My son, Michael, was diagnosed with ADD in July 1994 at the age of 14 years. For several years I had a difficult time getting someone to diagnose him because it is still a popular belief of many people that for a child to have ADD they must also suffer from hyperactivity. Michael wasn't "hyper" so his teachers were convinced that there was no problem. And I needed them to request an evaluation before one would be done. I couldn't ask for one myself. It wasn't until I mentioned my concerns about Michael to the child psychologist who was treating my older daughter, Heather--then 16, for severe depression, that I finally was able to have Michael evaluated. The result? ADD, as I suspected.
My son, Nathaniel, was diagnosed with ADHD in July 1994, at the age of 8 years. For some reason, I never thought of Nathaniel being hyperactive even though he was CONSTANTLY on the move. If he could sit still for a minute, that was on his good days. Since he was a baby, he was a bundle of energy. I would often remark about how Nathaniel was climbing everything except the walls, and I was climbing them. In second grade he was so disruptive that almost everyday he had to be removed from his regular ed class and sent back to the special ed class (because of his autism). For some reason I just thought that this was normal, because I was so used to him being this way. I never questioned if he had ADHD. It should have been obvious because of my concern about his brother, Michael, having ADD. It took the same child psychologist to suggest that Nathaniel be evaluated. The result? ADHD.
My husband, Jerry, was diagnosed with ADHD. I was concerned that Jerry had ADHD. He displayed many of the same symptoms as our two sons. From what my husband told me about his childhood, it appeared that he had many of the same difficulties as our sons do. Jerry was seeing a psychologist and being treated for bi-polar depression. Jerry asked the doctor about ADHD. He was evaluated and found to have ADHD. Since then, he is being treated for his ADHD and we both have seen big improvements.
I have learned a lot about ADD/ADHD when my sons were diagnosed about two years ago, and more recently about Adult ADD when my husband was diagnosed. Below is some of the information that I have found. I hope that it helps you.