Talk to me about your adhd teen ( please).

[Tiggygirl]

Hello .I have a teenage son who was diagnosed with Dyspraxia when he was 7 .It has been a difficult 10 years and very challenging at times for both him and us .Because I always thought his dyspraxia was to blame ,we just tried to cope as best we could ,but it always had a negative effect on his siblings .Its only in recent weeks that I read up about adhd after reading a news article about it and realised he displays all the symptoms of in attentive adhd or more commonly known as Attention Deficit Disorder .I am stuck now as to whether or not to push for a diagnosis .It would be wonderful in some ways if he was able to be given medication to help improve his life ,but is he too old ?

I have a 14 year old with AS and ADHD. He does OK but that's largely because he's home educated and an only child, which means we can focus a lot of time and energy on supporting him, which I know isn't the case for most families.

It's not unusual to pursue assessment into adulthood and medication too if it's thought appropriate. It would be worth doing some more research and starting the process if you think meds might help. It's been very helpful for my son, though it's not the answer for everyone.

Thanks so much streaky .Im unsure whether to go down the Gp route or go private.I have spent most of today looking for places that do assessments but its a mine field out there and none of them tell you how much they charge !Would it be just as beneficial to get him seen by a psychiatrist via the Gp or do you think a private assessment by a specialist in Adhd is the way forward?

It's difficult to know which is the better route to assessment as it's so variable. We went NHS first but the assessment was heavily influenced by the school DS had just left, who claimed that they didn't have any problems with him (so not true!), and the psych refused to accept Connors assessments from any of the other settings where he was a management nightmare, so he was dismissed from their caseload with no diagnosis.

I was lucky to find a private consultant psych through word of mouth, and he agreed to assess ds. He accepted reports from those other agencies and had no hesitation in diagnosing ADHD, though as ds already had a dx of ASD which covered a lot of the symptoms, he was only able to give a borderline diagnosis. That was enough to justify a trial of medication - NICE guidelines stipulate that a patient must have a diagnosis before drugs can be prescribed - and though we've had to jiggle with dosages a bit it's ultimately been a great help for ds. It hasn't 'fixed' him, not by a long way, but it helps him to function in a way that was impossible beforehand.

Perhaps you could find a local ADHD support group or carers organisation that might know of psychiatrists who assess privately, or someone like Contact A Family etc. It would probably be better looking at local services than national lists, I would think.

Thanks both of you for your help .Ill let you know how it all goes.