Is Being Diagnosed ADHD!
Zabrina D. Burnett
Purdue University Calumet
Imagine the
following your child’s teacher has called requesting a meeting with you to
discuss his academic performance lately and recent behavior in the
classroom. You go to the school, meet
with your son’s teacher and it is explained that your child is doing poor
academically and is uncontrollable during class. The teacher suggests that maybe you should
talk with your child’s doctor about his behavior. You make an appointment for your child to see
the doctor and at the end of the appointment your child’s doctor suggests
beginning a drug to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD. You are concerned and state those concerns. Your child’s doctor says, “We’ll start him out
on the lowest dose for his size.” You
begin the medication, Adderall, and your child begins having severe facial
tics. You immediately stop the
medication and call the doctor. Your
doctor says, “Let’s try a different drug.”
You reply I think I’ll do some research.
Lately
it seems as though if a child is misbehaving in his classroom at school and
acts hyper at times then he must have ADHD.
What most parents don’t know is that there is a process to go through
before anyone can label your child as having ADHD. It is not just a matter of your child’s
academic performance falling, or your child acting up in class a couple of
times for your pediatrician to put him on medication and label him as having
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
There are many aspects to look at before medication should even come
into the picture.
First,
“parents should know that they could request in writing that the school system
evaluate their child, because the school is required to do so at no cost”
(University of Michigan Health System [UMICH], 2004). If the school system finds that there is no
evidence of ADHD, then you can stop and proceed no further with this or you may
have your child evaluated by your pediatrician or a psychologist, but you will
have to pay for it.
If
you choose to have your child evaluated by your pediatrician or a psychologist,
understand that this is a lengthy process in which your child must ‘meet the
criteria stated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
Fourth Edition; there must be evidence that states the core symptoms of ADHD in
various settings, age of onset, durations of symptoms, and degree of functional
impairment; evidence from classroom teacher or other school professional
regarding the core symptoms of ADHD; and evaluation of assessment of other
coexisting conditions’ (Committee on Quality Improvement and Subcommittee on
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, 2000).
Once
all of the above is met, if a doctor has found after the assessment process is
done that your child does have ADHD then your child may be diagnosed. Please be wary of any doctor that should want
to place your child on a stimulant medication used to treat ADHD without first
assessing your child, because there is a lot more involved. Even after your child has been diagnosed with
ADHD, discuss other things that can be done besides stimulant medications. There is a non-stimulant medication that can
be used called Straterra.
Other ideas
that may be used with or without medication are providing a very structured
schedule for your child; decreasing the amount of sugary foods in his/her diet;
working with the teacher to come up with modifications in the classroom, if
allowed; having the psychologist give you some behavior modification techniques
to use; and talking with your child quite often on what is expected in
different settings which he/she may encounter.
Remember
just because a teacher feels that your child has ADHD, does not mean that
he/she does. Your child may not get
along with the teacher that he/she has, there may be a particular subject that
your child does not like or is having difficulty with, or your child may just
be a more active child.
University of Michigan Health
System. (2004, January). ADHD: What
Parents Need to
Know. Retrieved
July 19, 2004, from http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/yourchild/adhd.htm.
Disorder. (2000).
Clinical Practice Guideline:
Diagnosis and Evaluation of the Child With
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.
[Electronic Version]. Pediatrics,
v105, 5, 1158-1170. Retrieved July 19, 2004 from http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;
105/5/1158