Could it be ADHD or bad behaviour??

[chapmanmum]

My son has just turned 6 and has began grade 1. He is our middle child and can be very loving at times and at other times not so much. He has always been very hyper. He can sit still for a few hours on end watching tv or playing video games. Its hard to get him to stay concentrating on homework for more than 5 minutes.  I have a couple of family members that tell me he has add I think he may have it mildly but not enough to medicate. I have spoken to his teachers from kinder, prep and this year and they all say he is wonderful, in prep we had a couple of small problems like him not doing his work and putting it in the bottom of his bag. His teacher this year saying he is the most well behaved boy in the class. He is acedemically in the middle of the class, I have seen him put alot of effort into work in class.  At home and when we go out he is soo different. He runs everywhere, speaks loudly all the time, I dont think he even has a quite voice, he has outbursts when not happy about something and I mean the smallest things. He makes silly noises or gestures, like fart noises when happy and noises like a urggh when mad. He doesnt like to be looked at, or to play games with other children ( at parties and so on). He suddenly turns into a monster, his eyes can pop out and he just goes stupid.
We have a marble award jar at home so he gets marbles in for good behaviour and taken out after a warning for bad. I have him booked into see a peadiatrician in 6 weeks. At the moment I have him on the Failsafe elimination diet, he has been on it for a week now and we are finding him a little less touchy. He has always been this way, as soon as he comes home from school its on and it was the same after creche and kinder. My mother says I treat him differently than my other children but I feel I treat all my children differently as they are all different, I do tiptoe around him sometimes because I dont want to bother with the conflict but he does get disiplined and rewarded just like the others,
Anyway my question is could this be ADD or just bad behaviour?? Ive read up so much on add and he fits in to some of the tendencies  Is this just his personality??  Is he just being a normal six year old boy?? As I said I am having him assessed but I have to wait a little while, just needing some other suggestions.

[RStern]

First off - I want to really applaud you for coming in to ask help (all while leading up to having your son assessed).  Good job!

As for your questions - it could be ADHD and it could be so much more, including ADHD.  There is just no way to know for sure (until he is evaluated).  Like Sandman2 said - you cannot just turn ADHD on and off.  For it to be ADHD, the behaviors have to persist across situations.  It doesn't sound like that's the case for your son.

School has structure, and maybe your child deals well with that.  Treating your children differently happens.  But from the sounds of it - you know that you sort of "tiptoe" around him - and I bet he knows that.  6 years old or not, children are very bright.  They pick these things up.

It's too hard to tell from your post - but it could be ADHD or it could be 6-year-old boy behavior.

Too hard to tell.

Dr. Stern

[chapmanmum]

Thankyou both so much for your comments, I do agree with you both and I will be looking at these books you have mentioned. Thanks again, Chapmanmum.

[LRM1021]

I agree with the post above. If he is good at school, and only not at home, that really does not sound like ADHD. I can reccomend two books that help with child behavior-- How to Behave So Your Children Will Too by Sal Severe and SOS Help for Parents by Lynn Clark.