looking for a doctor for my son that can test him adhd?

Question

looking for a doctor for my son that can test him adhd?

Answer 1

The person above is wrong, it does not make you a bad parent. Most cities have a childrens youth service. It's usually under mental health. They specialize in helping children. Don't listen to people that say your a bad parent. I have 5 kids and out of the 5, 1 has issues. If it made you a bad parent, then all 5 would have issues. But look in your phone book under your counties services and there should be something listed under Mental Health, then children services.



Ok, so because of people abusing the system, you're saying if a parent seeks help for their child when they REALLY need it, it makes them a bad parent? So instead of getting help for a child that seriously needs the help it's better not to get the help the child needs because you are admitting to being a bad parent if you do? It's not true. If you neglect getting help for a child that really needs it, then you are a bad parent.



Brian, first of all I am not a bad parent and quite honestly you don't know me, I don't want to know you so I really don't give a rats Azz what you think of me.

Second if you're such an expert on ADHD, I am interested in finding out where you got your information.



Brian, if you read what I have been writing, I would like to know exactly where I said my child has ADHD, I never said that. So you are assuming your information.



ADHD is a common behavioral disorder that affects an estimated 4% to 8% of school-age children. Boys are about three times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with it, though it's not yet understood why.

Answer 2

What makes you think he should be tested for ADHD?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a condition that becomes apparent in some children in the preschool and early school years. It is hard for these children to control their behavior and/or pay attention. It is estimated that between 3 and 5 percent of children have ADHD, or approximately 2 million children in the United States. This means that in a classroom of 25 to 30 children, it is likely that at least one will have ADHD.



I would first start with his school and see if they can recommend someone. Some parents don't want the school to be involved out of the fear of labeling their child but you should try to have the biggest support system available to help you child. Moreover you need to educate yourself on a child's developmental stages. Are there other behavior or educational possibilities that you may be over looking? Most importantly, be sure you are doing everything you could do as a parent because sometimes parents are so overwhelmed with work, school, husband, cooking, homework, family issues and more. Children can be a joyful and handful at the same time. Sometimes parents need support. Moreover having a child with a any kind of disability is challenging. Be prepared to find out that there is nothing wrong or more than you expected. If he does have ADHD medication may be an option or you may just need to learn techniques for working with a child with ADHD such as a Behavior Modification plan. I would probably start with that before placing him on medication. Ask the social worker at the school or the physiatrist that gives him the diagnosis to help you design one. However if he does need medication I would still utilize a Behavior Modification plan and give a copy to the school because it needs to be a join effort and medication alone is not the cure. I hope my advice helps and good luck.

Answer 3

How can anyone think ADHD is due to bad parenting? Hardly anyone believes in the schizophrenogenic mother theory anymore.

You want to take your kid to a private psychologist, with a Ph.D or Psy.D. I don't want to seem biased, but here are my reasons:



Psychiatrist: These are MDs and they are trained to prescribe medications. A lot of them try to do therapy and testing, but they usually have not had a lot of training. I've seen psychiatrists diagnose kids with diagnoses that don't even exist! After diagnosis, if you want to pursue medications, THEN see the psychiatrist.



Medical doctor: A great place to start, but again your MD is not trained in testing. A lot of them give self-report measures that are distributed by the pharmaceutical companies. They are a lot of vague questions that apply to mostly everyone, so of course then your child will need to take their medication.



School psychologist: I don't really have anything against school psychologists. Some of the have a masters, some have a Ph.D. In my experience (which is by no means the law or fact), school psychologists have tried to avoid diagnosising ADHD or learning disabilities, because a child would require more services, which is more money. But there are many EXCELLENT school psychologists- I've just met some pretty horrible ones that will try to mainstream a kid with a 69 IQ.



Psychologist- This person has received years of training in the testing and diagnosis of ADHD. Your child may not even have ADHD. It could be a pervasive developmental disorder, depression, or your child you have a high IQ and is bored in school. But some psychiatrists and MDs will neglect to do a differential diagnosis.

Answer 4

if your son is of school age you can request that the school phycologist evaluate him they may buck on you but don't give up ,but these meds they give these kids can do as much harm as good ,i really think if parents this day and time would use the cure as in my day (51) these kids wouldn't do all this crap ,when i was young you never heard of things like add or adhd you got a good ole *** beating and that worked wonders ,I'm not saying this add or adhd isn't real but that medicine scares me the side effects are more than i would wont to risk children are dying from these meds

Answer 5

Yet another bad parent.



Yes any doctor can diagnose your kid with ADHD. And if they don't, just keep going to different doctors until one does. Because, let's face it, it's a whole lot easier then parenting.



Rene: There is a very high probability that are also a bad parent. Only 4% of all children in the US actually have ADHD - yet 26% of all children are on some sort of drug to treat it. Doctors currently have over 15,000 open lawsuits pending on prescribing these drugs to children who do not need it. Their defense: The Parent Insisted and threatened to go elsewhere. Sure, there are bad doctors - but the parents are equally to blame. Stop medicating your children and learn how to be a good parent.



So you're saying that your child beat the 4 in 100 odds and really has ADHD? Good, then maybe you can go to Vegas and play Roulette (5.26%), or maybe you can bet on him being part of the 4.6% that is naturally immune to HIV, how about part of the 5% that is born with autism???? Sure your kid might actually have ADHD - but the odds are much, much higher are that you are a bad parent.



Edit:



Eight years ago when the Journal of American Medial Association came out (http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/279/14/1100 ) with their first ADHD study it found that "that 3% to 6% of the school-aged population (elementary through high school) may suffer from ADHD". The National Institute of Mental Health later narrowed that number down to "3 and 5 percent of children have ADHD" (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/adhd.cfm ).



The JAMA study in 1998 concluded that at that time "Although some children are being diagnosed as having ADHD with insufficient evaluation and in some cases stimulant medication is prescribed when treatment alternatives exist, there is little evidence of widespread overdiagnosis or misdiagnosis of ADHD or of widespread overprescription of methylphenidate by physicians."



This is when the floodgates opened. Only three years later in 2001 Reuters Health said: "In the US, the diagnosis of ADHD in children increased from 1.1% of office visits in 1990 to 3.6% in 1996, or from nearly 950,000 to over 2,400,000 children. Estimates of prevalence of the disorder range from 1.7% to 17.8% depending on where and how the studies were conducted. ADHD is a genuine disorder, but it should be strongly noted that the US accounts for 90% of worldwide prescriptions for stimulants for ADHD. It is not known whether this reflects a real increase in ADHD or a better ability to recognize it. Or it may be an indication of a culture that places excessive value on normalcy and academic achievement at the expense of more frequent diagnoses." (http://www.reutershealth.com/wellconnected/doc30.html )



So now kids are heavily doped up, most of them unnecessarily, and are starting to have serious issues at the expensive of the drug. Wall Street Journal from two weeks ago: "The Food and Drug Administration is calling for stronger warnings to discuss reports of psychosis or mania seen with drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The FDA released an updated safety review of several ADHD drugs, including Johnson & Johnson's Concerta, Shire Pharmaceuticals Group PLC's Adderall, Eli Lilly & Co.'s Strattera and Novartis AG's Ritalin, which is also available as in generic form. For the past year, the agency has been studying psychiatric and cardiovascular risks possibly associated with the drugs. The FDA review was posted to the agency's Web site yesterday in advance of next week's panel meeting of outside medical experts who will discuss the drugs. Last month, another panel recommended that most of the drugs carry a black-box warning about possible links to heart attacks and strokes. Adderall already carries such a warning, discussing cardiac sudden death; Strattera has one about an increase in suicidal thinking. A black box is the FDA's strictest warning" (http://psychrights.org/Articles/WSJ-FDAUrgesStrongerADHDWarning.html ).



But hey, you're right: I don't know you. I'm sure your kid is the loooong shot; the one that is the exception to the rule; HEY! Maybe he can use those lucky odds of his to be one of the kids who doesn't have "a stroke, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, hair loss, muscle spasms, severe abdominal pain, depression and paranoia" from taking all those drugs!!! (http://psychrights.org/Articles/TheAge(AU)ADHDrugsandStrokes.html ).



Do you think you're a good parent? Are you willing to play those odds with your child’s life just to make him "normal"? Oh wait, you already have.

Answer 6

Take him to his regular Dr., if they can't help call the school and ask who they recomend.