Reply to Help me understand the ADHD Evaluation Process

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We did option #4 described above. I cannot imagine giving my child ADHD medication having only done options 1-3. We weren't sure what was going on so we tested for a lot of things. [/quote]

I strongly agree with this. In my experience, the questionnaires are terribly inaccurate. In the three cases I know best, they totally missed my oldest having ADHD (he was later diagnosed with "severe ADHD" but is more on the inattentive side), mis-diagnosed my nephew (no ADHD, testing showed he is dyslexic), caught my younger son (extremely hyperactive... but years after I had been asking teachers for input).

The questionnaires are totally subjective and are based on behaviors. If a child is hyperactive but working really hard, if a child is very bright but struggling with attention challenges, and other situations like this--the person filling out the evaluation might see the child as average. Or if a child presents with hyperactive behavior, the teacher/parent may mark all the boxes, leading to an ADHD diagnosis without any true understanding of what is causing the issues (as in my nephew's case).

It is worth waiting/paying more/seeking out studies or graduate programs--whatever it takes to have a more thorough evaluation done that will actually give you some insight into strengths and weaknesses. All diagnosing is a mix of observation and intuition on part of the evaluator but, ideally, you want to have an expert (pediatricians and teachers are far from that!!!) looking at many different aspects of your child's profile and at least trying to get at the root of the problem.[/quote]

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