forkeeps251
Member
It's rather long (8 pages) so I certainly can't type all of it. The first part deals with my discussions, and then the observations of the psychologist, then his testing scores, and finally a summary, diagnosis, and evaluation.
The summary says the most, so here it is:
difficult child was referred for testing due to his significant aggression at school, poor frustration tolerance, trouble sitting still, social problems, and anxiety. The results of this assessment indicate that difficult child does have ADHD. Both his mother and teacher reported significant attention problems. The examiner observed how difficult child inattention and distractibility interfered with his performance on some tests. difficult child's est results also indicated difficulty with auditory attention, motor persistence, impulsivity, and adjusting his level of attention. difficult children inattention and distractibility may lead to him not paying close attention to what is going on around him. He may miss cues as to what behavior is appropriate and miperceive the behaviors of others. His impulsivity then contributes to his emotional reactions being exaggerated and explosive. difficult child also appears to have a significant level of anxiety, both in terms of social anxiety and general worry. He has nervous habits, seperation anxiety, and is overy self-conscious. His teacher and mother reported elevated symptoms of anxiety and his anxiety may also explain some of his miinterpretations and explosions. difficult children attention problems and anxiety combined with some other behaviors are also suggestinve of a possible autism spectrum disorder sugh as Aspergers. difficult children mode of play is generally repetitive and while he wants to interact with others he does not seem to know how. His over-sensitivity to noise is also commonly seen in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). difficult children extreme difficulty with verbal skills and above average nonverbal cognitive skills is also common in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). However, these symptoms can also appear independant of an Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and may be explained by his language disorder and ADHD. At this time a diagnosis of ADHD and Anxiety Disorder not otherwise specified is made with a note to continue to monitor for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) (also called Pervasive Developmental Disorders).
So, there it is.... what we've been waiting MONTHS to hear. I'm so glad this step is already done... although none of it really suprises me, to actually finally have a diagnosis feels good. Unfortunantly, his pediatrition is not "comfortable" (according to her office staff) persribing ADHD medication, so we have to wait for a psychiatric appointment. Fortunantly, even though it is typically a four month wait, I made the appointment back in December, so it is March 20th.
A few things I noted on the report were that he was very below average for verbal skills, but above average for nonverbal cognitive skills... I'm not sure what that means but it's nice all the same, because I have NEVER heard anything about him described as "above average".
There are three pages of recommendations, both for home and school. Including additional speech therapy, occupational therapy, social skills training, books, support groups, 504 plan, etc.
Granted I don't have a lot of experience in these things but it feels fairly thorough, with it being 8 pages long. I know they didn't test for EVERYTHING, pretty much just what our main concerns were (ADHD and anxiety).
The last recommendation is that if he still has problems after we follow the recommendations, to seek out an evaluation for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
So, thoughts and opinions?
The summary says the most, so here it is:
difficult child was referred for testing due to his significant aggression at school, poor frustration tolerance, trouble sitting still, social problems, and anxiety. The results of this assessment indicate that difficult child does have ADHD. Both his mother and teacher reported significant attention problems. The examiner observed how difficult child inattention and distractibility interfered with his performance on some tests. difficult child's est results also indicated difficulty with auditory attention, motor persistence, impulsivity, and adjusting his level of attention. difficult children inattention and distractibility may lead to him not paying close attention to what is going on around him. He may miss cues as to what behavior is appropriate and miperceive the behaviors of others. His impulsivity then contributes to his emotional reactions being exaggerated and explosive. difficult child also appears to have a significant level of anxiety, both in terms of social anxiety and general worry. He has nervous habits, seperation anxiety, and is overy self-conscious. His teacher and mother reported elevated symptoms of anxiety and his anxiety may also explain some of his miinterpretations and explosions. difficult children attention problems and anxiety combined with some other behaviors are also suggestinve of a possible autism spectrum disorder sugh as Aspergers. difficult children mode of play is generally repetitive and while he wants to interact with others he does not seem to know how. His over-sensitivity to noise is also commonly seen in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). difficult children extreme difficulty with verbal skills and above average nonverbal cognitive skills is also common in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). However, these symptoms can also appear independant of an Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and may be explained by his language disorder and ADHD. At this time a diagnosis of ADHD and Anxiety Disorder not otherwise specified is made with a note to continue to monitor for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) (also called Pervasive Developmental Disorders).
So, there it is.... what we've been waiting MONTHS to hear. I'm so glad this step is already done... although none of it really suprises me, to actually finally have a diagnosis feels good. Unfortunantly, his pediatrition is not "comfortable" (according to her office staff) persribing ADHD medication, so we have to wait for a psychiatric appointment. Fortunantly, even though it is typically a four month wait, I made the appointment back in December, so it is March 20th.
A few things I noted on the report were that he was very below average for verbal skills, but above average for nonverbal cognitive skills... I'm not sure what that means but it's nice all the same, because I have NEVER heard anything about him described as "above average".
There are three pages of recommendations, both for home and school. Including additional speech therapy, occupational therapy, social skills training, books, support groups, 504 plan, etc.
Granted I don't have a lot of experience in these things but it feels fairly thorough, with it being 8 pages long. I know they didn't test for EVERYTHING, pretty much just what our main concerns were (ADHD and anxiety).
The last recommendation is that if he still has problems after we follow the recommendations, to seek out an evaluation for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
So, thoughts and opinions?