beandelphiki (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beandelphiki) wrote2005-12-01 09:32 pm
beandelphiki) wrote2005-12-01 09:32 pm
Entry tags:
ADHD assessment - Diagnosis!
I don't have a lot of time or energy to go into much detail on this, but I have a diagnosis. I was going to wait until Dr. Y had written up her report and everything, but apparently there's no need, because she told me Tuesday what diagnosis she's going to put on it, and that it's unchangeable at this point:
ADHD - Predominantly Inattentive Type, Mild-Moderate Severity
She said that there's "no doubt" in her mind that this is my diagnosis, that she's completely convinced. She said this is backed up by all of the following being consistent with my presenting complaint (ADD symptoms):
-the screeners I was given from Disability Services at school
-the screeners she had me fill out
-all my self-ratings, stories and explanations in her office, which she says are "highly reflective of ADD symptoms."
-comments on school report cards (She translated some "teacher-speak" for my amusement. "Do you know what 'has a delightful sense of humour, needs to learn to display it at appropriate times' means?" "Er, no. What?" "That you were blurting things out!")
-my mother's retrospective rating of me in childhood
-[most surprisingly] my behaviour in her office
...Honestly, I thought that I had been very non-ADD in her office, but she says that I VISIBLY tuned out numerous times per session. She actually did a pretty hilarious imitation of me, saying that I'd be looking her right in the eye, she'd ask a question, and after several seconds of silence in which I simply looked at her, I'd suddenly snap to, "dear in the headlights" and say, "What? What was the question?!" "Hel-LO!"
And she opened her eyes up really wide, like I know I have a tendency to do when I'm confused. *laff*
...Which is funny, because I DO remember asking her several times to repeat herself, but in my perception, there was no time gap between her asking the question, and my asking for a repeat. She asked, but it didn't process for some reason, so I was just asking again. (Mostly as a time filler - I tend to ask people to repeat themselves so I can figure out what all those noises meant the first time.)
Anywhoo. I have it, it's official. And my father's response? She basically tossed it out the window, and said, "Your father doesn't know you very well, does he?" No...no, he doesn't.
Part of me can't WAIT to tell him my brain is broken, and there's nothing he can do about what the doctor says. Bastard.
Big shocking revelation of late, thanks to my mother: apparently, when I was in 6th grade, my school principal met with my parents (after consultation with my teachers) to tell them that she was recommending that I be assessed for
a) giftedness, and
b) ADHD/an LD
She figured I should be in GATE, but that I would most likely be coded as "gifted/LD."
I really wish I'd known that last year when I posted:
I've uncovered an old memory, which has turned into a nasty ghost. Many years ago, I had a friend with severe ADD - the hyperactive type. We were best friends actually, in the same class at school. Whenever I got sucked into whatever ADD-like thing he was doing, I got severely scolded. "You do NOT have ADD, so STOP acting so damn STUPID, and just focus on your own work!" Except that it was unlikely that my teacher said something like, "Stop acting so damn stupid," but boy - that's what I hear in my memory.
...Maybe, after the DOZENS of attempts to get me to help control Nick's ADD - with NO positive results - my teachers finally wondered? But I never knew. And I never got assessed - although my parents looked into it - because we didn't have the money. It would have cost several grand, Mom tells me. We didn't have it.
Now, I DO remember being told that I would be in GATE once I got assessed for it. Hell, I even had "orientation" and visited all the 7th grade GATE classrooms at Queen E. And I remember them telling me I couldn't go because they didn't have the money to get me tested. Man, I got a whooole story about THAT.
But they never said I was going to be tested for an LD! Never. I bet they would have put me through all of THAT assessment (if it had happened) and let me keep thinking it was for giftedness. I asked my mother why not, and she said, "We didn't want you to know that your teachers thought there was something wrong with your brain."
Wow. Just. I don't know what to think.
ADHD - Predominantly Inattentive Type, Mild-Moderate Severity
She said that there's "no doubt" in her mind that this is my diagnosis, that she's completely convinced. She said this is backed up by all of the following being consistent with my presenting complaint (ADD symptoms):
-the screeners I was given from Disability Services at school
-the screeners she had me fill out
-all my self-ratings, stories and explanations in her office, which she says are "highly reflective of ADD symptoms."
-comments on school report cards (She translated some "teacher-speak" for my amusement. "Do you know what 'has a delightful sense of humour, needs to learn to display it at appropriate times' means?" "Er, no. What?" "That you were blurting things out!")
-my mother's retrospective rating of me in childhood
-[most surprisingly] my behaviour in her office
...Honestly, I thought that I had been very non-ADD in her office, but she says that I VISIBLY tuned out numerous times per session. She actually did a pretty hilarious imitation of me, saying that I'd be looking her right in the eye, she'd ask a question, and after several seconds of silence in which I simply looked at her, I'd suddenly snap to, "dear in the headlights" and say, "What? What was the question?!" "Hel-LO!"
And she opened her eyes up really wide, like I know I have a tendency to do when I'm confused. *laff*
...Which is funny, because I DO remember asking her several times to repeat herself, but in my perception, there was no time gap between her asking the question, and my asking for a repeat. She asked, but it didn't process for some reason, so I was just asking again. (Mostly as a time filler - I tend to ask people to repeat themselves so I can figure out what all those noises meant the first time.)
Anywhoo. I have it, it's official. And my father's response? She basically tossed it out the window, and said, "Your father doesn't know you very well, does he?" No...no, he doesn't.
Part of me can't WAIT to tell him my brain is broken, and there's nothing he can do about what the doctor says. Bastard.
Big shocking revelation of late, thanks to my mother: apparently, when I was in 6th grade, my school principal met with my parents (after consultation with my teachers) to tell them that she was recommending that I be assessed for
a) giftedness, and
b) ADHD/an LD
She figured I should be in GATE, but that I would most likely be coded as "gifted/LD."
I really wish I'd known that last year when I posted:
I've uncovered an old memory, which has turned into a nasty ghost. Many years ago, I had a friend with severe ADD - the hyperactive type. We were best friends actually, in the same class at school. Whenever I got sucked into whatever ADD-like thing he was doing, I got severely scolded. "You do NOT have ADD, so STOP acting so damn STUPID, and just focus on your own work!" Except that it was unlikely that my teacher said something like, "Stop acting so damn stupid," but boy - that's what I hear in my memory.
...Maybe, after the DOZENS of attempts to get me to help control Nick's ADD - with NO positive results - my teachers finally wondered? But I never knew. And I never got assessed - although my parents looked into it - because we didn't have the money. It would have cost several grand, Mom tells me. We didn't have it.
Now, I DO remember being told that I would be in GATE once I got assessed for it. Hell, I even had "orientation" and visited all the 7th grade GATE classrooms at Queen E. And I remember them telling me I couldn't go because they didn't have the money to get me tested. Man, I got a whooole story about THAT.
But they never said I was going to be tested for an LD! Never. I bet they would have put me through all of THAT assessment (if it had happened) and let me keep thinking it was for giftedness. I asked my mother why not, and she said, "We didn't want you to know that your teachers thought there was something wrong with your brain."
Wow. Just. I don't know what to think.