If a 3-year-old cannot learn the alphabet could she have ADD?

Answer

It is a possibility but there may be other reasons for the difficulty in learning such as a learning disability or just slow development. If you are concerned talk to your child's doctor about it. ADD has other symptoms as well that you may want to look for. Your doctor can make referrals for appropriate assessments. Often times they don't like to refer at such young ages because they like to give children time to catch up on their own (late bloomers) If you really feel your child's progress may be due to more than slow development don't be afraid to push for the assessment, especially if your child is frustrated or having coping problems at home or in daycare. Early intervention can make a big difference.

Answer

Well, she could, but there could be a lot of other things, like maybe she's just not interested. Look for other signs, like juming from one thing to the next more than other average three year olds. (they all jump from thing to thing at that age) You may want to wait til she's five when you can really tell a difference. It could be developmental thing or maybe she just doesn't like the alphabet, It could also be say dyslexia if that's the only problem, but really ask a doctor( A GOOD doctor. I'm just a mom, a sufferer of ADD and a teacher, so I really am not qualified, but some ADD kids learn the alphabet in a snap and some non-ADD kids don't so it could be any number of things. Dont jump to conclusions- other things to look for Does it run in your family and other signs

Answer

It's probably unrelated to AD/HD, especially since this appears to be the only "symptom" she has.

She may not be interested in the way you present the task. Rote learning may not be her preferred style of learning (normal kids differ widely in this respect). She may have vision problems. She may have visual-speech integration problems. She may be generally "slow". She may find the task "boring" compared with other things which attract her attention.

Failure to learn simple material is not usually a sign of AD/HD. My son learned to read by the age of two and a half - and he's severely AD/HD. The problems come later with more complex problems. It's difficult for an AD/HD kid to selectively apply what they have learned, refrain from applying what they know inappropriately or keep sufficiently focused for long enough periods to learn something which does not easily hold their attention. This is when IQ/acheivement mis-matches occur.

I went through school with teachers asking me why, since I tested so high on short IQ-type measures, I failed to win an "Honours Prize" in any of my 13 years of elementary, secondary and "college" schooling. I didn't have the answer to that one. It was presumed that I was "lazy", especially since I began to top the class in some subjects in the upper high school "college" years. (The last two years of Australasian compulsary schooling systems are equivalent to US Junior College or the International Bachalareate.)

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