Inattention is not just attention-deficit disorder. There are several learning disorders that can mimic attention-deficit disorder. Any child who has trouble with:
- Remembering or following a series of directions
- Paying attention to those who are speaking
- Is easily distracted by visual or auditory stimuli
- Has an extremely messy bedroom, desk or backpack
- Putting ideas on paper
- Sloppy handwriting, careless spelling, and never capitalizes words or punctuates
Children showing the above symptoms, could have learning issues that are not ADHD, but instead could be dyslexia, dysgraphia, or auditory processing disorder. Any child showing attention problems should not be just evaluated for the attention, but given a full educational evaluation that examines attention, executive function, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, writing, spelling, math, and visual-spatial abilities.
ADHD and Dyslexia share 16 symptoms in common.
Most of the symptoms used to diagnose ADHD are on the dyslexia symptom checklist, and just looking at attention symptoms will cause many kids to be misdiagnosed and all learning issues will not be addressed.
- Click the next two documents for even more information on how the symptoms of dyslexia and ADHD overlap.
Written by: Heidi Stoffel, Wilson Dyslexia Practitioner, Executive Director of Aspire Academy