I would see a psychiatrist before doing a med trial to confrim/rule out ADHD. That is the way it was done 30 years ago, there are newer and more acceptable testing methods out there and at 4.5 an accurate diagnosis is iffy at best.
The best was to rule out"other problems is through bloodwork, ekg;s, eegs' etc. A psych will order these before doing an evalution.
I agree with not using a drug test for diagnosis of ADHD. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has a diagnostic protocol for doing this and is pretty much the gold standard at this time. You can see it at http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediat rics%3b105/5/1158.
I would suggest either a good board certified Psychiatrist, Psychologist, family prac, ped or qualified therapist who has real expertise in ADHD. This is especially true with a child this young. There are a number of other issues that can mimic ADHD symptoms that need to be ruled out and this takes some real research and experience to do well. Your child is important and I suggest you take your time and proceed carefully before putting on this label. If he is indeed ADHD there are a number of things you can do to help manage this disorder. I recommend Russell Barkley's book "Taking charge of ADHD" 2nd ed and the work on the CHADD/help4adhd sites. There is a lot of information out there and plenty of people willing and able to help. You are not alone.
Good luck
Diz
My son, by the way, his name is Braeden, I don't think I ever mentioned that, have just gotten back from his doctor appt. I was just given a ton of information to go through. Aside from the early intervention we are getting for Braeden, he is suggesting a 2 week medication trial to either confirm or rule out ADD. I was hesitant at first but the more we talked the more I came around to the idea. Since B is only 4.5 and as all of you know, there is no quick test to know if a child has ADD/ADHD, we are going to see what these medications do. Tomorrow we are starting him on 5mg of FocalinXR, and will do this for one week and then go back to the dr. There is also questions for us as a family and the daycare to fill out...to observe his behavior on and off the medication. Well, we know how he is off of it, we can do that part right now. When we go back next week, we will do this all over again with another medication and he told me what it was but I don't remember. I'll know next week when he writes the script. And we will do the questions again about his behavior on and off the meds...and we'll compare the two and see what results we get. And then go from there, I guess.