UK Answerers please : How do you get your child diagnosed for ADD???

Question

I suspect my 5 year old daughter might have ADD-Inattentive.

She seems to have many if not most of the symptoms of ADD-I, and they happen on a daily basis at home and possibly at school (I've only ever observed her quietly in a corner of her classroom once, and noticed she started drifting away and staring into space within minutes of the teacher saying "Good morning" to the class. I stayed for about 10 minutes and she did not re-focus her attention to the teacher at all within that time...) I'm not sure how to go about having her diagnosed. I read that girls tend to be underdiagnosed because the symptoms of ADD-I commonly seen in girls tend to go down with people as nothing to worry about - because they just seem very "spacy", dreamy, quiet, forgetful, not focused, but always very pleasant, docile and compliant (saying "okay" or agreeing often, or apologising when they forget things). How do I get in touch with a child psychologist to get her diagnosed???

Answer 1

Ohhh please be very careful about your daughter having ADD my grandson was diagnose when he was in kindy,he was very very over active his hands were the biggest give away they were never still.

You description of your daughter sound so much like my eldest so I took her to the Children's Hospital they put her through a series of tests and then told me she was retarded, that sure blew me away.

Right through school she never failed a class, retarded my foot.

Now I would say it was a form of epilepsy she would gaze away for ages then come back and continue on like nothing has happened used to drive me nuts.

She was a bad sleeper at the age of 2 before that she was  fine.

Yes she was on heavy meds for such a long time till I weaned her off when she was 16 years old she hasn't looked back since.

Her son who had ADDHA is working now and I'm sure he has been damaged by the medication they gave him

I'm also sure now he has Aspergers but its now to late for us to get him to admit some thing isn't right as hes 21.

So please be very careful as to what they give your daughter I would hate to think they may damage her

Answer 2

well you don't just get her diagnosed. You get her evaluated. You are not a doctor so you can't just say she has it and then try and find a doctor who will agree with you. You could be wrong. There are many many things that tend to mimic ADD and can in fact be other things. Your daughter is only 5 and unless the teacher has brought up concerns I highly doubt you will get an evaluztion through the school.

If you think your daughter has issues with attention or focus then ask for a full evaluation but don't JUST test for ADD because there are a ton of things it could be including normal.

Answer 3

speak to her teacher and book an appointment with your doctor to have her tested. Best to know the score then you can support her with knowledge. Good luck to you both.

Answer 4

Peadatricion and also girls in uk are less likely to get dignosed.