ADHD Assessment
ADHD assessments provide a comprehensive understanding of your child’s overall functioning, investigating cognitive and behavioural aspects to ADHD symptomology, leading to tailored strategies and interventions that empower them to maximize their potential.
ADHD is a neurobiological disorder with a genetic basis, manifesting in three distinct ways: Predominantly Inattentive Presentation, Predominantly Hyperactive/Impulsive Presentation, and Combined Presentation.
ADHD testing in children and teens reveals symptoms such as challenges in regulating attention, resisting distractions, maintaining task focus, regulating their emotional response, and managing impulses. These challenges can impact academic and social development, often adding strain to parent-child relationships due to heightened parenting challenges.
The steps involved in our ADHD Assessments in Calgary are as follows:
Initial Assessment Consultation
PARENTS ONLY
(IN PERSON or VIRTUAL)
At the beginning of our assessment process, we conduct an exclusive initial consultation with parents. During this session, we delve into the challenges you and your child are experiencing and cover any relevant history. Our child psychologist will also conduct the necessary evaluations in this meeting to better understand the situation.
Observation in Child’s Natural Environment
CHILD ONLY
(IN PERSON)
Next, we arrange an observation of your child in their natural setting, which may be school or daycare. This allows us to gain valuable insights into their behaviour in an authentic environment. Ideally, we schedule this observation before proceeding with in-office assessment sessions for your child. In cases where a school observation isn’t feasible, we can also gather relevant third-party information through a consultation with their teacher.
Standardized Checklists & Document Review
Our ADHD psychologists ask that report cards are provided for the last three academic years, in addition to any previous school documentation such as behavioural support plans or Individual Program Plans, or any previous assessments/reports from allied health professionals. If parents consent, psychologists like to send standardized checklists to notable third parties, such as teachers, in addition to parents.
Standardized Testing
CHILD ONLY
(IN PERSON)
The face-to-face testing portion of the assessment incorporates several standardized testing measures with the child only. This process is typically arranged in three 2-hour appointments (totaling 6 hours), however, that is dependent on the age and needs of your child.
Parent Feedback Meeting
The final appointment is a 1.5-hour feedback meeting with parents only in which the parents sit down with the psychologist and discuss the important findings from the assessment process. Any clinical diagnoses, as well as strategies and resources for moving forward, will be discussed. Often, parents will ask if we can also provide feedback meetings to school personnel, such as teachers and learning strategists.
Comprehensive Psychological Report
Our psychological reports stand out from the rest. They are detailed and thorough, and assist parents, schools, and doctors/pediatricians understand the root of issues through a new lens. The psychological report comprehensively summarizes all findings, results, and recommendations. This formal document is shared with parents, who then typically share it with allied professionals. There is a flat rate of 6 hours for report writing.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
When assessing ADHD specifically, a school observation is preferred, prior to meeting the child in the office for in-person assessment sessions. A school observation provides an opportunity for the psychologist to see the child in their natural environment and how they contend with the competing distractions therein. Often, structured in class time, in conjunction with some unstructured time (lunch, recess) that includes a transition is ideal. If a school observation is not possible, then a teacher phone consultation can be conducted.
ADHD is assessed as part of a comprehensive psychoeducational assessment. In addition, as part of an ADHD assessment, specific assessment measures including continuous performance tasks, and activities investigating persistence, auditory attention, and behavioural regulation and inhibition are administered. While we often provide standardized checklists to parents and teachers, an assessment and diagnosis of ADHD is not reliant on subjective rating scales alone, but rather objective data obtained from standardized tasks as part of the one-one-one assessment process.
-
ADHD symptomology can vary widely, depending on the subtype of ADHD; Predominantly Inattentive Presentation, Predominantly Hyperactive/Impulsive Presentation, or Combined Presentation. On one hand, children with Inattentive ADHD often go undetected by teachers because they may not present with overt symptomology that makes them stand out from their peers. Comparatively, children with more impulsive symptomology are often identified earlier as their behaviour garners more negative attention. Frequently occurring symptomology with all three subtypes of ADHD includes challenges with persistence, delaying instant gratification, and challenges resisting competing distractions. As a result, children appear inattentive, lacking in focus and dysregulated.