ADHD or not

ok my son just turned 6 in sep. and he is in the first grade. my son is very smart and he comes home telling us all kinds of stuff he knows so he doesnt have a learning problem, in the beginning of the year he didnt know how to read and within 3 months he was able to read very well with out much help. ok now the problem is he doesnt want to listen to the teacher and is disrupting the class mates from learning, he wont sit still and he blurts out answers when told it is to be quiet latley I have gotten a call from the schools princapal and he want to set up another meeting with me and my husband because he is kicking  kids on the play ground and parents are calling woundering why thinfg arnt being done about it. we have had several meetings and we got a packet  from the school about adhd and he shows some of the signs of having it but he sleeps through the night and plays well with our friends younger kids just not good at school with those kids and when we asked him why he kicked someone he said his friend at school told him too. let me just say he has only gone over a friends house once and the only kids he plays with are people we know and they are younger then him but that is because of the parents complaining we dont try to get to know them because we know they wont want him to play with their kids and teach them bad stuff. he is also very bad at home and we have tried everything and it doesnt seem to matter to him, he wont clean his room he throws a fit if we ask, he is bad in stores and he is only good for people he is not around much but once he get to know a person very well then he knows how to push there buttons and then doesnt listen to them either. very defient. PLEASE HELP I dont know what to do any more is it ADD or ADHD or something else.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

While ADHD cannot be ruled out on the basis of what you have described, it alone would not account for all of these problems. It sounds like your son is a bright child who displays a range of behavioral issues. The prudent thing to do is arrange an evaluation with a pediatric mental health clinician who can figure out the ADHD (possibly) piece, as well as the other problems. It may be that the most important intervention will be a systematic behavioral system, but that can be determined as part of the mental health evaluation. The earlier you figure this out the better. These problems are not within the normal spectrum for a child of six; they invite professional help.