A child who is undiagnosed with Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) will struggle in school, the home and with peers. Don’t guess when it comes to deciding if your child has ADHD. Get a formal evaluation by a therapist trained to diagnosis the disorder. Evaluation should include a team of people – a licensed therapist to conduct a formal evaluation, parents, teachers, health and mental health specialists.

One reason there is controversy around making the diagnosis of ADHD is because it is often not formally evaluated. A teacher may be frustrated with a child who has behavior problems and assume the child has ADHD. Or a physician listens to a frustrated parent and prescribes medications. This is not how you want to determine if ADHD is really in play.

If you think your child has ADHD, look for these symptoms and schedule an evaluation with a mental health professional who knows how to diagnosis the disorder. It involves gathering a fair amount of data and history.

The main behaviors associated with ADHD are poor attention and concentration, distractibility and impulsivity.  Here is a list of behaviors to help you determine if your child needs an evaluation:

In school:

• Poor organization
• Shifting tasks
• Daydreaming
• Impression of not listening
• Poor motivation
• Messy work
• Pushing
• Interrupting others
• Excessive talking
• Fidgety
• Difficulty remaining in seat

At home:

• Shifting tasks and not listening
• Homework problems
• Interrupting others
• Accident prone
• Running around and fidgety

With peers:

• Breaking game rules
• Not listening to other children
• Interrupting others
• Grabbing objects
• Dangerous play
• Difficulty with quiet play

Developmentally:

• Hyperactivity and aggression in preschool
• Academic and behavioral problems in school
• Impulsive, bored and irritable as an adolescent

Keep in mind that these behaviors are usually noticed before the age of twelve and interfere with school, home and/or social functioning. Not all ADHD children show all these behaviors. And not everyone is ADHD who has some of these signs and symptoms. There could be other reasons a child behaves in these ways.

Researchers at Stanford University have findings that suggest brain imaging scans of ADHD children show different levels of activity in the frontal cortex of the brain. Gene research has also found an association of two specific genes. However, there is no blood test or other biochemical markers for ADHD.

Find out as much as you can about this disorder. Work with a trained mental health professional to make an accurate diagnosis and outline a treatment plan. There is so much that can be done to help children once the disorder is recognized. This is not a life sentence for problems and needs to properly diagnosed.