I am the parent. Child is ~10, and enjoys flying with me. Office visits are happening in real time. My real Q is -- am I cutting off my child from PIC for the rest of their life if we proceed with medication for the ADHD; and have we already crossed that bridge just by getting the evaluation and diagnosis? Is the only hope the eventual elimination of Class III for private pilot flying (setting aside glider/balloon/SP) some time in the next 6 years?
Let me suggest something far more important.
Accurate diagnosis. I don't mean to "lecture". What are the qualifications of the ones telling you this ?
If diagnosed by a schoolteacher + social worker, 80% wrong.
If this was diagnosed by a Family doc, I'd say 60% of the time, it's incorrect.
A pediatrician, probably 33% he's incorrect.
The best way to tell is with a cognitive profile by a Ph.D.child psychologist. Even better if that person has a residency afterwards and can state he is then a
neuropsychologist. Maybe you're already done that, but what you want is to define whether among your 10 year old's cognitive skills, he/se has a marked weakness in auditory and in visual attention, or whether there is a processing disorder. Or whether or not there is undetected petit mal epilepsy and no cognitive disorder at all, save after a petit event unrecognized by our ACE-at-diagnosis school staffs (not).
The old "lists of characteristics" in the DSM4 are slowly moving down the obsolesence chute. If your diagnostician is saying, well he has this behavior, that behavior, and two other so he has ADD......that guy is living in 1985.
Get a GOOD opinion, so his growth and development are more normal. You'll have to do it age 17 anyway if you want him to fly, so why not get the REAL skinny and equip the child correctly for the next 7 years.
And, yes, it's painful, both as a parent and as a fiduciary. A good work up will cost $1,500 and insurance is unlikely to cover it. But if you get this right, you will be the best parent a kid might hope to have.
