SCREENING FOR ADD/ADHD

An interesting quiz that screens for ADD/ADHD. Very often, children with dyslexia get distracted easily, cannot sustain their focus and/or get fidgety. And because of this observation, they have been mistaken as displaying ADHD symptoms.

The DSM-5 (The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth edition) is used by mental heath professionals to diagnose ADHD. There were some changes in the DSM-5 for the diagnosis of ADHD: symptoms can now occur by age 12 rather than by age 6; several symptoms now need to be present in more than one setting rather than just some impairment in more than one setting; new descriptions were added to show what symptoms might look like at older ages; and for adults and adolescents age 17 or older, only 5 symptoms are needed instead of the 6 needed for younger children.

Deciding if a child has ADHD is a several step process. It cannot be decided just by observations alone. For many of the dyslexic children, once they learned how to control their disorientation, they will be able to stay focus more easily and do not fidget beyond what is expected for a child of that age.

Please note that the screening only serves to indicate the possibility of a person showing ADD/ADHD symptoms and is not meant to be a diagnostic tool. Try it!