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[quote=Anonymous]My son (almost 5) was "early diagnosed" with ADHD in 2015 by a dev ped at KKI.  Main issue is hyperactivity which results in lots of drama at school (inappropriate physicality, touching, hitting, silliness), but which is totally manageable at home.  No issues with ODD, anxiety, inattention.  We are ready to talk to specialists about next steps *practical advice*, because DH and I both agree that for the first time he is clearly "missing out" compared to his peers (it's only been in the last 3-5 months that kids are really starting to develop friendships, focus themselves on fun stuff at school, etc, and he's missing out on these things).

When he was first diagnosed, general feedback from all quarters was to wait. He wasn't such a danger to himself and others that he needed meds at age 3. We were also advised (and agreed) that social skills groups or behavior therapy at that age would have little impact, because he was actually quite well behaved in smaller group settings.  But now he's almost 5, and he is old enough to know better, and he is old enough for meds.  So it's time to move forward.

I could just go back to the dev ped or pediatrician and tell them that we're ready for meds (which I think we are) and I know they would prescribe them.  We could do another eval with the dev ped, but I think it would come out exactly the same as last year's (i.e. he has adhd), and their advice to medicate would be based solely on my word that he's a disaster in school.  Based on research, I'm pretty confident he doesn't need a psychoeducational assessment or neuropsych or whatever the  next step is.

But I'd really love for someone to observe him in school and make sure that mom and dad aren't blowing this out of proportion.  Certainly, lots of kids at age 5 have ADHD and don't need to be medicated. I think ours does, but I'd like someone to observe him in school -- his main problem area -- to make sure we're not messing this decision up.  Maybe this observer has other excellent strategies for his teachers that minimize the issues. Maybe they could suggest whether social skills groups or behavior therapy would help at this point, or they could rule it out.

Basically, I'm looking for an objective third party to help us make this decision with as much information as possible.

I'm thinking that psychologists might offer this? We found OT to be useless.  What are recommended next steps here?  [/quote]

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