words of encouragement for others

[Lanego]

hi everyone. I wanted to post some words of encouragement for those who are trying to get their child diagnosed with inattentive ADHD. I’ve posted here previously with questions about my son with ADHD who was diagnosed in first grade (I barely got into the room before the pediatrician diagnosed him.)My 11 year old daughter on the other hand is more inattentive and therefore a diagnosis has been trickier to obtain. My first attempt two years ago through the same pediatrician went nowhere since he relied only on the Vanderbilt survey. The teachers couldn’t see her zoning out the so the survey they took didn’t indicate she had symptoms, and since they were younger teachers, they said she was doing fine in school even though she consistently was failing math tests(the school would allow her to correct her test and record the corrected score in the gradebook so it look like she was getting a B/C in math instead of a D). I wish clinicians would not rely solely on the survey to make a diagnosis of ADHD, but also use their medical judgment.

I finally went to see a child psychiatrist today and she talked with me and my daughter for an hour and a half and at the end said my daughter had pretty classic inattentive ADHD.

The psychiatrist give a very nice summary of how from pre-K to third grade most kids with inattentive ADHD can manage academically. then at third grade with multiplication tables, especially they start to struggle, and usually by 5th, 6th grade these kids will be seen for ADHD (this was our experience too),and then she sees another peak in diagnosis around college.

I tried to remain open to the idea that maybe I was incorrect in thinking she had ADHD but I kept coming back to it and I’m glad I persisted, so if your pediatrician doesn’t think your child has inattentive ADHD and you have the resources consider seeing a child psychiatrist.

Now onto the roller coaster of trying to find which medication will work for her.

[Mamamichl]

I strongly recommend a neurological examination if there are any concerns. Pediatricians are general practitioners and don’t know mental health or any subject deeply. Psychiatrists are definitely the ones to handle this particular diagnosis and I’ve seen better results with medications with them as well.

[Onthemove1971]

Good luck, thanks for the update. We hope you find what is right for her. We are always here for you guys..

[BlueStripedMama]

Just wanted to say thanks for this post! I've been in exactly this loop. We are fairly sure that our 9 year old daughter has inattentive AD(H)D but then keep getting confused why I, my husband and our babysitter are the only ones who see it? After 3 therapists all said "I don't see it - she seems to pay attention fine," I really started to doubt myself. But my own therapist told me that she's not surprised that it wouldn't show up in 1:1 therapy because that's a time when my gal can hyperfocus because it's interesting and there is lots of attention on her. So still working on figuring out how to go about figuring out if it really is that or something else!!

[Knitting20projects]

I'm a pediatrician, and we are under significant time pressure to see X number of patients/day etc, which limits the duration of our appointments (unfortunately). Sometimes it's just not the ideal setting to evaluate these issues, even though many of us have a strong interest in ADHD and like helping kids and families figure out these situations. I'm so glad you found someone excellent who was able to spend the appropriate time to hear you and observe your child. Great news!!!