by L. A. Brown

Created on: May 29, 2009

Many parents think back to when their children were toddlers and say "what a handful he/she was". While it's true that many children go through the "terrible twos and threes" there is a line that separates the "norm" with the "severe". Discovering where to decipher the differences is what allows professionals to diagnose a child with ADHD. Ultimately it's truly up to the parents to do some research and pay close attention to the warning signs so they can seek help if they suspect their child has the disorder.

For my son's first two years he was the sweetest little guy. Bright blue eyes and a huge smile. It seemed that overnight, my angel turned into a hurricane. It started innocently enough with him waking up early every morning and deciding to make himself breakfast. Of course, he was too short to reach the dishes so proceeded to create his meal on the living room carpet. Every morning for a month I would wake up to a pile of cereal and milk on the floor, broken eggs and peanut butter jars with little finger prints in it.

The next stage was the "Houdini". No matter where we went, I would lose him. He was fast and I was positive that one day I would never find him. It was the most horrifying part of raising him, not to mention the embarrassment when I discovered that mall security guards knew my son and me by name because they had helped locate him so many times. He had absolutely no fear of strangers and had even ran into a complete strangers house one day for no reason. I nervously had to walk in to retrieve him, startling the poor elderly woman who was inside.

I tried time outs, distractions and taking away toys. Everything I could think of. Spanking and yelling just seemed funny to him. I even read a book about positive discipline and tried their techniques. Literally it was constant disobedience. From the moment he woke up to the time he went to bed, he was always running, getting into everything and causing havoc to everything within reach. His movements were so sudden and unpredictable, not to mention he would repeat inappropriate behaviors over and over again although he would suffer the same repercussions for his actions.

After a year of this I was exhausted to the point of tears. I made an appointment with our family doctor and told him I thought he had ADHD. I relayed all of the above problems I was having and begged for advice. He told me that there was nothing wrong with my son except that he was a busy three year old and I was a tired, working

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