I don't remember him asking anything beyond what we told him, pretty much just accepted the explanation. He was aware of the differences between himself and other children- he was being reminded quite often to pay attention in school and his grades were very erratic. He had also been in therapy off and on since he was three, so it wasn't out of the blue for him.
The neuro- psych talked to him some at the beginning, asking questions about school and how he felt when he had to pay attention, if it was hard, if he felt the teachers were treating him fairly, what his favorite activities were, if he played sports, etc. I know most of the actual testing is done by the assistant (who was very sweet to him) but the doc was there for parts of it and it was him who did the assessments regarding mood disorder and anxiety levels, which had been a concern.
We did not mention adhd until after we got the results, and then we just told him that his brain does work a little differently than some people's, but that now we knew how, that there was a name for it (adhd), and that it was actually a good thing because now we knew how to help him. We went over the recommendations in the report with him and he agreed that it all sounded like stuff that would help him. We'd already done a lot of research and knew that meds are the most effective treatment so we also talked to him about that and emphasized that it wasn't medicine to make him be good, but to help his brain to slow down enough to think about things before he did them and pay attention more in school.
When my son was going for his neuro-psych eval. we told him (he had just turned 8 at the time) that it was to do some tests to see how his brain worked. We explained that everyone's brain works a little differently and that if we knew exactly how his worked then we would know how to help him to do better in school and not get in so much trouble at home.
And how did he respond to that jaderock? Did the psychologist offer any suggestions?Make it seem like an adventure. Let him know in as few details possible that the wants to make sure he is as perfect inside as he is outside. Kids are smarter and braver than you think. < =text/>_popupControl(); Chances are that your son is aware that he's having some issues at school and that words like "attention" and "concentrate" and "distracted" get used around him a lot. If he's bright, tell him that you are taking him to see a doctor who will be able to tell if his school problems and his smartness are related. If you can pose it in a way that focusses on the behavior and not on who he is, he'll be okay. I tell my son often that adhd is a set of behaviors that he exhibits, but it is not who he is.
My son is scheduled for an evaluation with the neuro-psych on Wednesday. Sometime between now and then I'll have to let him know he'll be missing a day of school to visit a doctor for some testing. He's very curious and smart. He will have plenty of question about why we are going and what the testing is for. I'd like to give him an age appropriate and honest explanation so if we head down some treatment path he will also understand what that is for.
Any suggestions on how to explain this to him?
with my dd before the testing i had the book adhd in girls and one night at bedtime the two of us went through the checklist of possible behaviors/difficulties, and she said "that's me". she got teary eyed a bit, but seemed to know that we were going to more forward to try and help her. we also read the phoebe flower book series, which she seemed to enjoy-add/adhd girl, fun to read books together.
the checklist is what really hit home with my dd...she was 8 at the time, but i'm sure that your 6 year old would "grasp" enough of what you are saying to him/showing to him in the book-it would be a good start:)
i strongly feel like my dd knew she was "different" to some extent...just my 2 cents:)
after testing our dd was rewarded with a purchase at target as well:)
good luck!
shelley