ADHD Testing - Bella Vista,AR

Please go with something that is research-based. The "traditional" route invovles a referral to a child psychologist and a series of interviews with you, your child and your child's teacher to determine whether or not your child meets the diagnostic criteria for ADHD.

Diagnosis does not always mean medication. If it's experimental (which this is), your insurance will not likely cover it. Call your child's school psychologist and request a meeting to discuss this "process". This is your most accessible resource.

I have never heard of Learning Rx so I can't tell you what they do. Brain training sounds like yet another ADHD scam to me, so be on red alert. There are a lot of people out there preying on parents afraid of ADHD and the proven treatment options.

No, not everyone walks out with an ADHD diagnosis the traditional route. That's silly. (Although with an alternative provider, I can't say ... ) Doctors would lose their medical licenses if they misdiagnosed repeatedly. This is a serious medical condition and every doctor we've met in our journey has treated it that way. The diagnosis route will vary depending on health plan, but here's what we went through:

At age three, our son's behavior was extreme and we were getting warnings from his school. Read every "strong-willed child" parenting book out there, no luck. I talked to his pediatrician for advice and he referred us to a child psychologist. We met with him for months and those strategies didn't work. We then moved on to a behavioral therapist. Again, no luck. By now, our son was kicked out of preschool.

We then met with a child psychiatrist who said our son had "strong indicators of ADHD" but wouldn't diagnose at that age (took two years for that). This was based on all of the medical information already collected, along with forms filled out by his previous teachers and us. After exhausting our options, we tried medication. Ta-da! WOW! We had our same wonderful son, but with behavior in the normal range. Total transformation. Years later, he still takes medication and also does behavioral therapy, which now works due to the medication.

Your first step should be seeking a referral to a specialist. Pediatricians aren't usually qualified to diagnose, so you'll want to seek a child psychiatrist, neuropsychologst or developmental pediatrician. It will vary by your health plan which one is covered. Kaiser will refer you to a psychiatrist.

Best of luck to you! If you do get an ADHD diagnosis, join CHADD for support and read ADDitude magazine for factual information about dealing with ADHD every day. Also talk to the school district about getting an IEP or 504 plan to help your child with accommodations at school.

My daughter was just diagnosed with ADHD and she is NOT taking medication for it. I will tell you to go to someone who specializes in testing though and not just any psychologist. Regualr psychologists can do the testing but it is not necessarily the best. A testing specialist can do what needs to be done and in less time. And you will not get a diagnosis if she does not really have ADHD.

There are sites where you can answer a few questions and get results on the probability that ADHD is the problem. I'd suggest trying out one of them first...Google ADHD tests and you'll find a ton of sites. I'd print out my response and take it to your child's doctor who would do the actual diagnosis.

My son, at age 5, was diagnosed with ADHD by our pcp and we spent the next year trying non-traditional methods to assist him. The least effective was the vitamins and minerals we tried. (Sorry, he's 18 now and I have forgotten what they actually were or I'd tell you.) The things we did do with minimal positive effects were aroma therapy (vanilla and lavendar are both calming), accu-pressure (he loved when he'd sit on the floor in front of me while I applied pressure on both shoulders in one minute intervals), rubbing the top of his head (I'd switch from accupressure to rubbing his head), eliminating red dye from his diet, minimizing the color red in his room, toys and clothing (red is a trigger color and can trigger either aggression or passion...whenever he got into trouble with another student in school they were genrally wearing red), used music therapy (smooth jazz or light classical are both soothing), pet therapy (we got a large dog that would let him lay on her, pull her tail or ears and she'd just lick his face) and reading time with Dad or Mom. His reading time wasn't with him sitting quietly next to me but with him pacing in front of me...whatever was most comfortable to him while he still listened to the story was most important to us.

Along with the applied pressure to his shoulders I made him a weighted blanket and filled tubes socks with rice and a vanilla scent which we would heat in the microwave. The warm, vanilla scented sock would be placed on his shoulders which applied some pressure also. Very effective. If he was having a difficult time getting to sleep I would add heated, vanilla scented rice filled packets to pockets I had included on the blanket. Very effective also.

After a year or so of going that route alone we added in medication. Our son could not tolerate the traditional ADHD meds like ritalin, but was helped immensly by Clonodine in the patch form because he then had a constant dose in his system. We found out later that we should have been seeing a psychiatrist instead of a pcp because ADHD meds should be monitored by a doctor who specializes in meds that affect mental health...which ADHD definately fits the bill. Besides, the psychiatrist is more in the know on new and possibly better medications...something a pcp may not be informed on to the same degree. We also started taking him to a therapist who uncovered some issues during play therapy. By uncovering them we were able to address these issues head on instead of wondering why he did things out of the norm for a child his age.

We later discovered that our son not only had ADHD but is Autistic. I am in no way implying that your child might be...just showing that if we hadn't taken him to a psychiatrist we never would have uncovered the Autism.

You said she's 6 so that means she's in school. It's important that you get the diagnosis immediately. If she does have ADHD she qualifies for an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) in school. It's imperative to have a good start in school and the IEP lays out exactly what special needs she might have and what the school HAS to provide. I have tons of information on IEP's and dealing with the school. If you are interested just let me know and I can share some tips there if you go that route. Anything to help another mom and child avoid the pitfalls we had. I'd even be willing to meet with you personally so you could pick my brain. My goal, as the mother of a disabled son, is to assist other parents in similar situations get a good start on being advocates for their child's welfare and education. Broken Arrow is one of the best school districts in the area in addressing special education issues. Take advantage of everything you can receive to help your daughter.

I hope I've been helpful.

Blessings,
W.