Science Daily (press release)-Sep 24, 2013

Sep. 24, 2013 - Asking three simple key ADHD-diagnostic questions of parents of 5-to 12-year-olds in the waiting room before a pediatrician visit may make a lifetime of difference for their child, according to a new study in the September issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics:

• 1-Does your child OFTEN make careless mistakes or not pay close attention to details, causing problems at home or school?
• 2-Does your child OFTEN have difficulty remaining seated when asked to do so, causing problems at home or school?
• 3-Does your child OFTEN have a hard time paying attention to tasks or play, causing problems at home or school?

Positive answers to any of these prescreening questions alerts the child's physician at the time and point of care to further test for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder as well as anxiety and depression."We know what to do for kids who have ADHD, but we don't pick up kids early enough and we are missing too many," said Aaron E. Carroll, M.D. at the IU School of Medicine. There's ample evidence that doctors, who are barraged with guidelines and other clinical demands, are diagnosing and treating this disorder suboptimally."

Although the popular media most often suggests that ADHD is over- diagnosed and over-treated, especially with medications, the results of this study convincingly proves the exact opposite to be true. Moreover, Dr Levinson's clinical research indicates that the official ADHD diagnostic criteria are too stringent and thus omits recognition of many ADHD individuals with severe but insufficient symptoms. Importantly, individuals having too few ADHD symptoms respond as well medically as those having enough to meet official diagnostic criteria. And both groups were found to exhibit identical cerebellar-vestibular neurological signs and overlapping or comorbid anxiety, depressive and learning or dyslexic symptoms