We were very disappointed today to meet with our new local, not gifted-specialist but otherwise seemingly good psychologist, only to have her ask whether we would consider trying medication for our DD9, who is having various social issues in school. What disappointed me most is that I discussed with this psychologist at our intake meeting that we aren't sure whether DD is gifted + ASD (I think most likely), or gifted + ADHD, or gifted +ASD +ADHD, or also +ODD (don't think so), and how we had gotten what we thought were incorrect suggestions in the past, and had even given her several printouts of summaries of the James Webb (-type) discussions of these issues (I think even from the Davidson's site, thanks Davidson!). So the question, aside from anything else is, is it proper to suggest trying (ADHD) medication and seeing what happens, as opposed to trying to figure out what the 'diagnoses' actually are and then trying to treat them accordingly? I just think that probably any kid (even a 'normal' one) would become more pliable on ADHD medication and that the teacher would be likely to report 'improvement' (i.e., kid's not causing as many problems now) regardless of what disorders they did or didn't have. We aren't going to do it at least for now because I don't think that DD's ADHD-ish-ness comes from ADHD--at least not until somebody who is in a position to know evaluates and explains it, which we are working on. But very disappointed to keep running into this kind of thing locally, especially after we've made efforts to raise awareness and to discuss it. (ETA--just wanted to add, we're not necessarily opposed to medication in the right circumstances, just that DD fits with the James Webb-type differential description of gifted as opposed to ADHD, so what's up with psychologists not listening to us???>>>!?)
Last edited by Dbat; 10/22/12 02:53 PM. Reason: general frustration
