AAP Guidelines for Diagnosing ADHD

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Too often, difficult children are incorrectly labeled with ADHD. On the other hand, many children who do have ADHD remain undiagnosed. And in either case, related learning disabilities or mood problems are often missed. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued guidelines to bring more clarity to this issue. The diagnosis is based on very specific symptoms, which must be present in more than one setting (including at school). Every evaluation should include a search for possible additional conditions including conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, mood disorders/depression, anxiety and learning disabilities. I hope that these guidelines will provide a framework for improving our care for children for whom this diagnosis is even considered. Wake us up and move us forward.

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Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2010-04-27 09:40.

Has my son got ADHD

My son is 6 years old he was recently diagnosed with dyslexia and is in a one to one intensive reading recovery programme along with another group class for english and maths, jamie would be a very emotional boy he can't concentrate for long unless its cartoons that are on he is constantly moody snapping at me his 1yr old sister and friends, he also is very hyper and does not listen to what i have to say his school is worried about his behaviour too maybe he is just been a boy but i see other 6 year olds and they wouldn't be the same, here a brief description of what the school wrote in a letter for me:

jamie has a great sociability within in his peer group, however as his class teacher i would have several concerns regarding his behaviour and progress in school. jamie is easily distracted most notably after prolonged periods on yard i.e morning time and break times, due to his distractedness he is regularly off task which impacts his learning and his concentration is poor during these periods, due to his sensitive nature he can be easily upset which can lead to a disruptive period in class which may include crying, frequent verbal outburts and withdrawl, jamie is attending intensive reading recovery for a period of 20weeks and is attending learning support in a group situation for 2.5hrs per week.

I hope u can shine some light on this for me as im at a loss. thanking you for taking the time to read this email.

warm regards

rachael