Have I exaggerated the conners questionnaire answers?

[bernieritz]

My son has a diagnosis of Austism. (ADOS score was quite high so a clear cut diagnosis). His brother has ADHD- I have absolutely no doubt of this as a very classic presentation and meds have an impact. I have been unsure if my autistic son also has ADHD so asked for an assessment. I just got back my sons Conners results and it appears a positive diagnosis has been made based solely on these questionnaires (no QB test or observations).

Teachers score 58-90 across the areas (well over 70 in 2 areas, over 65 in 2 areas and 58 in one area), the parents questionnaire scored 87-90 across all areas! Both were particularly high on hyperactivity/ impulsiveness. I wasn't expecting it to score so high as I'm really 50:50 as to whether he is ADHD as he presents so differently to his brother and isn't as 'on the go'. So then I went back through my answers and am now wondering if I over egged any of the answers! I find it so difficult to judge whether something occurs 'occasionally', 'often', or 'very often' as it isn't quantified. I'm now worried we've just been given a diagnosis because we are looking for it. I've filled out so many questionnaires I'm wondering if I'm exaggerating by accident. For example if I could have arguably ticked either 'occasionally' and 'often' (because it happens regularly but not loads) but went with the higher scoring answer when unsure.

Has anyone else felt like this? Anyone retrospectively think they could have answered questions differently? It's like massive imposter syndrome. Anyone got an ADHD diagnosis and then thought - no just autism?!

[Acronymsandinitialisms]

I feel exactly the same way. For my son, the line was the same shape on the two questionnaires, but mine was a lot higher up. This means that his teacher and I noticed the same things, but my reaction was more extreme, or he was showing those traits more strongly at home? It does seem that a lot of the assessment comes down to my imperfect opinion and my own personality, which is very impulsive and dramatic at times! It makes me feel very guilty and uncomfortable.

[ittakes2]

It’s a misconception that that adhd is ‘on the go’. In fact it’s why lots of kids are missed for adhd in school. The H in hyperactive can also represent hyperactivity thinking. Ie active mind not just active body. My daughter has inattentive adhd - not really seen in school but more at home. Very messy, poor planning and timing struggles to get to sleep due to hyperactive mind - but in school is so quiet and well behaved school wouldn’t agree initially to fill in the form.

[sprongle1]

We had pretty similar scores - nearly all individual scores are "very elevated" bar learning problems - school score for ADHD inattentive was elevated and ours very elevated and for ADHD Hyperactive school scored very elevated and we scored high average. NHS Paediatrician saw these results when diagnosing ASD but said likely not ADHD and didn't want to take it further.

Interestingly - we now think PDA and looking back at this as a result of your post - both school and we scored her at >90 very elevated for the ODD score!