The mere mention that their child may be ADHD sends parents into a panic. Relax. Not every child who has trouble paying attention has ADHD. If the Child Study Team at your school suggests, (they are not legally certified to make a medical diagnosis), that you should have your child checked to see if she has Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, don’t rush her to your family doctor for medication without doing some intensive research on your own first. According to most psychiatrists and pediatricians, parents need to be informed consumers and assertive advocates for their children.

A misdiagnosis of ADHD may mask other problems. Sometimes a child’s inattention is not from having ADHD but from other sources such as anxiety, depression, or frustration from learning disabilities. (Author’s note: half of all children with ADHD have also been known to have some learning disability.)

If you feel your child is having a problem sitting still or seems not to have much of an attention span don’t automatically assume it is ADHD. Take the following action:

Talk with your child. Is something bothering them at school, in the outside world, or at home? Are they being bullied or is anything frightening them? You need to know that situations that we as adults can rationalize or put out of mind can stay with a child causing unknown terrors. A neighbor’s little boy who had heard adults talking about another child who had been kidnapped was afraid to go to school and, when he was there, was fidget-y and unable to concentrate on his class work.

Has there been a separation, divorce, or illness in your family? Children tend to focus on upsetting events and are unable to think of anything else.

Is your child physically ill? This is a major concern and should be dealt with immediately. A student of mine had gone from grades in the high nineties in class to barely passing, in three marking periods. She could not concentrate and exhibited some of the symptoms of ADHD. When her parents took her to the doctor it was discovered that she had the onset of Juvenile Diabetes.

If none of the above gives adequate answers, do have your child checked for ADHD bearing in mind that ADHD isn’t the only cause for hyperactivity. Have your child fully evaluated by a certified clinician trained in recognizing the differences between true ADHD and other reasons for restlessness, inattention, and hyperactivity. Have more than one clinician, from different offices, do an evaluation if you feel it is necessary.

Don’t have your child put on medication until you have exhausted all options. While medication for ADHD may enable a child to focus and pay attention, it doesn’t solve the problem of a learning disability. That must be dealt with separately.

Be proactive and your child’s true advocate. Remember that while ADHD is nothing to fear; the misdiagnosis and resulting medication can be.