ADD/ADHD Process

[nickle730]

As Zazou said, my DS had a WISC and psychometric testing done at age 6-7. Many of the behaviours you have described could also describe my DS, ~H~, but the testing determined that he does not suffer from ADD/ADHD. He is a very smart, very active little boy who has a visual processing disorder and likes to push the boundaries!

My DS really struggled during 'sit down and listen' time at school and a sensory cushion for 12 months has worked wonders.

These active little boys are a challenge!

[~me~]

That's really interesting nickle730 and Zazou, I just had a quick look at the wisc-iv test.
The Paed did not elaborate on what sort of testing she was thinking about. This appointment was the first time she mentioned further testing as we initially went for his day time incontinence.
She had mentioned it based on how he is at the appointments and me bringing up the what went on at the meeting with his Teacher.

I read in another thread about the sensory cushion, at one stage the teacher mentioned DS2 had asked (he had seen another little boy with them) if he could wear headphones to block out noise. She gave them to DS2 and said that he actually sat and did his work withing minutes.

He is the sweetest funniest little boy, so in some ways this has come out of the blue to myself and DH.

All very helpful..Thankyou.

[nothing2lose]

Sweet, funny children have ADD/ADHD too yanno

Hope you get to the bottom of it and he gets the help he needs

[~me~]

He has been diagnosed with ADHD and we have been given a prescription for Ritalin. A very low does of 1/2 tablet in the morning and other 1/2 at lunch time.

If were to try and get a WISC and psychometric testing, is this through a child psychologist?

[myturn]

He has been diagnosed with ADHD and we have been given a prescription for Ritalin. A very low does of 1/2 tablet in the morning and other 1/2 at lunch time.

If were to try and get a WISC and psychometric testing, is this through a child psychologist?

Yes a child psychologist would do a cognitive assessment (WISC-IV is not the only option but it is the most common).

But keep in mind that will only give you IQ scores. It depends on what you are trying to achieve by the assessment as to whether it will be helpful at all. If you are wondering about his academic skills as well, a WISC-IV alone probably won't be very helpful. I am a bit disappointed the paed didn't request a psychologist assessment prior to diagnosis anyway. Also monitor how he goes with the Ritalin, if you don't notice any changes over a few months then it is worthwhile discussing with the Dr whether they are worth it at all.

If he goes to a state school in Victoria you should be able to access the school psychologist through "student support services" who can do an assessment. But like any public service there is a wait, so if you want a quicker result going privately may be an option. Most of the universities have a clinic with provisional psychologist (in training) supervised to do assessments and it costs a lot less to do them this way. Just depends on what you want.

The school psych may also be able to support the school manage some of those behaviours if they are causing frustration in the classroom. But it's tricky, like any strength or weakness it's often about how he learns to cope and manage with it.

Feel free to PM me if you want, I might be able to give you some names or more direction if I know which part of Melbourne you are in.

[~me~]

That is really helpful myturn.

After discussions with my DH last night, we are not going to fill the Ritalin prescription just yet.
He goes to a Catholic Primary School. Your suggestion of school psychologist is perfect as I think the school does have one and as we have the diagnosis of ADHD, they would be more than willing to refer us to them.

His main problem is distraction and not being able to sit still. He was a little behind for the first couple of terms last year, we just worked a lot harder with him and made some headway towards last term with help from his teacher.

My husband is extremely wary of Ritalin and feels it should be an absolute last resort. We are going to try Fidgets and perhaps the sensory cushion as well.

I will PM you as well, as we would definitely consider a private psychologist if the school could not help in that regards.

[~*familyof3*~]

Hi H,

My eldest son has ADHD. And as myturn said a child psychologist would do a cognitive assessment, we also worked close with the school based one, who spent one on one time with our DS. Again as myturn said Im not sure why you didn't have to do a psychologist assessment before you were given a diagnosis......we had the cognitive assessment plus a psychologist assessment and some other things too before our paed would even diagnose DS. Will try and pull out our paperwork later to let you know what tests we had done.