When do you get a kid evaluated for ADHD?

[Anonymous]

I would do a full neuropsych for what you describe.

[Anonymous]

Sounds exactly like my daughter with ASD and ADHD also.

[Anonymous]

As soon as you can! I wish we had found out earlier. ADHD does not improve or go away. The sooner you know, the sooner you can figure out supports.

[Anonymous]

OP- for those suggesting ASD - after a friend filled weekend, she just cried and just told me that she really has no friends. She says she just has people who tell her she is rude and inappropriate. She said her best friend is always trying to get her in trouble by telling her to stop. I’m sorry - I know this is too much personal stuff. We did a social skills group the summer before last - useless. We’ve been working with social workers for parenting help on and off since she was 2.5. Maybe it is ASD. I have always thought that my dad has straight up Asperger’s. I hate that she has such trouble with social limits. It really feels like a major parenting failing. She gets some of them and she is very sensitive about rules that are clear to her. This is a second kid- her older sister handles things so differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- for those suggesting ASD - after a friend filled weekend, she just cried and just told me that she really has no friends. She says she just has people who tell her she is rude and inappropriate. She said her best friend is always trying to get her in trouble by telling her to stop. I’m sorry - I know this is too much personal stuff. We did a social skills group the summer before last - useless. We’ve been working with social workers for parenting help on and off since she was 2.5. Maybe it is ASD. I have always thought that my dad has straight up Asperger’s. I hate that she has such trouble with social limits. It really feels like a major parenting failing. She gets some of them and she is very sensitive about rules that are clear to her. This is a second kid- her older sister handles things so differently.

An evaluation will tell you more, but this seems completely within the realm of ADHD, unless she doesn’t understand the rules. The too silly, don’t know when to stop-that’s impulsivity (i.e. she knows what to do/not do when talking about it but has a hard time acting on it during a situation). If it is ADHD impulsivity, meds can help with this.

[Anonymous]

Until my son was diagnosed with all 3 (ASD, ADHD, anxiety), I didn’t realized how much all these diagnoses can have in common. They feel to me like a Venm diagram with a ton of overlap. So it could be more than one thing… but don’t think of the potential of two diagnoses being 2x the problem. The diagnoses are descriptors that will help you figure out strategies for coping.
My son’s social relationships improved greatly with ADHD medication, because he dialed down the impulsive show-offy behaviors. Which has made him much happier.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry op, 100% yes to testing. A lot of it sounds very similar to my son with ADHD but like others have said there can be some overlap. If you have some family history of potentially ASD (very common for grandparents to be undiagnosed!) I would make sure to share that during testing, it definitely ups the likeliness it could be a piece.

[Anonymous]

Also you mentioned worrying about her being labeled at one point. Try to put that out of your mind, honestly she is more likely to be “labeled” and have impacts to relationships etc if she does have adhd and is unmedicated and doesn’t have the help she needs (with adhd this usually includes medication among other things). Also, the impacts to her confidence and sense of self need to be front and center instead of worries about a label. Totally normal, we all worry about it! But try to put it aside and realize lack of diagnosis if the disorder exists does more harm than any potential label can (in my opinion).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also you mentioned worrying about her being labeled at one point. Try to put that out of your mind, honestly she is more likely to be “labeled” and have impacts to relationships etc if she does have adhd and is unmedicated and doesn’t have the help she needs (with adhd this usually includes medication among other things). Also, the impacts to her confidence and sense of self need to be front and center instead of worries about a label. Totally normal, we all worry about it! But try to put it aside and realize lack of diagnosis if the disorder exists does more harm than any potential label can (in my opinion).

Thank you. I am a bit reluctant to use labels and a bit reluctant with medications, but I see what is happening in our lives. I think she would be very relieved to change course. I did the intake today — we are doing an extensive evaluation and the intake clinician assured me that we will get a lot of tools from this experience. I’m looking forward to it with a very open mind.