Reply to Do We or Don’t We Want an ADHD “Diagnosis”? Pros/Cons

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Reply to "Do We or Don’t We Want an ADHD “Diagnosis”? Pros/Cons"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP,
One thing to consider is the longer-term impact of having that diagnosis on your child's record.  I'm not anti-diagnosis when it's warranted, but in this case I would weigh the potential benefits (which sound minimal) with the effects that'll follow the child all the way to adulthood.

For one thing, some security clearances may be harder to get if there is a childhood diagnosis of ADD/ADHD - it depends on the agency and level of clearance, but it can come up and cause problems during a security investigation.

It will make it nearly impossible for the child to ever get an FAA medical certificate, if they desire someday to become a pilot (even a private pilot flying for recreation), air traffic controller, etc.  The FAA considers any lifetime ADD/ADHD diagnosis - even early childhood - to be disqualifying.  You may not even consider this a path your child will take, but do you want to make decisions now that'll limit their options 20 years or 40 years in the future?

I know this sounds really far off and theoretical, but I work in a world where it's a big issue.  People come in with a diagnosis of ADHD from 2nd grade, they haven't received treatment or medication since middle school, but it's on their record and disqualifies them from a number of things.  Again - if ADHD is truly an issue, I'm not opposed to the diagnosis and these rules are in place to prevent people with severe issues from ending up in a place where it can become a safety or security risk, so I'm not trying to circumvent the rules - but you should understand the long-term consequences of pushing for a diagnosis in borderline cases.[/quote]

Op here, and THANK YOU for sharing this kind of information. This is the kind of thing I was concerned about, and am trying to find additional information about! As I mentioned, DD’s attention issues are mild enough that the doctor did not want to diagnose or not diagnose her until we were consulted. This doctor is highly reputable and often recommended both in this forum and otherwise, and wanted to assure us that he/she will diagnose ADHD irrespective of what parents want or don’t want if its a clearcut diagnosis. But because DD is so borderline and an ADHD diagnosis can be based in part on subjective data, the doctor wanted to check with us and see how we felt. I actually really appreciate that this doctor is taking the report and it’s potential
Impact on DD so seriously and that he took us into consideration and chose to be more collaborative with us as opposed to declaring an ADHD edict from on high. Full testing was done including several methods beyond questionnaires. [/quote]

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