{"id":3030,"date":"2020-04-21T17:20:28","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T17:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/st\/balfronhssupport\/?page_id=3030"},"modified":"2020-04-21T17:22:56","modified_gmt":"2020-04-21T17:22:56","slug":"diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/st\/balfronhssupport\/diagnosis\/","title":{"rendered":"Diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"<section><strong>If you think you or your child may have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you might want to consider speaking to your GP about it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re worried about your child, it may help to speak to their teachers, before seeing your GP, to find out\u00a0if\u00a0they\u00a0have any concerns about your child&#8217;s behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>Your GP cannot formally diagnose ADHD, but they can discuss your concerns with you and refer you for a specialist assessment, if necessary.<\/p>\n<p>When you see your GP, they may ask you:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>about your symptoms\u00a0or those of your child<\/li>\n<li>when these symptoms started<\/li>\n<li>where the symptoms occur\u00a0\u2013\u00a0for example, at home or in school<\/li>\n<li>whether\u00a0the symptoms affect your or your child&#8217;s day-to-day life\u00a0\u2013\u00a0for example, if they make socialising difficult<\/li>\n<li>if there have been any recent significant events in your or your child&#8217;s life, such as\u00a0a death or divorce in the family<\/li>\n<li>if there&#8217;s a family history of ADHD<\/li>\n<li>about any other problems or symptoms of different health conditions you or your child may have<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<h2>Next steps<\/h2>\n<p>If your GP thinks your child may have ADHD, they may first suggest a period of &#8220;watchful waiting&#8221; \u2013 lasting around 10 weeks\u00a0\u2013\u00a0to see if your child&#8217;s symptoms improve, stay the same or get worse.<\/p>\n<p>They may also suggest\u00a0starting a group-based, ADHD-focused parent training or education programme. Being offered a parent training and education programme does not mean you have been a bad parent \u2013 it aims to teach you ways of helping yourself and your child.<\/p>\n<p>See\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/conditions\/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd\/treatment\/\">treating ADHD<\/a>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n<p>If your child&#8217;s behaviour does not improve, and both you and your GP\u00a0believe it&#8217;s affecting their day-to-day life, your GP should refer you and your child to a specialist for a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/conditions\/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd\/diagnosis\/#assessment\">formal assessment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<h2>Assessment<\/h2>\n<p>There are a number of different specialists you or your child may be referred to for a formal assessment, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a child or adult psychiatrist<\/li>\n<li>a paediatrician \u2013 a specialist in children&#8217;s health<\/li>\n<li>a\u00a0learning disability specialist, social worker or occupational therapist with expertise in ADHD<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Who you&#8217;re referred to depends on your age and what&#8217;s available in your local area.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s no simple test to determine whether you or your child has ADHD, but your specialist can make an accurate diagnosis after a detailed assessment. The assessment may include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a physical examination, which can help rule out other possible causes for the symptoms<\/li>\n<li>a series of interviews with you or your child<\/li>\n<li>interviews or reports from other significant people, such as partners, parents and teachers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The criteria for making a diagnosis of ADHD in children &amp;\u00a0 teenagers are outlined below.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<h2>Diagnosis in children and teenagers<\/h2>\n<p>Diagnosing ADHD in children depends on a set of strict criteria. To be diagnosed with ADHD, your child must have 6 or more symptoms of inattentiveness, or 6 or more symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsiveness.<\/p>\n<p>Read more about the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/conditions\/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd\/symptoms\/\">symptoms of ADHD<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To be diagnosed with ADHD, your child must also have:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>been displaying symptoms continuously for at least 6 months<\/li>\n<li>started to show symptoms before the age of\u00a012<\/li>\n<li>been showing symptoms in at least 2 different settings\u00a0\u2013\u00a0for example, at home and at school, to rule out the possibility that the behaviour is just a reaction to certain teachers or to parental control<\/li>\n<li>symptoms that make their lives considerably more difficult on a social, academic or occupational level<\/li>\n<li>symptoms that are not just part of a developmental disorder or difficult phase, and are not better accounted for by another condition<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you think you or your child may have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you might want to consider speaking to your GP about it. If you&#8217;re worried about your child, it may help to speak to their teachers, before seeing your GP, to find out\u00a0if\u00a0they\u00a0have any concerns about your child&#8217;s behaviour. Your GP cannot &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/st\/balfronhssupport\/diagnosis\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Diagnosis<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4400,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3030","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/st\/balfronhssupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/st\/balfronhssupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/st\/balfronhssupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/st\/balfronhssupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4400"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/st\/balfronhssupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3030"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/st\/balfronhssupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3035,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/st\/balfronhssupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3030\/revisions\/3035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/st\/balfronhssupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}