Navigating the Pediatric ADHD Evaluation Process: What Parents Need To Know

Children's Health Center, with Dr. Elizabeth Yakubu and Dr. Alrick Drummond, can help with many pediatric health issues. For example, we can diagnose ADHD in Tampa, and Riverview, FL, and help your child live a happier life. Here’s what you need to know about this diagnosis process and its benefits.

Check for Various Symptoms

Children's Health Center, Dr. Yakubu, and Dr. Drummond will check for various ADHD symptoms in Tampa, Riverview, FL, to help you and your child understand what is happening. These include symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. They’ll talk with you and your child and observe their activities to look for these symptoms. These include checking for obvious instances of:

• Inattention: Your child struggles to pay attention, daydreams, doesn’t listen well, gets easily distracted, doesn’t care about details, is disorganized, or forgets things frequently.
• Hyperactivity: They seem to be in constant motion as if “driven by a motor,” have a hard time staying seated, squirm and fidget, talk a lot, play when they shouldn’t, and can’t stay quiet.
• Impulsivity: Your kid asks and speaks without thinking, struggles to take turns, can’t wait for well, calls out answers before the question is done, interrupts others, and acts impulsively.

Now, these symptoms might seem like a child being a child, and our team understands that. We know that a lot of this condition's common symptoms can be easily misunderstood and that any child may act out at times. However, there are important screening steps that can ensure your child doesn’t get the wrong diagnosis.

Gauging Symptom Severity

Before assuming that your child has this disorder, we make sure to carefully confirm the diagnosis. First, we’ll make sure that their symptoms occur in two or more settings, like home, social, or school situations, and cause issues in their lives. After all, some children act very good at school and not at home or vice versa. Other ways we confirm this diagnosis include:

• Identifying six or more children between 4-17 years old
• Spot five or more in children 17 years or older 
• Gauge if they negatively affect their life, such as making homework hard 
• Notice that symptoms start before they reach 12 years old 
• Confirm that symptoms have continued for over six months

We’re Here for You

At Children's Health Center, Dr. Yakubu and Dr. Drummond can provide strong ADHD support and diagnosis in Tampa, and Riverview, FL, that can work well for your needs. Call our Tampa office at (813) 914-7772 and Riverview at (813) 677-2222 to set up your appointment with us. Our team can find a way to treat your child that makes sense for your child's needs.