Most children referred for ADHD testing have already been told they are not trying. The evaluation separates attention from the anxiety, sleep and learning problems that look exactly like it, and says which one is actually there.
Attention is the straightforward part. The differential is the reason to test at all.
Performance measures alongside history, because effort that collapses after ten minutes is the thing being assessed.
Rating scales from home and school, scored against norms rather than against a sibling.
Planning, working memory and task initiation, which is where most of the daily difficulty actually sits.
Anxiety, an undiagnosed learning difficulty, and sleep. Each is considered explicitly rather than assumed away.
Directly by the evaluator, so nothing depends on a parent translating a question mid-session.
Written for the family and, on request, the school or the prescribing clinician. This practice does not prescribe medication.
Where the school has an opinion and nobody has measured anything.
Often a first ADHD evaluation, requested after a child is diagnosed.
Where anxiety or a learning difficulty may explain more than attention does.
The fee depends on the case and how many sessions it takes. You get a number at the free consultation before anything is booked.
It usually helps when the difficulty shows up in more than one place, at home and at school, and when it has lasted long enough that it is not explained by a rough few months. If attention is not the likeliest explanation, you should hear that at the consultation rather than after paying for testing.
Often, and that is the reason to evaluate rather than assume. Anxiety, an undiagnosed learning difficulty and poor sleep all produce the same picture in a classroom. The evaluation looks at each of those directly instead of ruling them out by guesswork.
No. This practice does not prescribe. The report goes to you, and on request to your child's school or to the clinician who does prescribe.
If attention is not the likeliest explanation, that is worth knowing before testing.
