What's the earliest a doc can diagnose ADHD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Straight out of medical school.

please don't do that on this forum. We parents have it hard enough without smart-ass remarks like yours.

Oh lighten up. PP was funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- let me rephrase. At what age is the minimum for making an ADHD diagnosis. In other words, can a 4 year old really even have ADHD, as the school suggests?

OP, you should be seeing a developmental pediatrician if you suspect something like this. You would also be seeing similar behaviors at home--not just at school.

Also, lots of things look like ADHD, including immaturity. Four year olds should be somewhat "wiggly." It might be a problem with your preschool, not your kid BTW. I personally would switch schools if they tried to suggest a diagnosis.

You can be diagnosed at 4, but you could save some time and do some behavioral therapy and see if that doesn't help the "wiggles."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son was diagnosed at 4. However, we had a family history of it - older siblings, parents, and grandparent. Also, his symptoms were severe. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that he had ADHD. We started to see symptoms at 18 months but had to wait until he was older for a diagnosis. He was diagnosed by a developmental pediatrician.

Can you speak to the signs you saw between the ages of 18 months and 4, and how your dev ped diagnosed him (a specific type of evaluation, etc)? My son is 4 (almost 5), has been in various therapies since 18 months (speech, OT, most recently behavioral therapy). We seem to be addressing the manifestation of issues as they come along (with compliance being a focus at the moment with the behavioral therapist) but I still fee like there is an underlying issue or issues that is causing everything. Maybe it doesn't matter at this point whether there is or isn't, but sometimes I wonder if I, the professionals we see, his preschool teachers, etc. would have a better understanding of him if he had a big picture diagnose instead of just numerous areas and weaknesses that we're working on. We did see a dev ped at 3 at KKI who suggested some signs of ADHD and anxiety but she seems to be in a wait and see pattern for now, which is fine, I guess. I just don't know when we should push for a closer look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard of doctors who will do it as early as 2. Our doc is highly, highly opposed to making the diagnosis before 7. Even then, he doesn't think a "label" is necessarily necessary or helpful.

My guess is that if your preschool is saying your son has problems, you're at the wrong preschool. Perhaps you should take him for an OT eval and start OT- that helped our son (who is probably ADHD, we just haven't had him diagnosed because we're not interested in medicating him at this point). I also suggest reading the book Boys Adrift. That was really helpful for us.

An early label doesn't = medication. It can provide the professionals who work with your child and YOU as parents a context for behaviors so as to better structure and gauge interventions. Just because someone is diagnosed early does not mean they are medicated. It does mean that their preschool, if supportive, can work to provide appropriate and that parents can see the bigger picture of how tendencies wax and wane and which are predominant in order to work with your child in managing their behaviors to help them be successful in different stages of development. It's nice that your pediatrician gives the good "not helpful to diagnose" sound bite to you. YOU may find it helpful for better access to services and information though.

Unfortunately, doctors tend to push medication because it is easy. Once you have a diagnosis, you have to disclose it to any school you apply to. Our son has been better off learning self-regulation in OT and attending a small, private school where he can better focus & engage with the teachers. I'm not sure if his, or any, private school would have accepted him had he applied as a 4 y/o with an ADHD diagnosis and I'm pretty certain it would have been a disaster had he ended up in our MoCo school with 28 kids in his class. We're avoiding a label and medication for as long as possible. OT has helped, as does lots of exercise, recess at school and structure at home.