Why Your Child’s ADHD Evaluation is Not One and Done

While ADHD is typically a chronic condition, it is by no means static. Symptoms will evolve as children grow and transition from one grade to the next. With a new classroom and another year of maturity under a child’s belt, the problems in the classroom experienced last year might not be the same as this year. In order to best tailor your child’s ADHD treatment, an important part of his or her diagnosis is to continue to reevaluate them each year.

Let’s consider exactly why this might be.

A large component of tracking child ADHD is receiving feedback from their teachers on the children’s behavior in the classroom. This is often done by a scale measuring attention difficulty. However, this subjective scale brings its limitations. First, the way teachers rate on the scale may vary from person to person. One teacher may be apt to give lower scores while another teacher may be prone to giving higher ones. Secondly, children are growing and experiencing different stresses from year to year, all of which will affect their symptoms. From one grade to the next, a child might have matured, a significant source of stress at home may have dissolved that year or perhaps a new one arose, or maybe they are eating and sleeping better. There are many factors that can affect their behavior during this influential time of their lives. A study by Dr. David Rabiner and his associates found that of elementary school children rated as having significant attention problems one year, more than 50% were not rated as having the same symptoms the following year. The bottom line is, the feedback from the teachers won’t necessarily carry over uniformly during classroom transitions.

As much as we wish it would slow down, your child is growing fast! Just like those old pair of shoes, your child may outgrow his or her treatment over time. How do you know if your child needs a new fitting? The best way to assure your child is receiving exactly the type of care he or she needs, stay on top of their symptoms and continually evaluate that your child’s symptoms are being addressed adequately.

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