What To Expect During Your Child's ADHD Evaluation

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Many parents find themselves a little apprehensive when it comes to taking their children in for an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, evaluation. This is generally because they do not know what to expect. To help make this process a little easier for you, you might want to take a moment to review the following things that you can expect from the appointment.

The Parent Interview

By this point, your child's doctor will have already received evaluation forms from school teachers, if your child is of school age. They have such forms since they are not able to attend the appointment with you. However, you will be there so you are available to be directly interviewed by the doctor. He or she will ask about your child's ability to stay focused at home with activities such as homework, chores, or simply coloring. The doctor will also ask if there are certain times of the day or during specific activities where your child is less attentive or tends to zone out. Other ADHD symptoms that the doctor may look for include excessive talking, fidgeting, trouble following directions, and the inability to sit silent for any extended period of time.

The Child Interview

As long as your child is old enough to understand the questions that are being asked, your doctor may have a private interview with your child. Do not be surprised if the doctor asks you to step out of the room for a minute. The idea is to try to remove any potential distractions for the child so the doctor can make a clear assessment of the situation. The doctor will generally ask questions in a more conversational manner for the child, so that the child can feel more at ease. The child may also be given blocks to build with or a coloring page to complete. While your child works on such things, the doctor will watch his or her progress and how well the child is able to focus on the task at hand.

The Conclusion

Once the interview with the child is complete, you will be invited back into the room to discuss what the doctor has found. In some cases, you may be offered a few treatment options if the doctor feels that your child does indeed have ADHD. You do not have to immediately agree to medication and you always have the right to seek out a second opinion. There is also the option of behavioral therapy, which can be used with or without medication.

In the end, the ADHD evaluation should only take a couple of hours to complete, and you should have answers to many of the questions that you might have had for a long time. If you're looking for a clinic that offers ADHD evaluation, visit Rainbow Pediatrics.

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19 August 2015

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