It's interesting because one thing about ADHD, and Autism Spectrum disorders too, is that diagnosis is very dependent on people having a base point to compare a

It's interesting because one thing about ADHD, and Autism Spectrum disorders too, is that diagnosis is very dependent on people having a base point to compare against. That's why for most of these disorders, you're more likely to be diagnosed if you're 2nd born and 1st born doesn't have it. The parents are familiar with how the first child developed and can see the discrepancy sooner. Meanwhile, in cases like my family, where me, my sister, my Dad, some cousins, and probably my mom's siblings too all fit the criteria for ADHD (we're a family of troublemakers) - my parents couldn't tell anything was off. When my cousins got a diagnosis through school, my parents were skeptical of the whole thing. But the treatment they got for it early on helped a ton and those cousins turned out better adjusted in many ways than my sister and I who didn't get diagnosed til adulthood. It's funny though because now I have a step-niece (no biological relation) and my mom keeps commenting on how crazy well behaved she is, because she doesn't run around every time they go to a restaurant or talk incessantly or constantly run into things... So from her perspective, children without ADHD-behaviors are the abnormal ones. Go figure.