Do You Know Enough About The Test For ADHD? - Getting Up To Date On Treatment Options
Do You Know Enough About The Test For ADHD? - Getting Up To Date On Treatment Options
I hear lots of stories about teachers and even school principals becoming medical experts overnight and recommending that troublesome kids should be put on Ritalin. This is both ridiculous and dangerous. The idea of a teacher recommending medicine for a child who may not have ADHD at all is alarming. These teachers would be well advised to do a Google search on 'Ritalin deaths' and they would see that there are 10,000 results at the moment of writing. Therefore there is a need to approach the whole question of a proper diagnosis and test for ADHD with due caution.
Let us look at the test for ADHD itself. The doctor should first rule out all the conditions that have similar symptoms to those of ADHD. There are about fifty of these and they can range from thyroid problems, eyesight or hearing problems, or allergies, just to name a few. It is important that the test is carried out by a suitably qualified professional who has a lot of experience of ADHD and this could be a pediatrician or psychologist.
Then if ADHD is actually diagnosed there is a strong possibility that it may co-exist with another disorder such as ODD; autism or Aspergers or simply depression or bipolar disorder. This complicates the clinical picture somewhat.
The test for ADHD will start with the medical exam, as I mentioned above. The there will be questions about family medical history and also what happened during the pregnancy. Unfortunately as there is no blood test for ADHD, the tests to diagnose ADD and ADHD continue with the help of questionnaires.
The questionnaires are for teachers and parents. They usually ask about the symptoms and behavior issues which have been observed. They should have been present for at least six months and they should also be present in all the settings such as home, school and at play. The teacher will sometimes be given the TOVA which stands for Test of Variables of Attention.
The doctor or pediatrician will then collect all the information and will consult the DSM manual Edition IV which is the standard diagnosis manual. That will compare the behaviours and symptoms of the child with normal children and a diagnosis will be made.
Once a diagnosis is arrived at, parents will be given options for treatment. It is essential that they start to learn about child behavior modification so that they can immediately start with behavior and social skills so that the child is properly looked after. Medication alone is never enough!