Cogscreen ADHD

[ikemort]

My medical got deferred yesterday for a mild adhd diagnosis. Went into my physiologist a few months back because I wasn’t doing the best in school, I took the normal test where they ask for your symptoms. Scored 15, the benchmark for them to even think I have adhd was 46. Didn’t even realize he diagnosed me until I looked at my medical records filling out my medxpress. Anyways I’ve got to do a cogscreen test among other things. How difficult is one of these? I’ve seen some people say you can pass one unless you’ve got literal brain damage and I’ve seen people say 25% of pilots wouldn’t pass. Anyone on here taken it and could give me some insight? My adhd has never been bad, I’ve never thought I needed meds or anything and I’ve never been on any.

 

[UTLonghorn_1979]

My medical got deferred yesterday for a mild adhd diagnosis. Went into my physiologist a few months back because I wasn’t doing the best in school, I took the normal test where they ask for your symptoms. Scored 15, the benchmark for them to even think I have adhd was 46. Didn’t even realize he diagnosed me until I looked at my medical records filling out my medxpress. Anyways I’ve got to do a cogscreen test among other things. How difficult is one of these? I’ve seen some people say you can pass one unless you’ve got literal brain damage and I’ve seen people say 25% of pilots wouldn’t pass. Anyone on here taken it and could give me some insight? My adhd has never been bad, I’ve never thought I needed meds or anything and I’ve never been on any.

I recently took the full battery of Cog screens including the ADHD protocol…no idea why I had to do the ADHD one as I’ve never been diagnosed with it. Long story short, expect to spend between $3K to $5K depending on where you’re located and the exams take about 4-5 hours depending on if you take breaks or how slow/fast you test. Be sure to bring a rapid urine drug test (they will provide type) with you as they want to make sure you didn’t take some ADHD medicine prior to testing.

It isn’t hard but I can see how it might be difficult for people that have trouble focusing on a task for hours. Make sure you listen to and understand the instructions before each test. Some people recommend doing “brain games” or other cognitive strengthening exercises, I went in “cold turkey” and felt the only thing that tripped me up were some of the word math problems that you have to do without a calculator and time-out.

Keep in mind you’re being “observed” from start to end. Dress appropriately, speak clearly, make eye contact, act like it’s an interview but be natural and pleasant.

You’ll do fine. Good luck!

 

[ikemort]

I recently took the full battery of Cog screens including the ADHD protocol…no idea why I had to do the ADHD one as I’ve never been diagnosed with it. Long story short, expect to spend between $3K to $5K depending on where you’re located and the exams take about 4-5 hours depending on if you take breaks or how slow/fast you test. Be sure to bring a rapid urine drug test (they will provide type) with you as they want to make sure you didn’t take some ADHD medicine prior to testing.

It isn’t hard but I can see how it might be difficult for people that have trouble focusing on a task for hours. Make sure you listen to and understand the instructions before each test. Some people recommend doing “brain games” or other cognitive strengthening exercises, I went in “cold turkey” and felt the only thing that tripped me up were some of the word math problems that you have to do without a calculator and time-out.

Keep in mind you’re being “observed” from start to end. Dress appropriately, speak clearly, make eye contact, act like it’s an interview but be natural and pleasant.

You’ll do fine. Good luck!

This is really good to hear. I don’t think I’ll have an issue concentrating(the next 40 years of my life depends on it). I have started doing some brain games on Lumosity and have been doing well.

Thank you for sharing

 

[ikemort]

I have “literal brain damage” (TBI). I did well on it. I wasnt stupid before or after my accident though, so there’s that..

Sounds good haha

Didn’t mean anything by the brain damage thing btw. Just a common term I’ve seen on a few forums

 

[UTLonghorn_1979]

This is really good to hear. I don’t think I’ll have an issue concentrating(the next 40 years of my life depends on it). I have started doing some brain games on Lumosity and have been doing well.

Thank you for sharing

As you’ll find on this thread, find a good AME/HIMS AME familiar with the process and who can guide you through it. As much as I hate the saying “it’s the FAA’s sandbox so play by their rules or get out of it…,” it’s true and you want everything submitted correctly and timely the first time around.

Best of luck!

 

[ikemort]

As you’ll find on this thread, find a good AME/HIMS AME familiar with the process and who can guide you through it. As much as I hate the saying “it’s the FAA’s sandbox so play by their rules or get out of it…,” it’s true and you want everything submitted correctly and timely the first time around.

Best of luck!

I’ve got one. He sent me an email of everything I’ll need

 

[ADD HIMS Success]

I wrote a post about my experience with this. Let me know if you have questions.

ADD HIMS Success Story

tl;dr: 50 weeks from start to first-class medical with a history of ADD medicine I found so many helpful stories and reports on this forum that I wanted to share mine in hopes it would help someone else. Like so many people my age, I was prescribed ADD medication in elementary school when a...

pilotsofamerica.com

 

[ikemort]

I wrote a post about my experience with this. Let me know if you have questions.

ADD HIMS Success Story

tl;dr: 50 weeks from start to first-class medical with a history of ADD medicine I found so many helpful stories and reports on this forum that I wanted to share mine in hopes it would help someone else. Like so many people my age, I was prescribed ADD medication in elementary school when a...

pilotsofamerica.com

Just read the entire thing. Also, are you in Utah and did you fly to meet Dr. Chien? If it really does help I could probably do that. Got that stupid diagnosis not realizing it would affect being a pilot.

Also, if you are in Utah would you mind sharing where you did your cog screening? I’m really frustrated with my ame, talked to me about this issue for maybe two minutes before leaving and gave me almost no info other than a neuro physiologists email. One last question, I’ve heard you can only do the testing with the neuro physiologist that the ame gives you, is that true?

 

[ikemort]

Thank you all for your responses. I’ve gone from pulling my hair out to giving it a firm tug

 

[ikemort]

I wrote a post about my experience with this. Let me know if you have questions.

ADD HIMS Success Story

tl;dr: 50 weeks from start to first-class medical with a history of ADD medicine I found so many helpful stories and reports on this forum that I wanted to share mine in hopes it would help someone else. Like so many people my age, I was prescribed ADD medication in elementary school when a...

pilotsofamerica.com

I wrote a post about my experience with this. Let me know if you have questions.

ADD HIMS Success Story

tl;dr: 50 weeks from start to first-class medical with a history of ADD medicine I found so many helpful stories and reports on this forum that I wanted to share mine in hopes it would help someone else. Like so many people my age, I was prescribed ADD medication in elementary school when a...

pilotsofamerica.com

Nevermind about you being in Utah, got you mixed up with another guy on here lol. I did send Dr.Chein an email though

 

[AspiringPilot007]

My medical got deferred yesterday for a mild adhd diagnosis. Went into my physiologist a few months back because I wasn’t doing the best in school, I took the normal test where they ask for your symptoms. Scored 15, the benchmark for them to even think I have adhd was 46. Didn’t even realize he diagnosed me until I looked at my medical records filling out my medxpress. Anyways I’ve got to do a cogscreen test among other things. How difficult is one of these? I’ve seen some people say you can pass one unless you’ve got literal brain damage and I’ve seen people say 25% of pilots wouldn’t pass. Anyone on here taken it and could give me some insight? My adhd has never been bad, I’ve never thought I needed meds or anything and I’ve never been on any.

Hey!

I am in roughly the same boat as you, had a mild adhd diagnosis and now have to go through the process of the cogscreen and what not. I know that this post is from October, so I would assume that you have not taken it yet or are about to take it relatively soon. As mentioned, my adhd diagnosis means that I am currently looking for a HIMS Neuropsychologist of my own. Would you be comfortable sharing who you decided to go with, and how you are currently feeling about them? I want to make sure I feel confident in my choice of a Neuropsychologist, and so have been doing some research/asking around the forums to see how people feel about theirs.

Cheers!

 

[ikemort]

Hey!

I am in roughly the same boat as you, had a mild adhd diagnosis and now have to go through the process of the cogscreen and what not. I know that this post is from October, so I would assume that you have not taken it yet or are about to take it relatively soon. As mentioned, my adhd diagnosis means that I am currently looking for a HIMS Neuropsychologist of my own. Would you be comfortable sharing who you decided to go with, and how you are currently feeling about them? I want to make sure I feel confident in my choice of a Neuropsychologist, and so have been doing some research/asking around the forums to see how people feel about theirs.

Cheers!

I take it next Monday, super nervous but I’m confident I’ll do well, I’ve looked through every forum and Reddit there is about this issue so I’ve been preparing that way.

I’m doing it with Dr. Sugerman in Salt Lake City. It was $5000 which seems like a little more than I’ve seen but most of the ones I’ve looked at were before Covid so I assume it’s pretty accurate. She seems like a nice lady and has lots of good reviews so I’m optimistic.

Let me know if you have any questions! Message me later next week and I’ll let you know what I see!

 

[wellknow]

nothing to be scared of.

 

[ikemort]

nothing to be scared of.

You have no idea how much that helps.

 

[wellknow]

I did it in april. full battery. a little intense but not overwhelming. u get breaks between the modules and i had time for a leisurely lunch. Sleep well the night before have a light healthy breakfast and some coffee and u will be aces. u just have to do better than the bottom 15 percentile. and if u r lacking there are ways to address that. so don’t sweat it.

 

[glpilot]

Word math problems? That sounds more intimidating to me than a robust crosswind on final.

 

[wellknow]

Trust me. It’s like a 2 knot gust. just sounds intimidating