Confused!!

[jskirk66]

Hi. I have been visiting this site for about a year now but this is the first time I have posted. I have a 4 year old son who is having major behavior problems. I first noticed he was "different" at around 20 months. No history of medical problems, normal birth, no speech delays. Any way to make a long story short we (psychologist, occupational therapist and myself) suspect he could have either ADHD or Aspergers (or both). The psychologist recommends behavior therapy along with medications. He says it is likely he will get kicked out of his new preschool in the fall if he continues with the behaviors he as now. Which are: hitting alot, whining/screaming when he is frustrated, negative demeanor the majority of the time, impulsive, non compliant, infelxible (yes I have read the Explosive Child), fixation on feet (i know it's weird).
My question is : How do you get the right diagnosis? I feel like he meets alot of the criteria for adhd, aspergers, odd, anxiety disorder,
He does see a behavioral therapist and goes to Occupational Therapist (OT) twice a week. He has some motor planning issues.
I just want to help him succeed and be happy but I feel lost.
Thanks for listening.

 

[SRL]

Welcome, jskirk. I'm glad you've come out of lurkdom. Could you please enable private messaging (go through the user CP button at the top) so I could talk to you about privacy information? We'd like kids to be able to remain anonymous here.

Information on how to go about getting an evaluation is in this thread.
http://www.conductdisorders.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25481

If that doesn't answer all of your questions, please feel free to ask.

 

[Hound dog]

A neuropsychologist evaluation is about the best way to go in my opinion. And I wish they'd had them when my kids were young. It would've saved us alot of frustration and anguish along the way. I think these evaluations are the best as they are looking for a wide range of things....developmental, learning disabilities, mental.....ect instead of one thing in particular.

However.......often dxes at his young age change as the child grows older and symptoms/behaviors change and develop. So even a neuropsychologist evaluation done now wouldn't necessarily be set in stone. But it would give you a much more accurate picture of what you're looking at in terms of difficult child's needs and how best to approach them in treatment.

Welcome out of lurkdom.

Hugs

 

[BusynMember]

I would go for a neuropsychologist evaluation,w hich is different than a Neurologist. They do very intensive testing on all levels for 6-10 hours. You can find them at University or Children's hospitals. Ask your pediatrician to refer you (insist). Good luck.