Testing for ADHD

Many people often wonder why ADHD seems to be diagnosed mostly on the basis of a questionnaire, like the Connors or the Vanderbilt.  There are a lot of reasons, mainly having to do with the inaccuracy of other kinds of testing and the lack of availability of child neurologists, psychiatrists, and psychologists to make the diagnosis in difficult cases.

Most reputable pediatricians and family doctors should also be looking for alternative diagnoses, like sleep disorders, autism, allergies, digestive issues and the like.  But it isn't always easy to make the diagnosis even when you know a child well.   Kids are well known for acting out behaviorally whenever something is bothering them physically or mentally, so a lot of things can look like ADHD even if they are not.  One way to weed out behavioral acting out due to poor parenting or poor teaching, is to compare how a child acts in school versus at home, but when there is disagreement, that's when a lot of people wish there was some kind of objective test.

Unfortunately, there isn't a good objective test for ADHD.  The best test we have is the multidisciplinary assessment, which means that several types of practitioners (like a neurologist, general pediatrician, psychiatrist, and neuropsychologist) interview the parents and child and maybe do neuropsychological testing and/or IQ testing, along with the standard questionnaires.  The newest test we have out there is the NEBA test, which is based on EEG (electrical signals from the brain, measured externally).  This test isn't 100% though, because many people with ADHD may not exhibit the changes that are being looked for.

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