Assessment tomorrow...

[Thandimanillon]

Ok so my appt is tomorrow morning, the 20th, and I really need to know what school reports to take with me. Primary school? High school? Uni? All of the above? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[namazu]

Bring copies of whatever documentation you might have --

- School report cards from your earliest days through wherever you are now (or last left off).
- Any record of accommodations you used in school (if applicable), or perhaps a list of informal strategies you used to compensate.
- Any kind of letters home about behavior.
- Work evaluations.
- Reports from any previous psych evaluations and/or educational testing you've had.
- Etc.

Good luck tomorrow! (Not that you'll need it -- evals aren't a "luck" thing -- but I hope the doc is friendly and competent and you get some clarity and useful suggestions.)

[Thandimanillon]

Thanks so much! I've so far only been able to locate up to year nine, but I did complete high school and am at uni. Is this going to be a problem? I can't for the life of me think where I put them, and my uni reports are all online I think... Will not having those three years' worth of reports going to affect the outcome or am I worrying over nothing?

[namazu]

Originally Posted by Thandimanillon

Thanks so much! I've so far only been able to locate up to year nine, but I did complete high school and am at uni. Is this going to be a problem? I can't for the life of me think where I put them, and my uni reports are all online I think... Will not having those three years' worth of reports going to affect the outcome or am I worrying over nothing?

It shouldn't be a problem.

ADHD is a clinical diagnosis based on the doctor's holistic assessment of all of the evidence. Assuming the doctor is familiar with ADHD in adults, if the doc sees that your experiences and difficulties fit the patterns associated with ADHD, you've had it your whole life (even if it affected you more or less at different times), and there's not some alternative medical/educational/social/environmental explanation that fits the evidence better, then the fact that you're missing a report card from the second half of Grade (1)3 won't make a whit of difference.

People can and do get legitimately diagnosed with ADHD as adults without any report cards or other paper records. It's just that the more supporting documentation you have, the more confident the doctor can be in making the diagnosis (and the less reason s/he'll have to wonder if you're faking it just to get drugs).

Hope the appointment went OK!