clean “split” between Verbal and Performance. Our kids didn’t read the IQ test manual or something. (Actually, she probably figured out how to do a fair number of those “performance” tests “like a math problem.” This means that in that kind of situation, *if* she’s figured out how to treat it like a math problem, she’s fine. If it’s NEW, she hasn’t had a chance to do that yet. Ask her about this, though she may be doing it without realizing it.)
I’d recommend at least getting her involved in a physical activity where knowig where your body is comes in handy — swimming is a good one for lots of reasons (landings are soft for one thing :)), though you don’t want to set her up to be where everybody else already knows where their bodies are. Tae Kwon Do is another option (that moms sometimes struggle with :))

Kelly,

I too am in FL and I called the U of Miami Children’s hospital and spoke to someone there about NVLD. I know that is pretty far for you but maybe you could call them and get a referral.

Beth

Beth How much would this type of testing cost. My insurance will
not cover ld’s. Thanks

Hi Kelly,

Do I recall correctly from another post that your dd is only 7yo? When my now 15yo dd was that age, she wasn’t able to handle new situations like that either nor who she have even attempted to do so! She would rather not buy the much desired books than face that new situation. I’ve always thought this type of behavior as being more anxiety that anything else. There is a subtype of ADD called Limbic ADD that has a strong anxiety component to it. After all these years, my dd is much better at handling new situations but she does require a lot of reassurances and I verbally “walk her through” what to expect in a new situation. My 12yo non-LD/ADD son likes to be verbally “walked through” new situations also. Even now that she has tested as reading above grade level, she gets so nervous when unexpectedly called upon to read aloud in class, she can’t do it without a lot of errors. If the class is taking turns reading aloud and she knows in advance when it’ll be her turn, she focuses on repeatedly silent reading her part and never hears what anyone else is reading. Anxiety definitely “freezes the mind”.

Blessings, momo

Kelly,

I don’t know exactly but neuropsych testing is expensive. My insurance will cover some but not nearly the full cost. I think that is likely to be at least a $1000.

They seemed like they were willing to try and work with the insurance I do have. You might call and see what you can find out. Sometimes it matters how it is coded, although my insurance will not cover any OT or speech no matter what.

Beth

I’ve thought for a while that my third grade son fit the profile for NVLD, but he doesn’t have that point discrepancy between performance and verbal. Where did you find the info that only about 40% have the point discrepancy?

Thanks