Who First Suggests the Diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder?

Abstract

PURPOSE We wanted to survey physicians in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area regarding the frequency with which physicians, teachers, parents, and others first suggest the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).METHODS A questionnaire was mailed to all family physicians, primary care pediatricians, and child psychiatrists in greater Washington, DC. In answer to the question, "Who first suggests the diagnosis of ADHD?" respondents assigned percentages to primary care physicians, consultants, parents, teachers, etc. RESULTSTeachers were most likely to be first to suggest the diagnosis of ADHD (46.4%; 95% CI, 44.1%-48.7%), followed by parents (30.2%; 95% CI, 28.3%-32.0%), primary care physicians (11.3%; 95% CI, 9.7%-12.8%), school personnel other than teachers (6.0%; 95% CI, 4.9%-7.2%), consultants such as child psychiatrists or psychologists (3.1%; 95% CI, 2.3%-3.9%) and other specified categories (3.0%; 95% CI, 2.4%-3.6%).CONCLUSIONS Teachers and other school personnel are often the first to suggest the diagnosis of ADHD in children in the greater Washington, DC, area. Regional variations in the prescribing of medication for ADHD may be caused at least in part by variations in the likelihood of a teacher suggesting the diagnosis of ADHD.

Knowledge of attention/deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – a comparison of pre-service teachers in primary and special education in Germany

“…Unlike this result, in-service teachers showed good knowledge of the core symptoms of ADHD in earlier studies (Sciutto et al, 2000;Schmiedeler, 2013). It is very important that teachers have fundamental knowledge of ADHD symptoms, because they are typically the first persons who notice behavioral disorders in children and who advise further examination (Sax & Kautz, 2003). Besides, teachers often serve as an information source for diagnosing ADHD (Vereb & DiPerna, 2004), which requires that the teachers interpret students' behaviors correctly.…”

“…Teachers often recognize behavioral problems of a child with ADHD symptoms and advise the parents to get a professional assessment (Sax & Kautz, 2003). For example, Ohan, Cormier, Hepp, Visser, and Strain (2008) investigated Australian teachers' knowledge of ADHD and found that teachers with higher knowledge of ADHD encourage parents with children displaying behavioral problems to get a professional assessment, as well as support for these children to adjust at school both academically and socially.…”

ADHD: a critical update for educational professionals

“…Teachers and other school personnel are often the first to suggest the diagnosis of ADHD in a child (Phillips, 2006; Sax & Kautz, 2003). Previous research suggests that teachers tend to feel insecure about dealing with behavioural problems (Walter, Gouze, & Lim, 2006) and hesitant to accept responsibility for students with special needs (Pijl, 2010).…”

Concordância entre relato de pais e professores para sintomas de TDAH: resultados de uma amostra clínica brasileira

“…Obtaining information from only one source (i.e., parents or teachers) strongly influences the prevalence of the disorder 2 . Teachers are often the first ones to suggest ADHD among children and adolescents at school age 3 , reinforcing the importance of having teachers' reports for such diagnosis. Some studies demonstrated that correlation between parents' and teachers' reports is only modest 4 and informants may be best reporting behavior concerning their corresponding settings (parents reporting home behavior and teachers reporting school behavior) 5 .…”