Childhood Disorders: Diagnosis of ADHD

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a complex psychological childhood disorder. Left untreated, ADHD can affect a child's overall life, continuing into adulthood. If you suspect you or your child to be suffering from ADHD, talk to your general practitioner (GP). But its best to first talk with your child's teachers and find out if there has been any change in their behaviour. General practitioners (GP) are not formally equipped to diagnose ADHD, but they can discuss your concerns with you and refer your child to a specialist.

Questions Asked by Your GP

• You or your child's symptoms
• The time duration of the start of symptoms
• The place the symptoms occur; at home or at school
• If the symptoms affect you or your child's day-to-day lives
• Significant occurrences in your or your child's life, such as a death or divorce
• If there is a family history of ADHD

 The Next Step

If your GP suspects ADHD in your child, he or she may suggest to you a period of' watchful waiting, lasting for around 10 weeks, in order to see if the child's symptoms improve, stay the same, worsen. They may also suggest starting a group-based ADHD parent-training or educational programme.

The offering of parent-training and educational programmes is not meant to make you feel that you are a bad parent who has failed your child, but to teach you ways in order to help you help your child, and yourself. If your child's condition doesn't seem to improve despite your efforts, and if you believe that it's affecting your day-to-day lives, your GP will refer you and your child to a specialist for a formal assessment.

Formal Assessment

There are a number of different specialists that you and your child may be refereed to in order to get a formal assessment, which includes:

• Child/adult psychiatrist
• Paediatrician
• Learning disability specialist
• Social worker
• Occupational therapist

The reference depends on age and availability in the local area.

There is no simple test to determine whether you or your child has ADHD, but your specialist will be able to determine an accurate diagnosis after a detailed assessment of you or your child, which may include:

• Physical examination (to help rule out other possible causes)
• Series of interviews with you/your child
• Interviews with other parties (teachers, parents and partners)

Diagnosis in Children and Teenagers

Diagnosing ADHD in children depends on a set of strict criteria. In order to diagnose a child with ADHD, he or she also needs to display six or more symptoms of inattentiveness, or six or more symptoms of impulsiveness and hyperactivity.

In order to be diagnosed with ADHD your child will also need to be:

• Displaying symptoms continuously for at least 6 months
• Have symptoms before the age of 12
• Have shown symptoms in at least two different settings (home and school, in order to rule out the possibility of the behaviour being a reaction to certain teachers and parental control)
• Symptoms that make their lives to be considerably more difficult on social, academic, and occupational level
• Symptoms which are not just part of a developmental disorder, or difficult phase and are not better accounted for by another condition

Diagnosis in adults

Diagnosing ADHD in adults is a difficult process due to some disagreements; whether the list of symptoms used to diagnose children and teenagers are viable for adult diagnosis of ADHD. In some cases, adults may be diagnosed with ADHD on the likelihood of them showing five or more symptoms of inattentiveness, or five or more symptoms of impulsiveness and hyperactivity, which are listed as the symptoms of child ADHD diagnostic criteria.

As part of your assessment, the specialist will ask about your present symptoms. Under current diagnostic guidelines, however, you can't be diagnosed with ADHD unless your symptoms were present from childhood.

If you are unable to remember whether you had problems during your childhood, or whether you weren't diagnosed with ADHD as a child, the specialist may request to see your old school records or talk to your teachers, parents, or anyone else who knew you well as a child.

In order for an adult to be diagnosed with ADHD, their symptoms need to have a moderate effect on different areas of their lives:

• Underachieving in education or work
• Difficulty in relationships with partners
• Difficulty in making or keeping friends
• Driving dangerously

If your problems are recent, with no regular past occurrence, you won't be considered as having ADHD. The reason for this being the current belief of ADHD not being able to develop for the first time as an adult.

(Source: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/diagnosis/)