Alvaro Fernandez and Dr. David Rabiner collaborated on a valuable article for The Huffington Post that makes a point worth considering– if you’re the parent of a child with ADHD, or you suspect you are, proactive parenting can make a significant difference in your child’s diagnosis and treatment. If you’re in the greater Cleveland area, and you suspect your child might have ADHD, you may want to consider contacting us for evaluation and treatment. Here’s an excerpt from the article, and you can click the link below for the full text.
Most children with ADHD receive their care from community-based pediatricians, so it is especially important for that care to be consistent with best-practice guidelines. Unfortunately, all too often it is not.
The guidelines
Here is a brief summary of some key ADHD guidelines published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2000 (and updated in 2011).
- Diagnosing ADHD requires determining that DSM criteria for the disorder have been met. Making this determination requires information to be obtained from parents or guardians, teachers, and others.
- ADHD evaluations should include assessment for other conditions that may co-occur with ADHD, including emotional or behavioral (e.g., anxiety, depressive, oppositional defiant, and conduct disorders), developmental (e.g., learning and language disorders or other neurodevelopmental disorders), and physical (e.g., tics, sleep apnea) conditions.
- Treatment and management of ADHD should reflect that it is a chronic condition and may impact children’s development and functioning over many years. Parents need to be supported in consistently implementing treatments for their child over an extended period.