When do you screen for ADHD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At most schools, teachers are not able to suggest screening. They are giving you many, many hints though. You have to take the initiative here.

Even if I straight up them if I should consider testing? The response has been, “He’s a 7 (or 8 or 9) year old boy!”

Yes, they are not Doctors, they cannot give you their opinion. They can be sued for giving advice that is wrong so they won’t say anything. They are telling you about all the trait, get him tested.

[Anonymous]

This is extremely common behavior for a young boy. A few things are all true:
1) ADHD is real, and some children really need and benefit from treatment, including medication (stimulants).
2) The current standard American school classroom is not particularly geared well for boys. Many boys need to be more active and social than the classroom setup allows. This is normal.
3) At some levels, the ADHD diagnosis game becomes a question of trying to "shrink" the child to fit in within the drudgery of a typical school day. This is suboptimal.
4) Every kid comes into the world with their own bag of talents and tribulations. It's a broad spectrum; some kids are born with a quiet spark. Others enter the world like a raging bonfire. Whatever you do, just make sure you don't extinguish his flame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ADHD is a spectrum and most kids grow out of it as they mature. If you have to ask on a forum then your child doesn’t need the diagnosis. Read up on it and you’ll find ways you can help impact his organization. It takes time and patience and effort to learn these skills they’re not automatic. Your child doesn’t not have adhd and the harm you’ll put him through by testing for it is irreparable.

RFK JR is here to weigh in... seriously what are you talking about? What harm comes from the testing and how is it irreparable? And bo one "grows out" of ADHD any more than they can grow out of other medical conditions. Maturity changes how it presents sometimes. But you sound so un educated! OP do not listen to this person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ADHD is a spectrum and most kids grow out of it as they mature. If you have to ask on a forum then your child doesn’t need the diagnosis. Read up on it and you’ll find ways you can help impact his organization. It takes time and patience and effort to learn these skills they’re not automatic. Your child doesn’t not have adhd and the harm you’ll put him through by testing for it is irreparable.

RFK JR is here to weigh in... seriously what are you talking about? What harm comes from the testing and how is it irreparable? And bo one "grows out" of ADHD any more than they can grow out of other medical conditions. Maturity changes how it presents sometimes. But you sound so un educated! OP do not listen to this person.

This and as people age, they develop ways to handle their ADHD so it's less noticeable. But them doing the work doesn't mean they "grew out" of it.

[Anonymous]

NP here. I had gotten feedback that made me suspect inattentive ADHD in my DD10 and got her tested recently. She came back with no ADHD diagnosis, but the psychologist’s assessment of her strengths and weaknesses was so, so helpful. If you can afford the evaluation, I see no downside to having your child assessed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ADHD is a spectrum and most kids grow out of it as they mature. If you have to ask on a forum then your child doesn’t need the diagnosis. Read up on it and you’ll find ways you can help impact his organization. It takes time and patience and effort to learn these skills they’re not automatic. Your child doesn’t not have adhd and the harm you’ll put him through by testing for it is irreparable.

The harm you’ll put them through by testing is irreparable?? Please enlighten us more on this one.

And no, most don’t grow out of it if it’s truly a disorder. You grow out of general childhood bad habits and maturity kicks in. But if it’s truly ADHD you don’t grow out of it you just learn ways to manage it.

Every single person learns to manage non ideal elements or characteristics of their personality and habits in order to maximize their success: at school, work, in social life. How is this any different. Not everyone short of perfect has a “disorder” that needs a medical diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]NP here. I had gotten feedback that made me suspect inattentive ADHD in my DD10 and got her tested recently. She came back with no ADHD diagnosis, but the psychologist’s assessment of her strengths and weaknesses was so, so helpful. If you can afford the evaluation, I see no downside to having your child assessed. [/quote]

Can you tell which specific evaluation you got and approximate cost? What kinds of items were in strengths and weaknesses?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At most schools, teachers are not able to suggest screening. They are giving you many, many hints though. You have to take the initiative here.

Even if I straight up them if I should consider testing? The response has been, “He’s a 7 (or 8 or 9) year old boy!”

Yes, they are not Doctors, they cannot give you their opinion. They can be sued for giving advice that is wrong so they won’t say anything. They are telling you about all the trait, get him tested.

That's terrible! They see your kid for hours a day and are in the best position to compare to "what's normal" for that age. I would really value that opinion - of whether to pursue testing, not for the teacher to make a diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look up the Vanderbilt questionnaire for ADHD. If a lot of the answers are often or almost always (just guess what his teacher would say for the school questionnaire and complete the parent version yourself) it might be worth screening for ADHD. If he only has issues at school and not at home, technically it's not diagnosabklle as ADHD because it's not manifestating in more than 1 setting. You could just have a child who feels like he's not meeting his own high standards. Someone has to be a B+/A- student.

We did Vanderbilt screening... but the pediatrician was not convinced. She said, "how are the grades?" We said, "good 2's, 3's & 4's." Pediatrician said, "Then, I really don't see a problem in school."

To which we laughed, because they don't seem to fail kids or give scores lower than 2's.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]NP here. I had gotten feedback that made me suspect inattentive ADHD in my DD10 and got her tested recently. She came back with no ADHD diagnosis, but the psychologist’s assessment of her strengths and weaknesses was so, so helpful. If you can afford the evaluation, I see no downside to having your child assessed. [/quote]

Can you tell which specific evaluation you got and approximate cost? What kinds of items were in strengths and weaknesses?[/quote]

Here is a list of the tests that were administered:

BASC-3
BRIEF-2
BYI-2
CPT 3
Connor’s-4
D-KEFS Advanced
NEPSY-II
MASC 2
WIAT-4
WISC-V

It would take me too long to type out the full name of every test, but you can look them up. These cover IQ, academic testing (reading & math), attentiveness, executive function, anxiety, behavior, etc. The psychologist went over the scores with us and gave us her interpretation of certain parts and how she believed A could affect B. I don’t want to make this evaluation seem the end-all-be-all, but DH and I do feel we understand our DD a lot better now and will be able to better support her.

FYI we are no longer in DMV, where I think the cost of this full eval would be higher. This clinic told us the cost would be capped at $2100, if insurance did not cover. They were in-network, which brought the cost down to $1500, but our crappy plan covers -0- till we hit our deductible so we had to pay the full amount.

[Anonymous]

Reading your OP, there is absolutely nothing to indicate you need to send your child to multiple appts and a 4 hr neuropsych test.

I feel like people have lost their minds. The spectrum of normal *should be very large. But things have somehow reversed and now the spectrum for what people consider ADHD has grown so large, anything other than type A perfectionists will fall into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a child in a similar circumstance at a similar age. We did nothing and the issue disappeared. The child moved on to the next grade and the issues were never raised again. We don't know if the child was bored in class or if the teacher was full of shit or if it was just the age, but we just waited and see'd and now it's all a memory.

In DS case, both teachers 1st and 2nd mentioned his disorganization. Like they would say, ok time to clear your desk off! And he would stuff everything in his desk or chair pouch instead of putting them away.

3rd grade teacher and DS both say this year his desk is fine. But he is still rushing, not checking work. I know partly his mind moves quickly but he needs reminders to read the directions carefully, recheck his work, write neatly. Teacher this year doesn’t say he is disorganized, and during class visits I saw his desk looks ok. His backpack on the other hand is a disaster. He keeps his homework binder organized, but stuffs hats, mittens, snack bags, in his backpack.

My DD also had a disorganized desk until 3rd grade when we sat her down and said "you need to put your papers away in a folder or bring them home" and that did the trick. Just saying that sometimes they just don't know what to do with their papers.

As for the backpack, that sounds totally normal for his age.

But if you are concerned, it will not hurt to test him. Mine did not have ADHD, but we discovered mild dyslexia which was the reason she was a slow reader.