CAn someone tell me about assessment for ADD please?

[Peachy]

Have 4 childrem, two diagnosed with ASD and one awaiitng assessment but quite clearly AS.

School have told me that ds2 needs to be assessed for ADD and I think they probably have a point.

Know ASD like the back of my hand (quite litrally to post grad standard as doing a cpourse in it at uni) but very little about ADD and assessment.

He is ten, I know that can affect assessments with ASD: no other LD, has got dyslexia, suspected dyspraxia

TIA

no personal experience, but think docs usually use something called a Connor's questionnaire sent to parents and school for ADHD (not sure if would differ for ADD). btw there is a specialist ADHD/ADD forum at www.adders.org.

Hey peachy!!!!

I believe it's parent interview, questionaires, observation and discussed by the team.
They must decide that another cause ( like ASD) is not the issue.
Can run along withdyslexia and dyspraxia.

Hi Peachy, I agree with what's been said.

It can be hard to get a diagnosis for ADD when there is one for AS/D already in place - effectively AS/D 'trumps' ADD as so many of the symptoms fit for both conditions.

However, if you want to go down the medication route, few doctors will prescribe without a formal dx of ADD so you have to jump through the hoops to get it.

But yes, Connor's questionnaires for both school and home (you can get the questions online), developmental history, observations - all the usual. ADD symptoms have to be observed in two environments for dx to be accepted and the majority of psychiatrists will insist that those should be home and school.

We didn't get a dx for ds until we removed him from school to home ed and went to a private psych who would consider other viewpoints than school. School insisted (on paper) that there were no problems, though daily feedback told a very different story . Everywhere else he went he was a nightmare and we had written reports to prove it. He got the medication he needed from the private psych and it changed his life .

Good luck.

DS2 doesn;t have add but actually the 3Di did flag for ds3 and absolutely the ASD was the only one given (ADD probable thinking about it but not problematic IYSWIM)

School back us- indeed Head suggested it as he got a reading age of 14 in his tests but flunked hugely in the other bits... becuase he lost attention and missed entire sections (went wandering apaprently). Head says she has a nephew with ADD and he and ds2 could be twins.

Will look at all the things mentioned thank you. Family Paed has been asking 'are you sure ds2 is OK....' for years so hopefully....?

My DD1 has an appointment next month for a computer based test called a Qb test for suspected ADD. She has recently received an ASD diagnosis (AS).