ADHD diagnostic process

[KarenThirl]

I'd imagine those of you with ADHD children have different experiences of how the assessment was carried out. Would be interested to know what yours involved - questionnaires, tests, visits etc. I have a follow-up meeting on Monday and suspect I'll be told 'no further investigation/intervention necessary', and want to be prepared to ask for certain aspects of the assessment to be carried out.

Ta.

will reply later!!!

Hi Karen

MY SON IS NOW 6 1/2. WE STARTED GOING TO THE CHILD MENTAL HEALTH UNIT WHEN HE WAS 5 1/2.
WE HAD SEVERAL VISITS, LETTERS FROM SCHOOL AND HOW WE FELT. THE CONSULTANT OBSERVED AJ WHILST HE WAS PLAYING. THAT WAS IT BASICALLY. AFTER SEEING HIM FOR ABOUT 4 MONTHS THE CONSULTANT HAD NO PROBLEMS DIAGNOSING ADHD AND SUGGESTED MEDICATION.

BEFORE ALL THIS WE HAD GONE DOWN THE ALLERGY ROUTE AND HE ALSO HAS FISH OILS EVERY DAY.

OFCOURSE HE COULDN'T TAKE THE MEDICATION UNTIL HE WAS SIX.

IF YOU WANT TO NOW HOW THE MEDICATION IS GOING JUST ASK.

JO

J was having problems in school with socialising in an appropriate manner. he was unable to concentrate and was obsessional.
Class teacher recommended we spoke to GP. GP referred us to family consultancy team. They sent us a connors rating score sheet to complete and school also had the same.
We went for our one and only appointment with the family consultancy team.
They took J out of the room to complete the computer test whilst we spoke with the CP. She asked us questions about J for about 10 mins.
J came back into the room and was very distressed at being taken away from us.
The CP and others disappeared and left us in the room with J for a forther 10 minutes.....when they came back into the room they handed me a piece of A4 paper which explained how to administer medication in very simple terms and gave me a prescription for Ritalin.....go away and we'll see you in 6 months time....Oh and by the way he has ADHD with Autistic traits!!!!!

Very quick....over in a second....no real assessments at all.

6 months later the medication was making J worse!!! Medication was stopped.

We then found out that J's Connor score was so low it didnt give a significant rating for ADHD to be dx!!!!!!!

I honsetly beleive they gave us the dx of ADHD just to keep us quiet.....we are fighting our LHA through court now to get J assessed for ASD...Aspergers.

If I was you I would push for a detailed asessment before any dx is made.

HI JAYSMUM

I CANT BELIEVE THEY GAVE YOU A SCRIPT THAT QUICK FOR RITALIN.

i REMEMBER GOING TO MY GP IN DEC 03. THEN GOING TO SEE THE CONSULTANT IN FEB/MAR 04. IT WASNT UNTIL THE FOLLOWING AUGUST HE GOT EQUASYM.
WE THEN TRIED CONCERTA WHICH MADE HIM WORSE AND WENT BACK TO EQUASYM.
EVERYTHING IS GREAT NOW. I TRY NOT TO MEDICATE HIM AT WEEKENDS ALTHOUGH SOMETIMES IT IS HARD.
HES NEVER BEEN AGGRESSIVE OR TEMPER ITS HIS ATTENTION AND HYPERACTIVITY WHICH CONCERNED US.
HE WOULD SOMETIMES JUST RUN ROUND AND ROUND FLAPPING HIS HANDS AND MAKING INAPPROPIATE NOISES AND SOUNDS. NEVER THINK BEFORE HE SPOKE.
JO