How can we tell if our child has ADHD instead of some other behavioral problem?
Indeed, there are many medical and mental health problems that can mimic some or many of the symptoms of ADHD. Likewise, completely normal children can, at various times in their development, share many of the traits or features seen in ADHD. That's why it's so important to have this condition diagnosed by a medical or mental health professional who is both trained and experienced in diagnosing and caring for ADHD.
In my opinion, this needs to be someone who provides these services on a daily basis. Most primary care physicians (or even psychologists) don't do as good a job with this as our colleagues who provide this care as part of their everyday practice.
Although we don't have the space to review the conditions that can be confused with or co-exist with ADHD, here are just a few that an experienced health care giver will consider:
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder
- Pervasive Developmental Disorder
- Primary Disorder of Vigilance
- Central Auditory Processing Disorder
- Hearing problems
- Bipolar Disorder
- Anxiety disorders
- Tourette's Syndrome
- Fragile X Syndrome
- Vision disorders
- A wide variety of learning disorders
- Thyroid disorders
- Lead poisoning or toxicity
- Restless Leg Syndrome or other sleep disorders
Some so-called "experts" are trying to convince the lay public that ADHD is not real. ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), now called ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), is a real disorder. Frankly, I'd also like to avoid the term "disorder," preferring something like "Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Dividends" or "Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Differences." Those diagnosed with ADHD have a different brain structure and function. They approach life-work, play, and school - uniquely. Symptoms For ADHD In Kids
Don't be misled by those who try to convince you that ADHD is a diagnosis being foisted upon an unsuspecting public by psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies so they can make money. Some believe this conspiracy theory, as discussed in US News & World Report in an article titled "Pushing pills on kids? Lawyers claim a conspiracy to oversell Ritalin"
Yet in a well-publicized case involving the detractors and proponents of ADHD diagnosis, a group of physicians claimed it would make as much sense to throw out the diagnosis and proven treatments for ADHD as it would to do so for schizophrenia or epilepsy. Further, denying that ADHD is real diagnosis of a real condition may be potentially dangerous to the people who live with it.
Nevertheless, criticism about the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD is repeated on Web sites, on the radio, in TV and magazine ads and stories - not to mention many popular books. One example is the book Talking Back to RitaIin: What Doctors Aren't Telling You About Stimulants for Children. According to the author, Dr. Peter Breggin, national organizations that advocate ADHD, pharmaceutical companies, and even government institutes that fund ADHD research are conspiring to drug school children. Breggin, like many of the conspiracy theorists, never explained how this complex plan could be so well organized and remain so secret.
Russell A. Barkley, Ph.D., Director of Psychology and a Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at University of Massachusetts Medical Center, concludes, "[Dr. Breggin's book] appears to be a carefully and cleverly crafted piece of artful propaganda against the diagnosis of ADHD and its treatment." Worse yet, "Breggin's view must be taken for what it actually is - a not-so-subtle form of parent bashing that lays the blame for ADHD and other complex developmental and mental disorders at the feet of the child's parents, family and school."
Barkley points out what parents of ADHD kids already know: Critics of ADHD "instruct parents to seek outdated, unscientific, and ineffective pop-psychological views of disorders and their treatment." Symptoms For ADHD In Kids
Others have questioned whether ADHD is a "pathologic" disorder or merely one end of the continuum of age-appropriate behavior. For example, one psychologist writes:
There seems to be a continuum of people all the way from those linear thinkers who are highly structured, intently focused, able to block out external stimuli, organized, and who even thrive on their attention to detail, to those analog thinkers who are hypersensitive to all stimuli, creative, always putting things together in new ways, and are more focused on the process or pattern of what is going on than the details involved in accomplishing the tasks. These are the two extremes of the continuum, with most people falling somewhere in between.
On the surface, the contention that ADHD is simply normal behavior seems somewhat reasonable. But to deny that ADHD exists flies in the face of an incredible volume of medical and psychological research. No doubt it's helpful to understand that your child is wired differently and that he or she will not fit well in the more linear or detail-oriental world. If we try to mold a child into someone he is not, not only can we harm his spirit, but we can also damage his self esteem and block any chance he has of becoming the person he was created to be.
It has been helpful for my patients with ADHD kids (or who are ADHD themselves) to understand that the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD has more science and research hacking it than the majority of the medical problems that occur in childhood. This research, along with an understanding of how to unlock your child's special potential and gifts, can help you as your child's "health care quarterback" choose the best health care providers and the best treatment options for ADHD to gain the dividends from your child's special and unique differences.
Bottom line? Parents with ADHD kids know it's real and they need help. Those of you who have a hyperactive, easily distractible youngster, you know that ADHD is a very real condition. To understand more about ADHD and its symptoms, you can get Symptoms For ADHD In Kids and learn how to handle them well.
