How much to get a private ADHD diagnosis?

[Lovemusic33]

Hi, hope someone can help. My partners daughter displays most of the traits of ADHD, her mother has struggled to control her dd's behaviour for a while and social services are involved after someone reported her for shouting at her dd in public, this has been ongoing for sometime and now social services are talking about removing her from her mother as they think her behaviour is due to her mother neglecting her ( this is far from the truth ). My partners Dd is 5, she struggles to sit still for more than one minute, is struggling to learn to read and write, gets bored very easily, needs a lot of 1;1 and demands attention, she has huge tantrums over very small things and can be violent ( hitting, kicking, biting ).
So far the school nurse has refused to look into it as there is ongoing concerns with social services, this is making it impossible to get her accessed. We are now looking at going down the private route to get diagnosed but we have no idea how much this might cost. Has anyone else done the same and roughly how much are we looking at paying??

[SherBear1971]

Hi....I don't know the answer to your specific question but you don't need the school nurse to refer. I went to my Gp and asked for a referral. I wrote a supporting letter describing my daughter's behaviour for my Gp. I had an appointment for the consultant paed within 6 months

[MeirAya]

If you all get on well enough to attend appointments together, it can be useful.

As a step-mum type figure, you may be seen as a reliable witness by professionals... they won't be that used to someone turning up to support and praise their partner's ex.

[MeirAya]

Doesn't hurt for all the adults to tick the 'parenting course' box now, either. This can be very good, it sometimes just confirms you're all perfect already .

The course is the first line treatment for diagnosed ADHD anyway, and no harm if your dsd has something else. Plus if she's got adhd or similar issues, the consistency of you all doing things exactly the same way will likely help a lot.

[MeirAya]

Also yes to polter's suggestion of OT and speech therapy being better than other private opinions.

If, before seeing the specialist, you've got those in your pocket with a parenting course, it makes the issues clearer and more obvious.

[AllwaysCarryMashems]

Actually I'd say adhd is one of the few conditions it's worth going private for. First line treatment for the child themselves is medication, although it is worth doing the parenting courses while waiting.

Ask at your GPS which gp has experience of kids with adhd, then switch to them. Ask about NHS referral first, which is camhs & it's up to them if they take it or not & they will recommend parenting course, hence the reason it's worth doing first. If camhs won't take the referral or has a huge waiting list ask gp if they would consider a shared care agreement with a private adhd specialist & if they can recommend one. Basicly what that means is private psych will assess & diagnose (1000 around) & recommend which Meds (almost allways mph as it's first line treatment) & then ask the gp to ok getting them on the NHS & supervise titrating up. This is how alot of adults get diagnosed as waiting lists can be years and years. Parents are starting to follow the same course now as it is just so hard to get camhs to take on referrals.