[MamaJennaphur]

My daughter's had the same teacher for first and again now in second grade. Her teacher's mentioned to me in our past couple of parent/teacher conferences that she believes Destiny may have ADHD.

I was just wondering how does a doctor actually diagnose a child with ADHD? I'd like to have it looked into, because Destiny's lack of ability to concentrate on her assignments and in class lessons is beginning to affect her school work and her grades

[lovemyboysandabbey2]

First of all it is illegal for a teacher to "suggest" a child has ADD... they can recomend that they get evaluated..
umm as for diagnosing, typically either their DR or they may send them out to a psycologist will have them come in and have you fill out a yes/no survey and they base it off that. They also may have your DD's teacher fill one out as well. Basically they add up the number of "yes" and based on stats they use that as a diagnosis.

[LovinMyGirls]

Teachers can not push or anything like that when it comes to diagnosing. But simply talking to a parent about a child's symptoms is harmless. I can't diagnose obviously as I'm not trained..but I can certainly talk to a parent about a child's distractability/unattentiveness. I know I've never flat out said ADD..but if a parent mentions it I will tell them what I've observed.

Then yes there is paperwork for both the parents and teacher to provide the doctor with. Checklist/etc on the child's behaviors at home/school. Then the parent/doctor decide how they'd like to approach the child's symptoms.

[Star Light]

There is also a computer test that can aid in diagnosing ADHD. My son took it at a psychologist office. He made it very clear that it can't rule out ADHD, but it can help reinforce the checklists.