ADHD First Appointment

[Lplatesmum]

Hi,

My 6 year old son has his first appointment this week with a nurse practitioner after being referred to community paediatrics. I believe he has ADHD and potentially anxiety disorder. He has been displaying this behaviour since about age 3 (possibly younger but was written off as terrible twos!) and I have approached the GP on more than one occasion but was never given a referral until now.

As a bit of background, I work for the nhs as a nursery nurse assessing preschool children with global developemental delay or potential ASD. I have undertaken every parenting course on offer in my local area, I have so many parenting books and have done online parenting courses for children with ADHD. I am constantly striving to find ways to support my son and have implemented things at home for instance a visual timetable, fidget/chew toys and physical activities daily to support emotional regulation. We are still in a very bad place with behaviour and the anger and aggression my son displays.

My question (sorry for rambling!) is what can I expect from this first appointment? I am quite desperate now and getting through each day is a challenge. I really don’t want to go to the appointment and be told to try some techniques and wait and see.

Can anyone offer any advice or share their experiences?

Thanks :)

Have you been given any assessment questionnaires to complete?

Not yet, no. I have put everything in writing for the appointment and also have a copy of a letter his teacher wrote for the GP to support the referral which states the difficulties he has in school that are consistent with those at home.

Do they usually send out questionnaires in advance? The appointment was a cancellation but they had time to send a letter through but no other paperwork with it.

I don’t know about Camhs, but DD and I had to fill out our own questionnaires on what she was like, going back from adulthood through primary school and secondary.

Slightly different for us as we went privately for an assessment. The first session was about giving a detailed history of our child which included behaviours of concern, how he sleeps, any other medical concerns and also about my pregnancy/Labour. From here we and the school were given questionnaires to complete which were reviewed in the next session. Hope that helps and good luck.

We filled in questionnaires in advance. The Connors scale and another one which I can't remember the name of. School had to fill one in too beforehand.

Hi
I shall follow this with interest. My 7 year old has first appointment in a week or so. I expected questionnaires in advance but haven't had anything, only a request that both parents attend initial assessment.

Hi
I shall follow this with interest. My 7 year old has first appointment in a week or so. I expected questionnaires in advance but haven't had anything, only a request that both parents attend initial assessment. I hope your appointment is helpful, if you don't mind updating how it went, I'd love to hear. All the best.

Hi,
Thanks to everyone who replied.

Oobis our appointment was Tuesday. I went in armed with all my notes and letter from his teacher and school reports! But still the only outcome was she would send out questionnaires to us and school and have a follow up in 3 months. Then if he does get a diagnosis we will need another 3 months trying environmental modifications at home and school to see if we get any improvement. The appointment was a medical history and discussing my pregnancy, his birth and family history. She weighed, measured and took his blood pressure for baseline assessment.

I have to say I came away really disappointed because our home life is so bad I felt desperate for some intervention! But after a couple of days I’m feeling more positive and at least we’ve taken the first step. She did give me a recommended reading list, a few of them I already had but one called Living Without Brakes I ordered straight away and have started reading and would really recommend.

I hope your sons appointment goes well. I would chase up the questionnaires if they said they would send them as that may speed things up for you. Good luck :)

The difference between NHS and private assessments are worlds apart.

NHS = questionnaires for you and school to complete, basically 3 monthly appointments with little to no support in between. Often sent off with "look for local support groups on FB" type stuff.

Private = thorough history from pregnancy/birth up to the current day plus couple of hours of play assessments. Reports sent through couple of weeks later with list of suggested reading, support groups and recommended "next stage support" eg EP/OT etc.

Thank you OP. I'm sorry you were disappointed. I was warned before I even went to the GP that it could be a 6 month or more process so I feel that at least we're in the system as it were. I've no idea why we/the school weren't sent questionnaires to complete in advance of the appointment though. Hopefully it will have a real positive impact on your home life though. The lady I spoke to said that her son had access to additional support at school prior to diagnosis which really helped with his anger. Maybe a new school year will bring new positivity 🤞