Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Anyone w/different test results after ADHD meds?

We are having our son evaluated by a developmental, behavioral pediatrician for suspected ADHD. We have been trying to determine if the ADHD symptoms were related to lack of challenge in the classroom rather than true ADHD. Now that ds seems to be more challenged at school, we are still seeing the same behaviors. If the doctor determines that ds does, in deed, have ADHD, we are probably going to pursue ADHD medication, as we've exhausted classroom and home interventions and strategies to no avail.

My questions is, did your child have gifted testing before and/or after the start of ADHD meds? How do you think the medication and increased ability to focus helped with test scores? Did they improve?

Also, have you seen a great deal of improvement in your child reaching his/her true potential once he/she was able to better focus?

Thank you for sharing your experience!

We are at a similar point here Jen so I will be interested to read about other people's experiences as well. Good question to ask.

We, too, are in a similar position as we just started meds a few weeks ago. However, my DS's psychologist did say that he has seen patients that have huge point spreads on their abilities tests when they are on medication versus when they are not.

Eema,
I'm interested in what types of learning difficulties surfaced once the ADHD was under control. DS certainly has something going on that I am at a loss to explain, and while ADHD seems fairly evident, I'm left wondering if there's another component as well. I am also wondering if the discrepancy we saw between verbal and noverbal IQ will be even more pronounced if he's able to focus better during the testing. His nonverbal IQ was 119 (90th %ile), and his verbal IQ was 143 (99.8th %ile) last time he was tested. I think he'll score higher if he's able to focus better; I'm just not sure if his verbal IQ will exceed his nonverbal even more than it did on the previous testing, if those scores will be more equal, or if the discrepancy will be the same (both will increase comparably).

For my daughter the results were the opposite. It could have been the test. The school used WJ and she scored lower than on the WIAT and WRAT tests. In her opinion the meds help her sit still and focus but they cloud her overall thinking. So she is off all meds.

My son (5) has been on meds for almost 3 weeks now. It's amazing how much his behavior has improved. He seems so much happier and can interact with us so much better now. He said that in school he feels like he can focus much better and follow directions. Before the meds it was almost impossible to have a conversation with him because he'd struggle to get a sentence out.

One day last week he didn't take his medicine before school and I got calls from three teachers about how he was throwing fits and just having a really hard time. When he got home he threw a MONSTER fit. After it was done I asked him what happened. He said that he was starting to get too many thoughts in his head and they were going too fast. It made his stomach and head hurt and he didn't know what to do. I'm sure that the medicine helps with that.

He hasn't been retested but they have moved him to a reading group two grades up and to a math class one grade up so I know that he's able to get his work in school done so much easier.

Jamie B - that's great news about your son being moved up in reading and math! I know you have struggled with your school situation.

Thanks eema for the clarification. I am very curious what we will find with the testing. I just don't know what to think anymore.

My son tested 4 pts higher (FSIQ) with meds. Without meds, we tested with Dr. Ruf using SB5. She wanted him unmedicated to see if the ADHD stood out. And yes, it did. He had a hard time concentrating.

He took the Cogat unmedicated too and scored lower than he should have. His best score was the WISC IV on meds. his processing speed on meds was 97% and working memory was still low 70% (if I recall)

This sounds exactly like my DS, too, although his testing was done before he started the meds. At times he seems so out of the ordinary that it is such a huge relief to hear he's not the only one with this particular constellation of skills and issues. He also seems to have some memory issues, although on some things he has an amazing memory, and we're still figuring this out.

Jamie B: the first thing we noticed when my DS11 started meds in December was that he could now get a sentence -- in fact several sentences! -- out without getting distracted mid-sentence. This alone has made the meds worth it, in our opinion.