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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm confused.  DD is in first grade and is 7 and we are taking her to CNMC for a neuropysch with ADHD and LDs as possible issues.  I've had two friends tell me that they heard you can't even test for ADHD until 3rd grade.  Why is it that other children already have diagnoses then?  I'm so confused.   Although this might explain why MCPS has not initiated any testing yet.  [/quote]

Your friends who tell you that you can't test for ADHD until 3rd grade are wrong.

Testing can definitiely be done.  IQ testing can be done regardless of age, and so can achievement testing; both are basic parts of a complete psycho-educational or neuropsychological exam.  The thing with ADHD is that there are some tests, using a computer, where, if a child doesn't perform well, it would be hard to tell whether it was because of ADHD or because any child that age just isn't developmental ready to listen to a set of complicated instructions, use a computer and pay attention to meaningless stimuli for 15+ minutes.  This is why, generally, age 6 or 7 is the youngest for SOME of the assessments that are used for ADHD.  But, other ADHD assessments, which rely on teachers and parents answering  checklist of questions, may, together with observation, result in a preliminary ADHD diagnosis even before 6/7; however at this early age, you will find many psychologists will give the diagnosis in less firm terms "may have" or "tends to"  or "exhibits symptoms of" while acknowledging that the definitive testing/diagnosis will be given as the child ages if they continue to show the same symptoms. Even this less firm diagnosis can be used in the IEP process.

Similarly for LDs -- our dyslexic, dysgraphic child had clear indicators of his LD prior to 3rd grade.  Extensive speech and language testing when he was almost 5 showed that he had an expressive/receptive language disorder (MERLD) and very weak phonetic identification, segmentation and blending skills (the underlying skills to read).   This was also enough that it could have gotten him an IEP.  However, it wasn't until he had repeat testing in 2nd grade, that his problems were clearly identified and acknowledged as a learning disability in reading and writing by the school.  This is because kids aren't really even instructed in reading until somewhere in the K-2 years, so there is no expectation yet that they can read.  Nonetheless, there are still reading achievement tests and language tests which can differentiate young kids who are already falling behind in some of the foundational reading skills.

Have you written a letter to your MCPS school explaining in writing that you think your child is struggling in school, may have some disorder like ADHD or an LD, and that you would like the school to consider her for an IEP so that she can get specialized instruction?  Unless you do this, MCPS really has no obligation to test her, and will not be motivated to do so until she falls 2 or more years behind in academic level and/or starts having behavioral issues.

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