Thanks for the info cr12345mr.
We've already decided to go ahead with a neuropsych evaluation and also to find a new psychiatrist to monitor our son's meds. We just don't feel confident in the first one given his snap diagnosis. I suppose the neuropsychologist will tell us whether they want our son on or off meds for the evaluation.
We also believe our son's IQ is high. He was recently tested for the school gifted program and missed eligibility by a hair. While some of his subtest scores were in the 99%, his composite score was in the low 90s. Our gifted program requires a 99% composite score, which means a child can't really have any weaknesses. His teacher thinks that if he was retested while on medication, he would be eligible. Sadly, our school only tests every two years.
Loracle,
Some of us have kids who really have a mixture of symptoms. My dd has enough issues that I was not really confident in the ADHD diagnosis when she got it from her developmental pediatrician. I wanted to know if she had learning disabilities or autism spectrum disorder because she shows some symptoms of these. That is why I took her to a neuropsych. I wanted to confirm her diagnosis and find out if there was anything else going on. I also wanted to know what her IQ was. She tested so low in the school's eval, it just didn't seem right. Turns out her IQ is much higher. Also, she did her neuropsych test while on meds, the school eval was without meds. That is why her IQ score jumped, he said.
My 8 year old son was "diagnosed" with adhd last week by a pediatric psychiatrist. The diagnosis came after the dr. talked with our son for about 30 minutes and then talked with us for another 30. Although I had brought some written observations from his teacher and a guidance counselor at the school, the dr. had not looked at them when he announced his diagnosis and wrote out a prescription. Nor did he ask us or the school officials to complete any rating scales or questionnaires or perform any medical tests or a physical examination.
Needless to say, we were pretty surprised at how sudden the diagnosis was, although I personally think it is the right result, I'm concerned about how quickly the dr. came to it and with how little information.
The dr. also told us that, although he was going to refer our son for a full psychological evaluation, this was not to aid in the diagnosis. It was, rather, to give him a baseline going forward because ADHD children tend to develop other problems over time.
Does any of this sound right? I would have expected the psychological evaluations to be necessary to make an accurate diagnosis, if only to eliminate other possible psychological causes for his behavior. Also, I thought that in order to accurately diagnose ADHD, the dr. had to consider information from different areas of the child's life, not just interviews with the parents and child.
I'm very disappointed. We were referred to this pediatric psychiatrist by our pediatrician (whom we like and respect). The pediatric psychiatrist teaches pediatrict psychiatry at a well respected medical school in our city, is the head of pediatrict psychiatry at the most well-respected child psychiatric facility in town, and has a medical degree from Harvard. I thought I'd get an exhaustive evaluation and would feel confident that, when the dr. said my son was ADHD, I'd know I could bank on that diagnosis. Instead, I got a one-hour visit and a prescription for Focalin and a follow-up appointment.
Any thoughts or advice?
ETA: Also, I am concerned about giving my son medication BEFORE he has had his psychological evaluation. If he's on medication, will they have an accurate measure of his impairments?
Loracle39017.301712963For any behavior issues, take a look at the Marble system by Ogram thread at the top of this forum. It is a positive reinforcement behavoir modification plan. Taylor it to the behaviors you want to see. Good luck.
Hi and welcome. At first it is so overwhelming, isn't it? Don't worry, you can get through it. You asked about a neuropsych. A neuropsych does testing to determine brain functioning such as long and short term memory, IQ, and other things. The testing could take a few days. They can uncover any LDs that may coexist with the ADHD. Here is a link for more info:
http://www.child-neuropsychologist.com/html/body_neuropsycho logy_questions.html
You should educate yourself as much as you can about ADHD. Your library probably has lots of books on it. A good one to start with is "Taking Charge of ADHD" by Barkley. It will have tips on parenting ADHD children. Things such as rewarding good behaviors, keeping lists for them to follow, etc. Good Luck!
Hi,
we just spent two days last week at our neuropsychologists office. My son was tested at a University hospital in my state. I was also not sure of what to expect. My son was diagnosed ADHD there. He went with the doctor for a couple hours each day. My husband and I waited in the waiting room. They did many tests on him. He sat at a table and was asked to do certain things. (draw, name things etc) My husband and I and our sons teacher had to fill out lots of paper work. At the end of the 2nd day, the doctors met with us personally and dicussed the results. We were very happy with our experience. The doctors referred us back to our sons pediatrician and we will visit the neuropsycologists once a year or as needed.
We have also been taking our son to a psycologist. For me and him! I have learned a great deal about behavior modification and positive reinforcements. I have been really lucky in finding good doctors that really want to help our son. Good luck to you and your family!
Took my son to his ped yesterday and she said she is pretty sure he has ADHD. She gave me a referral to see a Neuropsychologist. What should I expect? What are they gonna do? How long is this process gonna take? How do I discpiline a child with ADHD. I feel like I have to learn to be a parent all over again. My do I feel so overwhelmed?