My 5 year old daughter diagnosed with ADHD, possibly SID? Help!

by Nicole
(Massachusetts)

My 5 year old daughter was recently diagnosed with ADHD (according to a multiple choice form filled out by myself and my husband, and one from her kindergarten teacher). Her pediatrician scored the forms and called me to say according to the forms she does have ADHD. When I asked her what we should do to help her, she gave me the name and number of an OT.

I recently brought her to see the OT for an evaluation. The therapist told me that she does not see any ADHD, and that my daughter has SI issues. I've been reading about SI since, and am very confused. She does have some of the symptoms, but not the telltale issues with textures and touch. She is bright, energetic, and has a lot of personality. I've occasionally wondered about ADHD, but even that isn't obvious.

Her symptoms are fidgeting, excessive talking, and difficulty completing tasks on her own (her kindergarten teacher says it is the most significant factor in her learning). She talks constantly, and is often funny (I don't think she always means to be). She is very imaginative and is almost always pretending something (right now she is crawling around on the floor pretending to be a baby dinosaur, and talking to herself about it the whole time). She often gets lost in her games like this and has difficulty transitioning to something else - if I ask her to get dressed it is very difficult for her to stop playing and get dressed and I have to ask her multiple times, or speak very sharply to her before she will do it. She talks to everyone - total strangers in the store, adults, other children, animals. She does lack strength in her trunk (she can't do a situp, and she can't do the flying position on her stomach). She can focus on something she's interested in - she will sit and play computer games for hours. She is left handed, although occasionally does things with her right hand. She's a little picky with food, but not abnormally so for a 5 year old. She is disorganized, bumps into things a lot, loses things all the time, doesn't pay much attention to keeping her clothes/hair/face neat.


I'm very confused - her pediatrician is sending us a letter with the ADHD diagnosis that we are supposed to give to the school. But she sent us to an OT for SID, who told us she does not have ADHD. Do her symptoms sound more like SID? Should I give the ADHD letter to the school? Is there a more definite way to figure out what is wrong (if anything)? I would appreciate any advice at this point - I don't really know what to do. Thanks.