|
I'm a school Psychologist. I generally work with elementary aged
children, but have experience at the secondary level.
I would strongly encourage that the evaluator draw from several sources
of information before determining the presence of ADHD and/or Anxiety.
More often than not, comorbid conditions exist within the client that
confound his/her diagnostic profile. For example, attention problems
are often found in individuals who meet the criteria for not only ADHD,
but Depression, Post Traumatic Stress, Pervasive Developmental
Disabilities, etc. Unfortunately, a poor formulation can often lead to
inappropriate treatment choices for the client.
In addition, I would also encourage that the evaluator seek supervision
as well, from a trained professional who works with adults diagnosed
with attention problems and/or anxiety (psychologists,
neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, etc.).
Finally, I would encourage reading the manual for the instruments used
because it will often give you information about the population you are
comparing
your client to.
That said, some of the tests that come to mind are the Brown and
Conner's Scales, as mentioned previously.
You'll find these are well-normed and can provide useful information. I
might also try administering tests that measure cognition (WAIS-III,
Stanford-Binet), memory (WRAML-2, WMS-III), and
neuropsychological/executive functioning (Stroop, Continuous Performance
Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Boston Naming Test, Halstead-Reitan
Neuropsychological Battery) and Anxiety (Beck Depression Inventory-II,
Beck Anxiety Inventory).
Many of these tests, including the use of Projectives, can provide
information about how the client learns, attends to tasks, and functions
within his/her environment. Again, these tests should only be
administered after the evaluator has received extensive training and
supervision. If you don't have the training, I would recommend that you
err on the side of caution and refer the client for an outside eval.
Hope this was helpful.
Jamie Hamm
School Psychologist
Billerica, MA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To access the LRNASST-L archives or User Guide, or to change your
subscription options (including subscribe/unsubscribe), point your web browser to
http://www.lists.ufl.edu/archives/lrnasst-l.html
To contact the LRNASST-L owner, email [log in to unmask]
|
