After reviewing all information and test results, your 360 Assessment Team will determine whether a diagnosis of ADD/ADHD can be made. The team will examine report cards we’ll ask you to provide, too, since documented challenges in early elementary school are an important component of an ADD or ADHD diagnosis. Before you see our experts again, the 360 Assessment Team will meet and review all of the information you have provided, as well as the testing results.Responses from others-like teachers or colleagues if you grant permission for us to send questionnaires to them-will help us get a detailed, 360 degree view of attention. The psychometrist will administer additional tests and questionnaires to screen for academic challenges and possible mental health concerns. In a third session, you’ll meet with a psychometrist who will do direct testing of your attention and other cognitive functions like working memory, which is the ability to hold and process multiple pieces of information in your mind at once.You’ll also talk about your strengths and goals, and strategies you’ve used in the past that have or haven’t been helpful. In another session, you’ll meet with a psychologist.The doctor will take a detailed medical and developmental history and ask about current and past functioning. In an intake session, you’ll meet with a physician.There are 5 sessions you’ll attend in our Focus Forward 360 service: We also examine more than attention since challenges with focus can be associated with mental health and learning concerns. It’s not the absence of attention that’s the challenge it’s regulating attention so it’s available across all kinds of tasks-easy and difficult, interesting and less interesting.Īt Possibilities we offer Focus Forward 360, an exciting service where expert clinicians take an in-depth look at attention-whether for you or your child-and make recommendations backed by science to support functioning going forward.
ADD and ADHD would be better named Attention Dysregulation Disorders, in our opinion, rather than Attention Deficit Disorders. Differences in brain circuitry and in naturally occurring brain chemicals (called neurotransmitters) that support attention in individuals with ADD and ADHD mean that attention is not consistent across situations, no matter how hard someone tries to stay focussed.
To be clear-a person with ADHD does not choose to be interested in some tasks and disengaged from others. So when ADD or ADHD is present, the brain can hyperfocus during activities that are very interesting, but attention drops rapidly for tasks the brain would rather not do. More accurately, they can pay attention, but the brain struggles to regulate that attention.
It’s not that people with ADD or ADHD have no attention. When it comes right down to it, the word “deficit” in ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is misleading. Here are questions we hear often about our Focus Forward 360 Assessment, along with our answers. Help is available, and science shows that specific treatments can make a big difference! But what can you do? It’s important to figure out whether ADD or ADHD can explain the challenges you are seeing, especially since treatments for ADD and ADHD can be incredibly effective. Whether it’s unfair comments, or unfair assumptions, being misunderstood is hurtful and unhelpful. But, in fact, they may have inconsistent focus that requires treatment. Others are doubted-their long hours of hyperfocus, intelligence, and commitment to work tasks are seen as proof that they don’t have an attention problem. Individuals with attention challenges might be described as “unmotivated” or “lazy”-descriptions you know are unfair and untrue. Other individuals do well at school and work, but they are frustrated by needing to exert tremendous effort over long hours to succeed. Some individuals aren’t doing as well as they could be at school or work, missing deadlines and struggling to start and finish tasks. Beyond these similarities, stories diverge. But they struggle to regulate their focus, which means their attention isn’t something they can count on consistently. They can all focus-on some tasks for a very long time, very intensely. Have you ever wondered if you or a member of your family has ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)? People with ADD and ADHD share a common story they are smart and have goals and dreams.
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