Concerned that your child might have ADD or ADHD? We understand that your son or daughters health is very important to you and will work with you to accurately assess their current challenges.
We use the latest diagnostic tools and our clinical experience to determine if your child has ADD or ADHD, or if other factors are impacting his or her behavior. Below is the step by step process we offer to evaluate your child for ADD/ADHD.
Step 1: Intake
The intake occurs on the phone, where you consult with our staff to determine the next steps and how we can best meet your needs. Our services are shared, our accepted payment methods are explained and an appointment is scheduled for the initial 1.5 hour ADD, ADHD evaluation.
You don’t need to pay more or get a $5000 psychoeducational or neuropsychological evaluation for an initial diagnosis of ADD, ADHD.
Despite the fact that neuropsychological tests have typically been used successfully to investigate the functional neuroanatomy of ADHD in neuroimaging research paradigms, these tests have been of surprisingly limited utility in the clinical diagnosis of the disorder. — Applied Neuropsychol Child.
A full neuropsychological evaluation may be necessary (after our initial 1.5 hour evaluation) to get extra time or other accommodations in school or on the SAT, ACT etc.. Click here to learn more about these services we offer.
Step 2: Child ADD & ADHD Testing
10 Minutes
While we meet with you and your child for the first ten to fifteen minutes, we ask your child to step outside where they can play or read in our private waiting room. If they are very young, a second adult is needed to sit with them in the waiting room.
30 Minutes
After your child leaves the room, we engage you in a discussion about your child’s current problems, school, medical and family histories. We will give you parent report assessments to scientifically evaluate their symptoms. These evidence-based assessments are designed by the top researchers in the field of ADD /ADHD. These might include:
- Brown ADD Scales
- Brown Executive Functioning Scales
- Delis Rating of Executive Functioning
- SNAP-IV
- NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scales
- Social Communication Questionnaire
Ideally, we also receive information from the teachers in your child’s school. If you have past assessments, please bring them to this meeting.
If your child is old enough, we will have them fill out their own self-report measures while we are meeting with you. These might include:
- Brown ADD Scales
- Delis Rating Scales of Executive Functioning
- Beck Depression Inventory — Youth
- Beck Anxiety Inventory — Youth
- Screen for Child Related Anxiety Disorders
These parent-report assessments will be combined with our years of clinical experience as child psychologists to help us formulate our thoughts.
Why you shouldn’t see a social worker (LCSW) or psychiatrist for an initial ADD, ADHD test.
We tease apart the data, ruling out other disorders that mimic the symptoms of ADD /ADHD (i.e., Depression, Anxiety, Trauma).
20 Minutes
Depending on the age of the child, we will play or talk with them about their own experiences and symptoms. For younger children, we will engage in twenty minutes of play to see first hand the symptoms that brought you in for help.
30 Minutes
We “crunch the numbers” and combine this with the clinical interviews to come to a conclusion about your child’s diagnosis.
We will discuss with you privately our findings and share our clinical expertise on the information we gathered. If your child has ADD & ADHD, or another condition, we know that hearing this might be confusing or scary. That is why we take the time to answer your questions and explain our holistic approach to treatment. We walk you through our proven methods and provide you with the information and psycho-education you need to move forward with confidence. We will discuss the various options should you decide to pursue treatment for your child at the Sachs Center. If interested, we will schedule a follow-up session to begin treatment.
If you would like, we can bring your child back into the room to share our findings.
The fee for this initial evaluation (insurance code 90791) is $595.00. We do not take insurance but will provide a receipt for you to seek reimbursement from your insurance company.
Learn more about our treatment for Child ADD/ADHD.
