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Child ADD Testing

By Tess Thompson

Determining whether a child has enough symptoms of ADD and whether child ADHD treatment is required is a tricky task. This is especially so since the problem is more psychological than physical and there is no standard battery of medical tests that can be conducted that will result in a report that can unequivocally recommend ADD treatment.

There are many ADD diagnostic techniques that are available on the Internet to help you identify whether your child is at risk or is already suffering from ADD. These tools are extremely helpful in enabling you to understand the reasons of certain behaviors that you may be observing in your child. None of the tests available on the Internet are supposed to be understood as self-diagnosis tools and should only be used to aid in deciding whether to seek medical attention or not.

Among others, the diagnostic technique used by Daniel G Amen, MD divides the symptoms and factors that need to be considered into various groups. What is studied is the past history, levels of restlessness, impulsiveness, organizational skills, issues with initiation of a task and concentration, negative feelings, issues with relationships, temper, need for constant stimulation, motor coordination skills, levels of energy and frustration. This all-encompassing list of various aspects of symptoms of ADD helps in identifying those that need to seek help.

Items under past history include bed-wetting, behavior problems in school and a family history of ADD and learning disorders. Distractibility, a key symptom of ADD, includes a low attention span, poor listening skills, lack of attention to detail, inability to follow simple instructions of a game.

Restlessness exhibits in fidgety behavior like playing with hair, picking skin and biting nails. It also manifests in constant movement from one place to the other including an inability to sit in one place. Being impulsive on this scale involves taking immature and impetuous decisions and lead to an inability to follow any kind of protocol. It also includes lying and stealing as an incontrollable problem.

Poor organization skills include being late all the time, inability to stay on top of tasks that need to be done, misplacing things and belongings and getting overwhelmed with normal tasks that a child that age can accomplish. Problems of initiation and concentration include aspects like procrastination, starting projects but not finishing them and untimely completion of tasks, if at all.

Similarly each of the broad areas listed above have been detailed in this test for ADD and provide cues about the level to which the ADD symptoms manifest. It is important to note that only if more than 20 items receive a score of more than 3 on a 5 point scale should you see a cause of concern. If you feel that your child is a borderline case, there is no harm in soliciting and finding out more about herbal remedy for ADD since these are devoid of any side effects and may help in treatment at the right time without letting matters get out of hand.