Waiting to hear an official ADHD diagnosis from your son’s neuropsychologist is a lot like standing around at the batting cages. While that unpredictable launcher hurls baseballs at you at speeds you’re not equipped to handle, one may hit you right in the stomach if you’re not prepared to knock it out of the park. That’s exactly what parenting a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is like on a daily basis. Just when you thought you had it all figured out, life throws you a curveball.
My son’s neuropsychologist spent three hours assessing my eleven-year-old the day before. “He has the combined type of ADHD. It’s the type with hyperactivity and inattentive,” she said. We went over the 15-page report that day in detail. I struggled with whether I should talk to him about his diagnosis. Would he use this as a crutch? Isn’t it important to help a child understand themselves? These are questions most parents of children with neurological disorders struggle with. I think it’s important to talk to your kids about their disorders as soon as they can understand them. This way, the world doesn’t get to tell their story. They can tell their own.
What is a Weichert Scale?
The assessments on my son were done using what’s called the Weschler Scale and the Conners rating scale. The Weschler Scale analyzes several different areas such as verbal comprehension, visual spatial, working memory, IQ and fluid reasoning. It is used to measure intelligence and can be used to diagnose neurological disorders.
After a very long session with the doctor, many of my son’s tendencies were explained as a coping mechanism. For example, a child with ADHD may be notorious for interrupting even after learning for many years that this is considered rude. However, it was explained to me that interruptions are a way for children to process information who may have a lower information processing score on the Weschler scale. This helps them catch up. His constant movement and noisemaking can also be attributed to this as well.
As I’ve said so many times before, this information is imperative for parents. Understanding the why behind behavior and working on it together allows your child to thrive in every facet of life. For more information on the conners rating scale and Weschler scales, check out the videos below!
What is information processing, working memory and long-term memory?
Every day after I picked up my son from fifth grade, we would have the same exchange in the car. “What’s your homework look like?” I would ask him. “I did most of it at school,” he would answer. He would then proceed to finish up the last of his homework on the way home to ensure he would get enough time to fish or hang out with his friends every night.
His score was higher than average in working memory. Working memory is the ability to register and maintain information. A common problem with this is that rushing through the content without thoroughly taking time to understand the content results in an inability to move the information from short term memory to long term memory.
To medicate or not to medicate? That is the question.
Every year I waited for that harrowing phone call from my son’s teacher. “He can’t stop moving. His inability to focus is affecting him.” These were things I’d hear constantly. I tried to delay medication for as long as possible. However, one afternoon after he came home asking me why he was like this as the tears flowed, I decided it was time to move forward.
Throughout his school years, my son was able to mask or hide the fact that he may be different from his peers. As the years progressed, his constant movement and noisemaking would start to become a distraction among his peers which in turn resulted in a very self-conscious child.
Luckily, we were able to take advantage of the new GeneSight testing which allowed us to find the perfect fit for him based on his genes! Since he started taking medication, we have seen tremendous improvement and a happier kid in general.
GeneSight May Help Gain Mental Health Meds Insights
While your decisions on treatment should be a private decision you make within your family, it’s also important to stress to your son or daughter that these disorders are a part of them and do not define who they are. There has been speculation that some of the most prominent figures in history may have struggled with ADHD. Would Leonardo Da Vinci have given us the Mona Lisa if he was forced into conformity? Would we have made such leaps and bounds in the field of physics if Einstein hadn’t revolutionized science with the theory of relativity? Hindering one’s ability to daydream once in while can hinder progress. It is the neurodivergent people of the world who can change it. It is important to remind your kids that they have superpowers and to never feel bad about who they are.