In 1996, both my daughter and I were diagnosed with ADD. She had hyperactivity as well, which is uncommon for women. She tested 80% probability, I tested 97%.
My 10 y/o granddaughter has ADD. It was not difficult to make that determination, as both her parents and her grandmother carry the diagnosis.
I chose not to be medicated because over the years I have learned coping skills and tools that work quite well. I am in a situation (working at home) where I have complete freedom to indulge my impulses without fear of reprisal. I get more work done in a day with my impulse control problems than you might expect!
My daughter chose to be medicated when she was first diagnosed. As a teen, she had trouble with compliance so we discontinued her meds. After a disastrous first marriage with an ADHD/bipolar man, she chose to restart them, and wears a patch every day. She has since completed her Bachelor's, is working on her Master's in counseling, works full time, is married to a pastor who recently earned his doctorate, and after she gets her Masters, she plans to earn one as well. She functions VERY well.
My DGD's story may be more to the point. She is in fifth grade. Until 4th grade, her grades were marginal, and her ability to adapt to the classroom environment was minimal at best. You know that movie "UP" and the ADD dog who gets distracted by squirrels? That was her. She would be on task, and something would catch the corner of her eye and then all of her energy and attention would bounce to that stimulus. And then back again. And then to something else.
She, too, drew pictures in class, and so on. She just didn't hear things the teacher said, because her brain was doing a dozen other things at once and she could not prioritize her stimuli. Kind of like someone with their finger on the remote, changing channels without stopping. Once she DID find something to land on, it was not the appropriate thing, and hence she drew pictures or stared out the window and made up stories about what was happening outside. Or tapped her foot or moved around the class, or anything that happened to be the brain's landing point.
Unless you have ADD, you cannot even imagine what that is like. Everything is vying for your attention at the same level of intensity and your brain doesn't know how to choose the appropriate stimulus.
At the beginning of fourth grade, my daughter took her to the pediatrician and they discussed, with written teacher input, my DGD's behavior and family history. (My parents both have many indicators of ADD, and it is an inherited disorder for the most part.) They decided to put her on a very low dose patch. She puts it on in the morning at about 7 AM, and by 8 AM she is focused. It comes off at 3 and by 4 or 5 she has no effect at all. She does not wear it on vacations or on weekends. It is solely there for school.
How does it work? She stays on task, is not disruptive, and most significantly of all, is able to focus on the appropriate things in class.
The standardized testing they do every year showed unbelievable improvement. She went from below grade level to at or significantly above grade level in every subject. Her reading comprehension went from grade 1.8 to grade 4.9 in one year. Her self esteem is sky high and she routinely gets acknowledged as a high achiever in her class.
As far as establishing a diagnosis, I am not sure that all the testing matters, unless you are trying to get an IEP (independent education plan, which is for moderately to severely affected children with all manner of issues). And I am not sure it matters how the diagnosis is made. In my daughter's case, she just went to the doctor armed with her insights and observations and the doctor agreed to a trial of the patch.
Speaking from experience, kids with ADD know they are not the same as other kids. They get in trouble a lot, which causes no end of emotional damage. That is where my DGD was heading, and since she is a completely girly princess with a kind and gentle heart and a love for God and others, we just could not allow it to happen. So, even though I was not 100% on board with medicating kids, my daughter gave it a try. As you can see above, the results speak for themselves.
So after all this writing, I guess my input would be: If you think your kid needs help with the school environment, give medication a try. Read about the ins and outs, as my daughter did. DGD's med caused a decreased appetite at first, and she has some "down time" where she kind of crashes when the patch comes off. Had DD not read about those things and understood what was happening, and gave DGD the insights she needed as well, she might not have continued with the meds until those side effects lessened.
The end result is what is important. For my DGD, that was success in school, and the feeling that she is finally "like everybody else". You have to evaluate your own goals, of course, because no two families and certainly no two kids are alike !
This is my experience, and I hope it helps.
My 10 y/o granddaughter has ADD. It was not difficult to make that determination, as both her parents and her grandmother carry the diagnosis.
I chose not to be medicated because over the years I have learned coping skills and tools that work quite well. I am in a situation (working at home) where I have complete freedom to indulge my impulses without fear of reprisal. I get more work done in a day with my impulse control problems than you might expect!
My daughter chose to be medicated when she was first diagnosed. As a teen, she had trouble with compliance so we discontinued her meds. After a disastrous first marriage with an ADHD/bipolar man, she chose to restart them, and wears a patch every day. She has since completed her Bachelor's, is working on her Master's in counseling, works full time, is married to a pastor who recently earned his doctorate, and after she gets her Masters, she plans to earn one as well. She functions VERY well.
My DGD's story may be more to the point. She is in fifth grade. Until 4th grade, her grades were marginal, and her ability to adapt to the classroom environment was minimal at best. You know that movie "UP" and the ADD dog who gets distracted by squirrels? That was her. She would be on task, and something would catch the corner of her eye and then all of her energy and attention would bounce to that stimulus. And then back again. And then to something else.
She, too, drew pictures in class, and so on. She just didn't hear things the teacher said, because her brain was doing a dozen other things at once and she could not prioritize her stimuli. Kind of like someone with their finger on the remote, changing channels without stopping. Once she DID find something to land on, it was not the appropriate thing, and hence she drew pictures or stared out the window and made up stories about what was happening outside. Or tapped her foot or moved around the class, or anything that happened to be the brain's landing point.
Unless you have ADD, you cannot even imagine what that is like. Everything is vying for your attention at the same level of intensity and your brain doesn't know how to choose the appropriate stimulus.
At the beginning of fourth grade, my daughter took her to the pediatrician and they discussed, with written teacher input, my DGD's behavior and family history. (My parents both have many indicators of ADD, and it is an inherited disorder for the most part.) They decided to put her on a very low dose patch. She puts it on in the morning at about 7 AM, and by 8 AM she is focused. It comes off at 3 and by 4 or 5 she has no effect at all. She does not wear it on vacations or on weekends. It is solely there for school.
How does it work? She stays on task, is not disruptive, and most significantly of all, is able to focus on the appropriate things in class.
The standardized testing they do every year showed unbelievable improvement. She went from below grade level to at or significantly above grade level in every subject. Her reading comprehension went from grade 1.8 to grade 4.9 in one year. Her self esteem is sky high and she routinely gets acknowledged as a high achiever in her class.
As far as establishing a diagnosis, I am not sure that all the testing matters, unless you are trying to get an IEP (independent education plan, which is for moderately to severely affected children with all manner of issues). And I am not sure it matters how the diagnosis is made. In my daughter's case, she just went to the doctor armed with her insights and observations and the doctor agreed to a trial of the patch.
Speaking from experience, kids with ADD know they are not the same as other kids. They get in trouble a lot, which causes no end of emotional damage. That is where my DGD was heading, and since she is a completely girly princess with a kind and gentle heart and a love for God and others, we just could not allow it to happen. So, even though I was not 100% on board with medicating kids, my daughter gave it a try. As you can see above, the results speak for themselves.
So after all this writing, I guess my input would be: If you think your kid needs help with the school environment, give medication a try. Read about the ins and outs, as my daughter did. DGD's med caused a decreased appetite at first, and she has some "down time" where she kind of crashes when the patch comes off. Had DD not read about those things and understood what was happening, and gave DGD the insights she needed as well, she might not have continued with the meds until those side effects lessened.
The end result is what is important. For my DGD, that was success in school, and the feeling that she is finally "like everybody else". You have to evaluate your own goals, of course, because no two families and certainly no two kids are alike !
This is my experience, and I hope it helps.
It works for me, too. I love a job where I can transcribe for 15 min, then go cut up squash, do laundry, then come transcribe, go check on the bees, get the mail and start a load of laundry, then do more transcription, etc.
The successful ones were still in the mainstream. 
