Who diagnose ADHD?

[Mimi]

DS (5yo) was just diagnosed with ADHD by the counselor (MSW, if that matters) he has been seeing in the past 2months.  We just had a meeting with his K teacher and the school counselor.  School counselor told us that we should find a psychologist to assess and test DS, and give the official diagnosis.  This school counselor doesn't seem to believe the counselor's diagnosis; she doesn't believe it's ADHD.  She said to ask for educational assessment when scheduling with a psychologist.

Who (or what type of professional/specialist) can officially diagnose ADHD?  What kind of test/assessment is done?  What should I expect (how many appointments, what info to provide, etc) from this evaluation? 

[hopecounts]

A psych or Ped can administer the Vanderbilt scale to test for it.
Without that it isn’t an official diagnosis.

I suspect she is hinting she thinks it’s more.
A Ped Psych or even better a Developmental Ped evaluation would get a solid diagnosis

[pooh8402]

Psychiatrist/psychologist. Some family practitioners or pedis feel comfortable diagnosing, some do not.

I was diagnosed by a psychiatrist, but my PCP managed my meds.

[lolalolalola]

DD was diagnosed by per pediatrician. However we opted to also get a psych-Ed assessment through a psychologist. Either a doctor or a psychologist can diagnose here (Canada )

[dcrunnergirl52]

DS1 was diagnosed by our developmental pediatrician and we continue to see him every 3 months for meds management.

[expectantsteelerfan]

My ds was diagnosed by his pedi. on the recommendation of a therapist. His diagnosis was really straightforward (he's like a textbook case for ADHD combined type), so we did not pursue a full evaluation.
However, his pedi. started with prescribing medication, and it worked for a while, but when we started having additional issues and wanting to try different combos of medication, he referred us to a psychiatrist who worked with us for about a year to find the right meds. Once we found a combo. that worked for a long period of time, we stopped seeing the psychiatrist and the pedi. was happy to continue prescribing.

[L]

Mine was diagnosed by a psychologist and she had a full evaluation (educational, emotional, etc). Then we also met with a psychiatrist who we discussed medication with.

[awkwardpenguin]

Feb 20, 2019 16:43:49 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

A psych or Ped can administer the Vanderbilt scale to test for it.
Without that it isn’t an official diagnosis.

I suspect she is hinting she thinks it’s more.
A Ped Psych or even better a Developmental Ped evaluation would get a solid diagnosis

It's not true that you can't diagnose ADHD without the Vanderbilt scale.  It's one diagnostic instrument, but the DSM-V is the real set of diagnostic criteria used for ADHD.  It is recommended that it be diagnosed by a psychologist or a physician, but master's level LCSWs are also qualified to diagnose.

OP, I think if there's a question about the diagnosis or how to proceed with treatment, it is probably worth it to see a psychologist or developmental pediatrician for a full evaluation.

[arch01]

The pediatric psychologist did the diagnosis. The developmental pedi is doing the med management.

Most definitely get the educational assessment (which, I could be wrong, but it usually included in a full eval)-that's what helped bring to light DS' additional issues.

[pooh8402]

Feb 21, 2019 17:59:19 GMT -5 awkwardpenguin said:

Feb 20, 2019 16:43:49 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

A psych or Ped can administer the Vanderbilt scale to test for it.
Without that it isn’t an official diagnosis.

I suspect she is hinting she thinks it’s more.
A Ped Psych or even better a Developmental Ped evaluation would get a solid diagnosis

It's not true that you can't diagnose ADHD without the Vanderbilt scale.  It's one diagnostic instrument, but the DSM-V is the real set of diagnostic criteria used for ADHD.  It is recommended that it be diagnosed by a psychologist or a physician, but master's level LCSWs are also qualified to diagnose.

OP, I think if there's a question about the diagnosis or how to proceed with treatment, it is probably worth it to see a psychologist or developmental pediatrician for a full evaluation.

I agree. My PCP administered the Vanderbilt scale on me (it showed me to be definitely ADHD-inattentive) but he used that as a screening tool, to support his reasoning to send me to a psychiatrist for official evaluation and diagnosis. With that scale on board, my insurance then paid for psychiatrist and accepted the diagnosis and meds. The psychiatrist did different tests, talked with me a bit, and ruled out comorbid depression and said I also have mild anxiety which is also comorbid.

But if you have anxiety, then many ADHD medications can actually make the anxiety worse. So that's why many primary care providers don't feel comfortable diagnosing.

[Mimi]

Feb 22, 2019 8:45:13 GMT -5 arch01 said:

The pediatric psychologist did the diagnosis. The developmental pedi is doing the med management.

Most definitely get the educational assessment (which, I could be wrong, but it usually included in a full eval)-that's what helped bring to light DS' additional issues.

I've looked at providers who does psycheducational assessment (a full eval).  All the ones I've found don't accept insurance.  I was told insurance doesn't cover it.  Is this typical for this type of evaluation?

I got a quote of $1300 for a full eval.  I looked at the local university and they charge $750 for doctorate student (under a licensed psychologist supervision) to do the eval, but would charge market rate if one asks for licensed psychologist to do it.

How much did the full eval cost you?

[hopecounts]

Yes it’s typical for it not to be covered.
The providers cost sounds normal.
Ours was around 1,000

[arch01]

Feb 22, 2019 12:06:30 GMT -5 Mimi said:

Feb 22, 2019 8:45:13 GMT -5 arch01 said:

The pediatric psychologist did the diagnosis. The developmental pedi is doing the med management.

Most definitely get the educational assessment (which, I could be wrong, but it usually included in a full eval)-that's what helped bring to light DS' additional issues.

I've looked at providers who does psycheducational assessment (a full eval).  All the ones I've found don't accept insurance.  I was told insurance doesn't cover it.  Is this typical for this type of evaluation?

I got a quote of $1300 for a full eval.  I looked at the local university and they charge $750 for doctorate student (under a licensed psychologist supervision) to do the eval, but would charge market rate if one asks for licensed psychologist to do it.

How much did the full eval cost you?

My experience was also challenging. I got a referral from the LCSW that was doing DS' therapy at the time; that person did not take insurance, however, she gave me a list of people who she knew did take insurance and that she would recommend. I got the billing code from the person we ultimately ended up going with and verified that with insurance.

My insurance is pretty good; I did dig into the benefits book (the full one, not the highlights) prior to going down this road to see if I was going to be in luck for having it covered. $1300 was right at what we were quoted pre-insurance; I found that those who did take insurance charged almost double to insurance what they would charge me as a cash paying parent. At that time though, we knew DS was having surgery and he was going to meet his OOP for the year. It was all a wash. 

Personally, I would be totally ok with a doctorate student doing it. I think it's good practice and with it being supervised, fine by me. An intern actually did part of DS' testing with the psychologist in the room.