Genuine · Mother of Boys

Testing Results for Dylan

I’ve gotten several e-mails asking about Dylan’s diagnosis. Thank you guys so much for your concern and support. I appreciate the cards, girls night invitations, and advice. I need all the help I can get. 😉

I’m so glad that we took the time and expense to have Dylan tested by this psychologist. He ran every test he had on Dylan, but 2. Dylan has been officially diagnosed with Inattentive ADHD.

Here’s what parents with children of Inattentive ADHD say:

  • “He seems like he’s always daydreaming. He never answers when I talk to him. I wonder if he hears me.”
  • “He loses everything. I’ve had to buy him 4 new lunchboxes since school started.”
  • “I’ll ask him to go up to his room and get dressed, and ten minutes later I find him playing with his toys with only his shirt on.”
  • “He can’t retain what he learns because he misses instructions and explanations in school. Even though we work so hard on his schoolwork at night, by the next day he’s forgotten everything.”
  • “Our teacher called her his ‘space cadet,’ and another her ‘random student.”

We’ve been to our pediatrician a couple times now and she grabbed these books from her shelf and made me check them out:


ADHD A Complete and Authoritative Guide and


Taking Charge of ADHD – she said this one will “blow my mind” (yep her words)

I’m reading them and learning a lot. Back to Dylan’s diagnosis. Here are some of his deficits, out of 100%:

Verbal Comprehension – 70%
Working Memory – 60% (below average)
Processing Speed – 34% (what?!?)

Working memory measures the general ability to sustain attention, concentrate, and exert mental control. Processing Speed is the ability to process visually perceived nonverbal information quickly and with concentration and rapid eye-hand coordination.

Understanding Directions – 60%

Dylan showed deficits in both impulsive, sustaining attention, and the sub-categories of vigilance, focus, prudence, consistency, and stamina. In short, Dylan’s performance suggests that he tends to be impulsive, inconsistent, fatigues easily, and fails to sustain attention in either visual or auditory channels over time.

Recommendations:

1. Dylan consult a pediatrition to determine medication regimen.
2. Typical recommendations:

  • Sit next to teacher,
  • Establish eye contact and touch student when oral information is being communicated
  • Provide multi sensory inputs to facilitate learning and retention (backing up auditory instructions with visual aids and hands on learning experiences)
  • Providing instructions one at a time.
  • Providing supervision, redirection, and encouragement
  • Teach organizational skills
  • Establish a team between professionals, parents, and school personnel
  • Allow breaks as needed

3. See an occupational therapist for strengthening perceptual/motor skills.

4. Check out other resources: Taking Charge of ADHD, Driven to Distraction, Homework without Tears.

5. Individual psychotherapy may prove helpful in promoting and enhancing social skills and self-control.

I realize this is a LOT of information, but I thought that if this could help one other mother out there then it would be worth it.

I never would have realized that Dylan was having these kinds of problems if we hadn’t had him tested. I’m glad we have a diagnosis but I’m more appreciative of all the individual tests that confirm what specifically we need to work on.

13 thoughts on “Testing Results for Dylan

  1. You will be so glad that you are intervening early with this! I am amazed at how great Noah has done in 4 years with the appropriate intervention. I have several really great books as well- Driven to Distraction and Delivered from Distraction. Once you know this about your child it is so much easier to get them to respond to the things you need them to do. Please let me know if you need anything!

  2. I’m so impressed that you have done so much to help your child be a success! Good for you!
    As a former teacher, I’m glad that you have chosen to give him EVERY tool to succeed, and that includes your own expertise.
    If you feel like his teacher needs a few concrete examples of how to help your little man focus and pay attention, let me know. I’ve worked with this a few times.

    Good luck!

  3. Reading those books and talking with other moms has been a huge help to me as well. I’m so glad you have gotten so many answers and can now focus on helping him!

  4. Thank you for your comments Laurie.

    As for your post, it is helpful to have information from other mothers. We just took Lulu in yesterday and I’m so glad we were able to find someone who is gentle and knowledgeable, it was reassuring to know that there are resources. He advised that Lulu see an occupational therapist as well.
    Anyway, can’t wait to see you again in person so we can talk.

  5. good job getting the further testing . that will help a ton to know where to focus help.

    i have a joke for you.
    How many kids with ADD does it take to change a lightbulb?
    how many?
    hey lets go ride bikes.

    meaning kids forget what they are supposed to be doing and do whatever come up.
    so if i send a kid (or myself) on an errand, and he doesn’t come back in a timely manner you bet there was a distraction. my husband always comes in to find me standing watching TV (usually a kid show) when i was supposed to be getting ready to leave or get a diaper or something. frustrating. but not the end of the world.

    good luck!
    you seem to be doing great with it.

  6. That sounds so much like one of my nephews. Wow. You are a great mother and so diligent. I need to call my sister.

  7. I really admire all that you are doing as a parent for your sweet boy. It takes a pretty amazing parent to dive right in and take such a proactive role in the success of your child. You are fab! ♥

  8. Knowing is half the battle, right?

    The earlier the interventions are started the better the future will look…But you know that.

    I am glad you have friends to escape with-we all need to escape from our momma filled lives every now and again.

  9. Wow after reading that I really need to take Seth in. We have the paperwork for the dr and just need to have it sent in and get the ball rolling. I totally feel you girl because all of those symptoms sound very familiar- very. Seth fits them all. Doesn’t it just break your heart to see your child struggle so much? Thank you so much for your post and honesty.

  10. Thank you so much for all the info!!! I really admire you for not ignoring the problem and actually taking action so you can help Dylan. I’m sure this will help a lot of mothers all there. Tiago has one symptom out of all those you wrote on there…Do you think I should get him tested???

  11. Ah – coming out of lurking to say, I know EXACTLY what you are talking about. My 6 year old is ADD with primary inattention. We don’t have issues with the hyperactivity. To say that school is difficult for her would be an understatement. She does best with one-on-one instruction and gets very distracted and overloaded with lots of people/kids around. That is usually when she goes off into la-la land. She may play with one or two friends, but primarily plays by herself.

    She gets a lot of individual help at school (IEP) etc. it can be hard doing homework with her.

    I like the book “Driven to Distraction.” very good.

    Anyway, just wanted to give a shout out to tell you that I kind of have an idea what you are going through. Good luck on working with a plan that meets his individual needs!

  12. On the plus side, with such a bad memory he should forget any of the bad stuff that has happened in the past 7 years 😉 It’s like you’ve gotten a redo!

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