- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- preschoolers today articles
- preschoolers today q&a
- children today articles
- children today q&a
- community & groups
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
From Our Sponsors
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
The Doctor Is In
Getting ADHD Help
from a Pediatrician By Katherine Bontrager
from a Pediatrician
Up to 9 percent of children ages 6 to 12 in the United States suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to estimates from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). In hard numbers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that ADHD affects almostfour million children ages 3 through 17.
These numbers translate to thousands of parents and children who may have to endure months of waiting to see a specialist child psychiatrists, neurologists and developmental/behavioral physicians for diagnosis or treatment. Many of these specialists are in short supply, especially in more rural areas, so there's a considerable backlog of children waiting to get the help they need.
That's why in recent years, hospitals and pediatricians have stepped in to help alleviate this growing need. According to Dr. Harlan R. Gephart, a behavioral pediatrician and ADHD specialist in Seattle, Wash., and one of the online community advocacy leaders for ADHDbalance.net, this push began roughly five years ago with the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project. Dr. Gephart helped assemble guidelines and tools for pediatricians to help correctly diagnose and treat ADHD.
Dr. Gephart reports that there was a lot of variability in how doctors were approaching ADHD, and the initiative sought to establish clear guidelines for the diagnoses and treatment of the disorder. A collaborative of 35 practices was formed, he says, and helpful tools such as parental handouts and behavioral rating scales were developed.
"There are over 50,000 practicing pediatricians in the USA, most of whom are trained and comfortable diagnosing ADHD," Dr. Gephart says. "By and large one could have their child evaluated by a pediatrician within a reasonable time period. The American Academy of Pediatrics has developed excellent resources, including the ADHD Toolkit, to help pediatricians in this process."
One of Dr. Gephart's trainees, Dr. Philip Lichtenstein from the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, has sought to do just that. Dr. Lichtenstein directs the hospital's ADHD Collaborative Training Project and trains more than 360 local physicians to diagnose and assess ADHD in children.