Even after years of dealing with it, I'm not sure how one goes about diagnosing things like ADD or dyslexia other than comparing IQ and achievement, possibly looking @ patterns on IQ subtest scores, and subjective things like interviewing parents, kids, and teachers or having them fill out rating scales.
Cricket, I agree there is a large degree of subjectivity and observation built into these diagnoses, but fwiw our ds and dd have both had testing beyond IQ/achievement to determine if they had dyslexia and/or ADD. The results of the computerized test were used in combination with parent/teacher rating scales and neuropsych observation as well as pediatrician interviews/observations. The ADD testing was a computerized attention test. DD had huge challenges learning to read and she had quite a few different types of tests given through a school that specializes in dyslexia and related learning disabilities; it's been so long ago I don't remember the names of the specific tests (other than Gray's Oral Reading?) but recall that they tested a bunch of very specific types of different tasks in order to tease out where her challenges were and how she would learn best.
polarbear
