son going in for adhd evaluation; wants to be a pilot

[Whiskey Romeo]

you hit the nail on the head with that word.

ADD should be treated the same way they treat cardiovascular issues.

The psyc evaluation is the nuke stress test for ADD, is it not? Just a bit more expensive and time consuming. At least the eval is a one time event.

 

[midlifeflyer]

You know, everyone is screaming "don't get your kid diagnosed!!! He'll never fly!!"

But what if he really needs the attention of professionals? Don't sell your child short. Aviation is secondary.

The problem is, what if he doesn't?

It is hopefully getting better but ADD/ADHD has been a "designer" diagnosis for more than a decade. Studies are out there about it being diagnosed and treated in marginal situations and outright misdiagnosed. What was at one time "growing boys have short attention spans" has become "there must be something wrong with him." The result is, according the CDC, the single most diagnosed condition in children under 18 with many being treated for it that should not be.

I seem to recall this great photo of a kid in a classroom whose attention is grabbed by a passing airplane and he looks out the window dreaming of flying.

Definite ADD diagnosis candidate.

 

[Art VanDelay]

He'll make an excellent airline pilot we're all ADHD - we just haven't been diagnosed yet ! Seriously, if they ever had a reliable test for this and incorporated into FAA Physicals the pro pilot ranks would be decimated.

 

[midcap]

The psyc evaluation is the nuke stress test for ADD, is it not? Just a bit more expensive and time consuming. At least the eval is a one time event.

That's the thing, let's say you are on the mild side of the spectrum. So, you aren't going to have an issue paying attention to the one test that you must past to be a pilot, I am talking about the ADD eval/test.

So in other words, the test showing you don't have ADD is pointless. The real test should be on the check ride. If you have ADD, the only thing different should be the check ride, because that's where the ADD issues should show up. Also, along the way the CFI, should start to notice things and tell the student to hang it up, if their ADD is that bad.

What's Ironic is that with ADD, if's up front and you can physically observe if some one can fly the plane safely or not. Where as cardio vascular and nuero issues, it's not somthing you can physically observe and sometimes those things get worse over time and won't be noticed.

 

[midcap]

The problem is, what if he doesn't?

It is hopefully getting better but ADD/ADHD has been a "designer" diagnosis for more than a decade. Studies are out there about it being diagnosed and treated in marginal situations and outright misdiagnosed. What was at one time "growing boys have short attention spans" has become "there must be something wrong with him." The result is, according the CDC, the single most diagnosed condition in children under 18 with many being treated for it that should not be.

I seem to recall this great photo of a kid in a classroom whose attention is grabbed by a passing airplane and he looks out the window dreaming of flying.

Definite ADD diagnosis candidate.

Your post proves my point why ADD shouldn't be a disqualifying factor. Would the kid benefit from meds for the 2 classes he hates? yes. Does he need the meds for flight training classes? nope.

 

[RJM62]

That's the thing, let's say you are on the mild side of the spectrum. So, you aren't going to have an issue paying attention to the one test that you must past to be a pilot, I am talking about the ADD eval/test.

So in other words, the test showing you don't have ADD is pointless. The real test should be on the check ride. If you have ADD, the only thing different should be the check ride, because that's where the ADD issues should show up. Also, along the way the CFI, should start to notice things and tell the student to hang it up, if their ADD is that bad.

What's Ironic is that with ADD, if's up front and you can physically observe if some one can fly the plane safely or not. Where as cardio vascular and nuero issues, it's not somthing you can physically observe and sometimes those things get worse over time and won't be noticed.

It's not like me to defend the FAA (nor government agencies in general, heh), but in this case, I'm not sure what else the FAA can do.

It's not their fault that doctors contracted by school districts pass out bogus diagnoses and powerful pills to kids they've barely met, much less properly evaluated, so the schools can get their extra subsidies. FAA had no part in that, but they have to deal with the result: a ****load of pilot candidates who have this diagnosis which, if it were real, might very well render them unfit to fly.

So FAA chose the best protocol they could find to give these applicants a way to disabuse the diagnosis. Yes, it's expensive and cumbersome. But that's not their fault. They didn't devise a single one of those tests. All they're doing is requiring that applicants undergo the tests that really should have been administered way back when they were kids. The fact that probably fewer than one percent of the docs who dish out these diagnoses actually bother to do the proper tests isn't FAA's fault, either.

The problem is happening at the grade school level. FAA is just trying to deal with the fallout.

Someone told me a while ago (I can't say who, but it was someone who works for FAA) that more than 70 percent of applicants who do undergo the tests are found NOT to have ADD / ADHD. Had these people been properly tested when they were kids, rather than being criminally abused for the fiscal benefit of their school districts and the convenience of their teachers, none of this would be an issue, and this thread would not exist.

Rich

 

[midcap]

It's not like me to defend the FAA (nor government agencies in general, heh), but in this case, I'm not sure what else the FAA can do.

It's not their fault that doctors contracted by school districts pass out bogus diagnoses and powerful pills to kids they've barely met, much less properly evaluated, so the schools can get their extra subsidies. FAA had no part in that, but they have to deal with the result: a ****load of pilot candidates who have this diagnosis which, if it were real, might very well render them unfit to fly.

So FAA chose the best protocol they could find to give these applicants a way to disabuse the diagnosis. Yes, it's expensive and cumbersome. But that's not their fault. They didn't devise a single one of those tests. All they're doing is requiring that applicants undergo the tests that really should have been administered way back when they were kids. The fact that probably fewer than one percent of the docs who dish out these diagnoses actually bother to do the proper tests isn't FAA's fault, either.

The problem is happening at the grade school level. FAA is just trying to deal with the fallout.

Someone told me a while ago (I can't say who, but it was someone who works for FAA) that more than 70 percent of applicants who do undergo the tests are found NOT to have ADD / ADHD. Had these people been properly tested when they were kids, rather than being criminally abused for the fiscal benefit of their school districts and the convenience of their teachers, none of this would be an issue, and this thread would not exist.

Rich

I like your reply and it makes a lot of sense if ADD was not a spectrum disorder.

unlike anxiety, ADD is either there all the time, or never there. This should easily be able to be found out during a check ride with a drug test afterwards.

 

[Palmpilot]

...Someone told me a while ago (I can't say who, but it was someone who works for FAA) that more than 70 percent of applicants who do undergo the tests are found NOT to have ADD / ADHD..

Now THAT is amazing.

 

[AggieMike88]

http://goo.gl/5mAolm

 

[RJM62]

I like your reply and it makes a lot of sense if ADD was not a spectrum disorder.

unlike anxiety, ADD is either there all the time, or never there. This should easily be able to be found out during a check ride with a drug test afterwards.

The problem is that DPEs are not qualified to make that judgment.

Also, I suspect that the very nature of a checkride and the inherent stress of same might have enough of a stimulant effect on the reticular activating system that it could mask ADD, whereas a more ordinary -- and boring -- XC flight might not. That's just speculation based on very old coursework, by the way.

I agree that there's some point on the spectrum at which ADD / ADHD becomes irrelevant to flight. The problem is how to assess it. I suspect that the very tedium of the protocol that's used now is one of the reasons why it tends to give reliable results. I don't think a checkride could mimic that.

Rich

 

[Kritchlow]

The problem is, what if he doesn't?

It is hopefully getting better but ADD/ADHD has been a "designer" diagnosis for more than a decade. Studies are out there about it being diagnosed and treated in marginal situations and outright misdiagnosed. What was at one time "growing boys have short attention spans" has become "there must be something wrong with him." The result is, according the CDC, the single most diagnosed condition in children under 18 with many being treated for it that should not be.

I seem to recall this great photo of a kid in a classroom whose attention is grabbed by a passing airplane and he looks out the window dreaming of flying.

Definite ADD diagnosis candidate.

Indeed... I agree the Feds shouldn't be so quick to shut him down. That said, if it were my kid, I would be very careful about not getting treatment, simply to ensure future flying privlidges.

 

[midcap]

Midcap, what is your dog in this hunt anyhow? Pot stirring or something real?

The low post count and the tone/content of your contributions has me wondering about beings that live under bridges and are confounded by gruff horned animals named William.

I sent you a PM.