ADHD and a Loving Child

by Pamelyn Harris
(Hampton, Georgia, USA)

My son is seven years old and has ADHD: Combined Type. I have always noticed the little "quirks" (i.e., making noises, wanting his pencil a certain way on his desk, etc...). Recently I have noticed that he does not like a lot of noise. For example, I had to remove him from an afterschool program where there were too many kids and the noise volume was absolutely ridiculous (it bothered me so I know it bothered him).

In addition, he also does not like when his father's stepchildren make a lot of noise as well. He often plays alone and is very shy (I currently have him in a social skills group at school, he receives speech therapy, brief counseling at school with the psychologist, and a therapist that comes to the home 1x a week to help him with is self-esteem / confidence levels). In addition, he is a very, very, very picky eater. As an infant and toddler, he only wanted baby food and when I informed his pediatrician, she believed that he did not like the texture of certain foods. To this day I have to feed him different food otherwise he would not eat. I am starting to wonder if he has SPDas well. Where do I start?