My oldest son turned 7 a little over a week ago. He is bright, generally well-behaved, and a joy to our family. BUT, he drives me nuts sometimes! He has terrible impulse control, the slightest thing can turn him into a wailing drama queen, he refuses to sit at the table properly and doesn’t want to eat, he talks constantly, he “doesn’t hear” or forgets things immediately after us telling him to do something, and he can’t focus on one thing long enough to complete it.
It is incredibly frustrating to me, as a parent, to watch this. I’ve always assumed it’s fairly normal for his age, though he does struggle with Sensory Integration Dysfunction, particularly as it relates to food and sounds. Is all of this related to that problem, or is there something else going on? Someone suggested that we might have him evaluated for ADHD. But I’m hesitant, because of one thing — he doesn’t do these things at school. Every behavior report from school is glowing. His teachers adore him because he’s the one kid they never have discipline problems with. And so I’ve let this go, because we must be doing something right if he behaves at school, right?
Only now I’m not so sure. Is this normal? Or is there something else at play here? I want my child to be successful at school, but I also want him to be able to act appropriately at home. Increasingly I’m thinking that there’s something I need to be doing to help him with this. The problem is, I just don’t know where to start.
