ADHD Assessment - What Happens When a Doctor Diagnoses ADHD?
To determine an ADHD diagnosis, doctors will review your symptoms to determine whether they fit the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V). A majority of professionals also conduct an interview with a clinician with one or more standardized ADHD rating scales.
It is best to find a specialist who is specialized in diagnosing ADHD and is covered by your insurance plan. Find an organization that supports you locally for specialists.
Signs and symptoms
Your pediatrician will ask you questions about your symptoms and the past. The doctor will also examine you in order to determine the physical reason for your issue. This could be a hearing loss, vision problem or illness.
The most prominent symptom of ADHD is the difficulty in paying attention or staying focused. This can lead to impulsive mistakes and inability to complete tasks (e.g. chores or schoolwork). Children and teens with ADHD have difficulty listening to others and be distracted or drowsy. These issues can create issues in the workplace as well as at home in relationships in adults with ADHD.
Another ADHD sign is the inability to sit still or be still for long periods of time. People with ADHD move around, fidget or squirm when waiting for others to arrive or during the course of a meeting. They also may talk too much or interrupt others frequently.
Doctors rely on the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition Text Revision (DSM-5-TR(tm)), to guide their diagnoses. They assess whether a person has at least six traits of inattention or hyperactivity/impulsivity to determine what type of ADHD they have.
Your pediatrician will evaluate your behavior in various situations like at school or other social settings. The doctor will ask you as well as your family members, teachers and other caregivers to describe your behavior. The doctor will utilize checklists and scales to assess ADHD symptoms.
Your child may be subjected to physical examinations or blood tests to rule out any other medical conditions such as thyroid disorder, a vision problem, or a hearing loss. A mental health professional may also assess your child's ability to follow instructions, focus and finish tasks.
Neuropsychological testing is not usually used to diagnose ADHD, but it may be helpful in some situations. It involves measuring brain activity, such as beta waves using an EEG scan or a magnetic resonance image (MRI). Certain studies suggest that ADHD patients have lower beta-wave activity in their frontal lobes and produce too many theta-waves.
Diagnosis
A doctor is able to diagnose ADHD by looking at a patient's symptoms, family history and the results of various assessment and screening tools. These include rating scales continuous performance tests, as well as neuropsychological testing batteries (Table I). For each tool, it is important to determine its sensitivity as well as specificity, which is the probability that the test will correctly identify those who have the disorder versus those who don't.
The first step in assessing ADHD is to interview the patient. This is an hour-long session with a therapist in which the patient is asked about the symptoms they experience and previous experiences. A specialist might request caregivers and teachers to collect information, especially when diagnosing children. The physician will go through medical and school records, and also ask the child or teen to fill out questionnaires that are completed by teachers and parents.
The physician may also request for past school records from adults who are being assessed for ADHD to determine if the symptoms started in childhood. They could also talk to the person's spouse, children and other acquaintances about their experiences with the individual. A specialist might also wish to interview others who know the individual, such as Scout and religious leaders, or former teachers to gain an insight into how the individual interacts in various settings.
For an adult or adolescent to be diagnosed with ADHD the person must demonstrate several of the symptoms in multiple situations, such as at home, work and school. The symptoms must be affecting the person's functioning and not be explained by another condition. For adolescents the symptoms must have been consistent and present from childhood. For adults, he or she must show at least five ongoing symptoms and have suffered from them for at minimum six months. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition Text Revision of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5) includes criteria for diagnosing the disorder.
Treatment
There are a myriad of treatment options available for your child or adult who is diagnosed with ADHD. These may include medication, behavior therapy or a mixture of both. You and your doctor will decide what is right for you based on how many symptoms your child experiences and how long they've been experiencing them for. Your doctor will also rule out other conditions that could be causing symptoms, like mental health issues like anxiety and depression or medical conditions like thyroid disorders.
It is important to talk to your child's teacher if you or are having difficulties at school. Teachers can identify ADHD symptoms in kids and determine if it's ADHD or something else.
The evaluation could consist of a conversation with a clinician as well as the completion of ADHD symptoms lists and other questionnaires as well as psychological tests, details about your family and friends, and medical history. It is crucial to be as specific as you can about the difficulties that you or your child may be experiencing. This will allow your doctor to understand the complexities and provide a precise diagnosis.
Adults and teens over the age of 18 will be able to undergo the same assessment process, but symptoms will be assessed differently because they're typically related to work and other pursuits. Your psychiatrist or psychologist may also ask you to describe the problems and how they affect your life. For instance, do your issues affect your social or work relationships? If yes How much? This information will be used by your physician to determine if your symptoms are moderate or mild.
Psychosocial therapies are more effective than prescription medications for adults with ADHD. These treatments can help you and your family find better ways to cope with your issues. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), for example can help you overcome negative thoughts and manage emotions. Family and group therapy can help you develop new strategies and skills to improve your relationship with your spouse or partner. For children who are younger than the age of 18 the need for behavior training is a must prior to taking any medication. This includes parent training on how to manage children's behavior less than 6 years old and other types training and behavior therapy for teens and adults.
Follow-up
As with any diagnostic procedure, the results of an adhd test should always be interpreted by a qualified physician. This ensures that the person receives the appropriate treatment for their condition. This also reduces the chance of false positive results when the test results indicate that an individual has ADHD even though they do not. This can happen when the test used for an assessment isn't validated or the examiner lacks the experience to interpret the results correctly.
The clinician will consider the onset and persistence of the symptoms, as well as how they compare to a mental age estimate (i.e. is the patient's behavior significantly "below" or above" their age). They will also consider the time frame and duration of the symptoms, aswell being able to compare them with the mental age estimation (i.e. is the patient's behavior disproportionately 'below' or 'above' for their age).
Neuropsychological testing is a great tool to assess ADHD symptoms in addition to interviews with a psychologist and observation. Some tests have been specifically developed to evaluate the core symptoms of ADHD such as hyperactivity, inattention and the tendency to be impulsive. Two of these tests are the Quantified Behavior test for children (6-12 year olds) and Qb+(c) for adults (12 years old or older). These tests use motion-tracking systems to track head movements and generate indicators of activity, such as the amount of time spent moving faster than 1 cm/s, distance and the surface covered, as well as microevents like small movements that are greater than 1 mm. They also generate estimates of omission errors and commission errors, the two components of ADHD's executive functioning deficits.
It is essential that the doctor conducts a thorough assessment. get assessed for adhd will ask about the person’s health and development history, including their childhood, school and work histories as well as family life and drug and alcohol usage, to identify any factors that could be contributing to the symptoms. They will then employ the SWAN and the patient or parent ratings and objective cognitive testing to arrive at their diagnosis.