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Originally Posted by karenstir7  How did you get a brain scan? Would insurance cover something like that? What does the brain scan show?
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Our insurance covered it at the time. We had an HMO too. We got it done in Bellingham Washington at the neurologist office. It was pretty simple. They hooked up electrodes to his head and he had to lay still for along time (that part was tough). It is the only way to know 100% if a person has ADHD.
I have spoken to some psychologist who do not believe in the brain scan because it does not show up as some kids as having ADHD. Well duh because they do not have it and the research does supports this. Like I said the problem is the written assessment is subjective and instead of looking for another underlying cause it is easy to slap a label on to it.
My son has/had "severe" ADHD. We choose not to medicate. What they do not tell you is medication is only about 20-25% of the answer. The rest you have to achieve through behavior modification. People do not like that answer they want an instant cure. It was a lot of hard work especially through the ages of 6-9. We had the full support of his teacher (we were lucky his teacher moved up with him every grade through 5th grade). One of my secret weapons was caffine. What happens is similar to what ritalin does. Caffeine makes the neurons rapidly fire causing them to shut down in kids with ADHD. So when I was at my wits end I would buy him a latte or give him a Mt. Dew. It saved both of us. Anyway in 6th grade at his IEP meeting the school psychologist tried to tell me he was cured which was funny. You could see Johnny doing all his coping techniques to sit there for the meeting. He was not "cured" he learned how to deal with it. He is now an adult. I honestly thought at some point like in college he would need medication but he has never ever taken anything and has no desire. He functions as everyone else does.
Incidentally, we have a child that has a host of medical problems. At first they thought one was psychological but based on 3 weeks of hospitalization they realized it was indeed medical. They determined through brain scans and observation he did not have ADHD, but based on the paperwork we filled out on him he would have been diagnosed with ADHD. Ironically we have had one psychologist argue tooth and nail over this diagnosis that he has it. All the other professionals say "NO" along with us his parents. I know ADHD from my oldest and my husband and my youngest son does not have ADHD. Oh my husband has been medicated off and on through his whole life for ADHD. He never learned any coping techniques like Johnny did.
