Has anyone dealt with an evaluation for ADHD?

sistrkate · March 2011

I brought this up to Justin's pedi at his 3 year well check, but at the time she dismissed it as being too early for any type of evaluation for that.

Several recent events have led me to want to look into this further. Has anyone had experience with the process for this type of evaluation? I'm not sure if I should call back and make another appointment with his pediatrician, or if there is a better place to start. I suppose that it makes sense for the doctor that knows him best to make that type of referral, but was curious if anyone had any insight.

kel716 · March 2011

I've always heard that diagnosing ADD/ADHD early isn't always accurate. Hopefully moesten will be able to support that with more factual info.

I found this short article to have some nice links at the bottom of the page. https://pediatrics.about.com/od/weeklyquestion/a/04_preschl_adhd.htm

sprads · March 2011

Oh, honey. I am not sure where to begin, but the short answer is yes, I have been through several evaluations for this. I am currently typing on my phone in the lactation room and can't really see what I am typing, so I will keep it short and respond more later. I would suggest cchmc add clinic. They do a complete eval and one of the things they evaluate is if the symptoms were present before the child started school. SS1 struggles with this disease every day. I can't remember when they start treatment but I did go through all of the parenting with adhd classes and I want to say some paremts of small children were having their children treated. Let's talk.

hav2run · March 2011

Me! DS was 3.5 when he was diagnosed. We went to Dr Lerer at Fairfield Pediatrics when he was that little. I do not know if he is still practicing, but he was known in Cincy to be one of the "experts" with ADHD. We moved and switched pediatricians, and they had no knowledge of treatments or ADHD in general. So we started going to the Affinity Center in Montgomery. They are wonderful, know the treatments, and offer lots of options aside from or in addition to medication. I don't know what I would have done without them. They helped immensely with school issues. I wouldn't recommend letting a pediatrician try to diagnose or treat ADHD after seeing the difference between the pedi and a center that only specializes in treating ADHD. Huge difference.

If you have questions about what to expect or anything ADHD related, feel free to shoot me a FBM. I have 17 years of experience with it from a mom's perspective.

sistrkate · March 2011

sprads:
Oh, honey. I am not sure where to begin, but the short answer is yes, I have been through several evaluations for this. I am currently typing on my phone in the lactation room and can't really see what I am typing, so I will keep it short and respond more later. I would suggest cchmc add clinic. They do a complete eval and one of the things they evaluate is if the symptoms were present before the child started school. SS1 struggles with this disease every day. I can't remember when they start treatment but I did go through all of the parenting with adhd classes and I want to say some paremts of small children were having their children treated. Let's talk.

I would love to chat more. You and I have several things in common. I could really use some wisdom in this area.

sistrkate · March 2011

hav2run:
Me! DS was 3.5 when he was diagnosed. We went to Dr Lerer at Fairfield Pediatrics when he was that little. I do not know if he is still practicing, but he was known in Cincy to be one of the "experts" with ADHD. We moved and switched pediatricians, and they had no knowledge of treatments or ADHD in general. So we started going to the Affinity Center in Montgomery. They are wonderful, know the treatments, and offer lots of options aside from or in addition to medication. I don't know what I would have done without them. They helped immensely with school issues. I wouldn't recommend letting a pediatrician try to diagnose or treat ADHD after seeing the difference between the pedi and a center that only specializes in treating ADHD. Huge difference.
If you have questions about what to expect or anything ADHD related, feel free to shoot me a FBM. I have 17 years of experience with it from a mom's perspective.

I'm going to send you a message. I don't feel comfortable waiting any longer to address this, but I'm not sure how to get the ball rolling.

sprads · March 2011

sistrkate:
hav2run:

Me! DS was 3.5 when he was diagnosed. We went to Dr Lerer at Fairfield Pediatrics when he was that little. I do not know if he is still practicing, but he was known in Cincy to be one of the "experts" with ADHD. We moved and switched pediatricians, and they had no knowledge of treatments or ADHD in general. So we started going to the Affinity Center in Montgomery. They are wonderful, know the treatments, and offer lots of options aside from or in addition to medication. I don't know what I would have done without them. They helped immensely with school issues. I wouldn't recommend letting a pediatrician try to diagnose or treat ADHD after seeing the difference between the pedi and a center that only specializes in treating ADHD. Huge difference.

If you have questions about what to expect or anything ADHD related, feel free to shoot me a FBM. I have 17 years of experience with it from a mom's perspective.

I'm going to send you a message. I don't feel comfortable waiting any longer to address this, but I'm not sure how to get the ball rolling.

SS1 goes to Fairfield Peds, the clinic Dr. Lerer founded, and he sees Dr. C who also happens to be the only doc that figured out DD was having ingested or inhaled allergy symptoms and who led us to get tested and figured everything out when she was 9 months. He can be dry, but he is good.

MelissaMc22 · March 2011

I was diagnosed with ADD at age 22. If you ever need to talk specifically about it, I am pretty open about my experience growing up with ADD through school, college, relationships and how I deal with that on a daily basis as an adult. Although there are alot of negatives to this "disorder", many people with it are creative, silly, intelligent people. It definitely makes me who I am.

Other than that, I don't have much to add since the PP's had wonderful suggestions.

Good luck!

Moesten · March 2011

hav2run:
Me! DS was 3.5 when he was diagnosed. We went to Dr Lerer at Fairfield Pediatrics when he was that little. I do not know if he is still practicing, but he was known in Cincy to be one of the "experts" with ADHD. We moved and switched pediatricians, and they had no knowledge of treatments or ADHD in general. So we started going to the Affinity Center in Montgomery. They are wonderful, know the treatments, and offer lots of options aside from or in addition to medication. I don't know what I would have done without them. They helped immensely with school issues. I wouldn't recommend letting a pediatrician try to diagnose or treat ADHD after seeing the difference between the pedi and a center that only specializes in treating ADHD. Huge difference.
If you have questions about what to expect or anything ADHD related, feel free to shoot me a FBM. I have 17 years of experience with it from a mom's perspective.

This, this, this. I absolutely do not recommend having your pediatrician evaluate for ADHD. I second this suggestion and the one Sprads offered regarding Children's Hospital.

Let's talk more in person.

identicaltwins2be · March 2011

DD has ADHD and is being treated by her pedi. We've never had any problems going that route and the pedi has always been very open to what I've felt regarding DDs treatment. I'm sure the specialist are better but we aren't having any issues that would make me take her to a specialist since she is being managed by her pedi ok at this point. It was kindergarten that it was first brought up (by her teacher) but it was 3rd grade before we started medication. I would be happy to share our experiences if you need more info.

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