The ADHD Fix. Dr. Henry J. Svec

the first challenge is to be comfortable with the assessment. As a parent, you want to do all that you can to help your child. If you suspect that your child has ADHD, there are no shortcuts. A comprehensive assessment is necessary.

      As an adult with ADHD, you want to make sure the diagnosis is clear and understandable.

      A diagnosis of depression, or anxiety disorder with ADHD, is often seen with adults assessed at our offices. Was depression part of a neurological pattern that was present with the ADHD, or did depression occur as a result of negative experiences and a reaction to untreated ADHD? This is an important distinction. If you believe that the depression was always there, then perhaps treating it with medication may make more sense than if the condition was brought about by secondary reactions to the ADHD condition.

      The type of ADHD you have should also be linked to the type of treatment you choose. Prefrontal Involvement, Central Slowing, or Temporal Lobe ADHD as identified by the brain scan will each require a different approach and intervention. I will discuss this with treatment approaches in a later chapter, but the first step is to ensure that you have a proper diagnosis.

      Key idea from this strategy

      A *comprehensive assessment should include:

      •complete review of possible medical factors that could be contributing to the symptoms;

      •developmental and early learning history;

      •test of focus and attention while completing a timed task in a lab setting (i.e., CPT);

      •screening for Central Auditory Processing Disorder;

      •Intelligence testing to identify potential gifted behavior and rule out some learning disabilities;

      •Comprehensive achievement testing (i.e., WIAT);

      •neuroimaging or brain scan reviewed by a neurologist and brain physiologist;

      •comprehensive report with specific recommendations for home and school, or work and social for adults.

      *You may be wondering if this is one big push to have you bring your child to our offices for assessment. Not so. I truly believe that, regardless of where you live, only a comprehensive assessment will do when the question of ADHD is at issue. Find a competent psychologist or clinic in your community that can do the tests I have outlined. Costs will vary. At our offices, at the writing of this book, we charge $2,750 for a child and $1,635 for an adult assessment with complete report, including the neurologist’s evaluation. It’s about the value of the service you receive. Parents tell me it’s less than the cost of putting their child in hockey camp for the summer, so you decide what is most important. Most clinics such as ours also assist with filling out insurance and government program forms that may pay for all or part of these types of assessments.