Diagnosing Childhood Disorders
When parents suspect their child may have ADHD and bring that child into my office, there are two questions they want answered: First, what is wrong, and second, what can be done about it? The first step in the treatment of any medical or psychological disorder is to get an accurate diagnosis. The diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has become more prevalent in the past decade, both in children and adults. One of the challenges in diagnosing ADHD in young children is the fact that young children are naturally full of energy. For this reason, diagnosing a young child as hyperactive is difficult in the same way that it is difficult to diagnose naturally moody adolescents as clinically depressed. This is why it is important to diagnose each child on an individual basis and understand the diagnostic criteria of ADHD within the context of each child’s unique, subjective personality and temperament.
