Diagnosing ADHD
To find out if a person has ADHD, they must first show the symptoms of the disease for at least six months. Health care providers, like pediatricians and psychologists diagnose it using information that they gather. The chld goes through a full physical examination, and the parents and child discuss the child's medical history to see if they could have a different condition that is causing the behavior.
Other causes for ADHD-like behavior could be:
1.) Sudden life change
2.) undetected siezures
3.) Thyroid
4.) lead toxicity
5.) sleep problems
6.) anxiety
7.) depression
Doctors can also do a clinical assessment using standardized behavior rating scale or a questionnaire.
I find this all to be a little suspicious. How can you have a medical diagnoses for a disease that you can't test for? And by test for I mean, draw some blood, look at an Xray or an MRI, or something. This is why I have such a hard time believing in this. The basis for giving a diagnoses of ADHD, is because they exhibit symptoms of the disease. If a person drops dead suddenly, doctors do an autopsy, and they try and find out what caused this death. They run all these tests, and they find out, they had a undetected heart condition or something. Are people going to drop dead from complications of ADHD? Maybe I'm not thinking about this in the right light. Maybe they're not saying that ADHD is really a disease. Maybe it's like how they say autism is a disease, because you can actually run medical tests to find out that your child has autism. With autism you can look at genes and brain development to back up the diagnosis. But, that kind of makes sense, being able to do actual medical tests, to find out if you have something. For ADHD, you can't do that. Maybe this is in it's infancy really, and in the future, we will have better technology, and more knowledge about how to find and treat this. Right now it seems to be a more 'magical' type of disease, than an actual one. Maybe through the course of my readings, I will be able to change my view.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think there is a difference between a disease and a disorder. You may want to recall how syndromes are similar manifestations of presenting issues, but the degree to which these are manifested in individuals varies. Perhaps looking at ADHD like this may provide a new lens.
ReplyDeleteI am also wondering if you say you do "not believe" in ADHD is a blanket disbelief or if you really think it is just over diagnosed. It may also help your investigation to see how families view the outcomes of treatment.
I think Dr. Carr brings up some interesting and helpful questions to think about. I definately believe that ADHD/ADD are over diagnosed. My aunt and I were discussing yesterday how Autism is the new fad of the medical world, repacing ADHD. However, I do not think this warrents not believing in their existance. If one decides not to label it what the popluar names are, such as ADHD/ADD then that is fine, but the fact that their is an issue is still there. If a child is having a major issue with blurting out remarks in class or not being able control one's words or actions in social situations it is not something that is just being made up. The actions that are taken from there may be what you have an issue with. I do believe that there are many ways to help children with hyperactivity, like phsyical activit,especially outside. Some research you may want to look into is the research that has been done on the benefits of regular time outdoors connecting with nature and how it affects children with ADHD and their ability to function.
ReplyDeleteThe point to focus on is that if a child is in need of 'whatever' it may be then we as teachers need to figure out the best way we can service that child. Maybe you do not feel a need to label this child; however, observing the behaviors that they may be exhibiting that are making their lives more of a struggle or challenge need to be indentified in order for one to take action and make a plan of action.
Another item to think about and possibly research is unfortunately ADHD is not the only Disease or Disorder that does not have a specific physical test for it. For example the DSM-V (whcih is a book of tests/questionaires, and symptom lists) is usually used to diagnose most other mental and behavioral disorders such as Bipolar Disorder, Manic Depressive Disorder, Depression and many others. Along with these questionaires one can also look at family history in order to try and narrow down a disorder. It is a very grey area and I understand your frustration, I have had similar frustrations. Hopefully with a growth in less traditional approaches of to acting on these disorders or behaviors surrounding them will lend to a change in our classrooms, society, and medical system. Sometimes think a bit outside of the box can save someone from a lot of medecine, bills and transformations of their natural self. Also though technogolgy is improving and is narrowing down some of the reasons and correlations in these behavioral and mental disorders that may have a positive affect on undersanding them and treating them. For example recently it has been discovered that the chemical make up in people with Bipolar Disorder is also similar in those with Epilepsy. This correlation has helped people understand more about Bipolar Disorder and what kind of medecines would be most beneficial. I think we all just need to have an open mind and come at these things from all different sides and perspectives. Lets take advantage of every tool we've got in order to do the best for our students and children!
My overall view point on this is that there are many disorders that are being overdiagnosed to many children and some adults. In terms of overdiagnosing children with disorders such as ADHD, I feel that it would be more beneficial for parents, doctors, and teachers to come up with other alternatives to helping children with these "disorders" without subscribing these children to medications. I don't believe that medications are always the best possible choice. Medicating children for these disroders should depend on the severity of the disorder since there really are children out there who suffer greatly from one or more overdiagnosed disorders.
ReplyDeleteBelow is a great website I found regarding this idea of treating ADHD without medication:
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/adhd/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100145250