Autism or ADHD? When family says your child is fine

Your mum might be right about her grandchild.

At her place, with one familiar adult and the food they like. At school, however, a day asks for sitting still, lining up, noise and other children, all at once, for six hours. Some children stay calm and quiet at school all day, then cry, shout or go silent once they’re home.

So you might be seeing:

1. A child too tired to talk after school
2. Forty minutes to get dressed, every school morning
3. Hands over their ears at the shopping centre

An autism or ADHD assessment tells you what’s going on and what will help.

Some things you can try:

• Open the notes on your phone and write down four things your child does
• Add the date, and what happened just before and just after
• Book a GP appointment
• Take the list with you

A GP can act on notes like these.

The full article goes through six helpful steps, including factsheets in Arabic, Chinese and Vietnamese.

​Read all six steps.

Nicole Robinson​ Principal and Clinical Psychologist, ProActive Psychology ​proactivepsychology.com.au​