Is it a mistake to allow a general pediatrician diagnose ADD

Suzi,

IMHO, you should NEVER use a general pediatrician to diagnose ADHD. They simply lack the expertise and broad range of experience necessary to make this complicated diagnosis. There is a lot involved in diagnosing ADHD and a good evaluation will include much more than parents and teachers filling out Connors forms. I would recommend consulting a pediatric neurologist who specializes in diagnosing ADHD and LD. Have your regular pediatrician do an exam and some testing to rule out things like allergies, thyroid disease and sleep apnea that can sometimes mimic ADHD, but let the neurologist deal with the ADHD diagnosis. My son was evaluated by a doctor who is both a neurologist and a psychiatrist, which allowed us to consider other conditions such as depression that also can look like ADHD. She gave him a neurological exam and did extensive testing with all kinds of different instruments, along with considering parent and teacher forms. The neuro exam took three hours and cost $1400. I think it was worth every cent!

Andrea

Depends entirely on the exact physician you see. Some pediatricians make a correct diagnosis, others don’t.

Regarding ADHD, it can often take a number of years to sort out what is going on with a child/what’s really there - what isn’t there. Some children are ADHD but dyslexia-free; some children have dyslexia but are ADHD-free.

Best wishes.

PGD-

I’m also concerned because my daughter also have APD, which I’ve read can mimic ADD and can be difficult to sort out between the two. I’ve been thinking about it all night and reading everything I can get my hands on. I now realize I really need to have her see a specialist and not a pedi. Thanks for your reply!

Suzi

Andrea-

Thanks for your reply. I read alot on the subject last night and just don’t have a good feeling about our pediatrician doing the evaluation. There are just too much else going on with my daughter (dyslexia and APD) to have someone so generalized doing the eval. Thanks!! I’ll look for a specialist

Suzi

My son’s pediatrician prescribes his meds but did not perform the initial diagnosis. ADHD symptoms can mimic other condition that a pediatrician is not trained to evaluate. My son’s child psychologist had myself, both his kindergarten and first grade teacher’s fill out evaluation forms, and finally performed an in class evaluation (before he had met her so that he did not know who she was). A pediatrician is not qualified to diagnose ADHD any more than an oncologist is qualified to diagnose a heart condition.

A pediatrician can certainly rule out some things and provide the specialist with good information. He could say he suspects ADHD or patient exhibits symptoms.

I think like me a lot of pediatricians are not comfortable with the ADHD diagnosis.