How to get an ADHD diagnosis that's accurate, ethical, and comprehensive without waiting years

In today’s episode of SuccessFULL with ADHD, I’m joined by two incredible experts in the field of diagnostic evaluations—Laurie Peterson and Dr. Abbey Weinstein. Laurie and Abbey are the brilliant minds behind Diagnostic Learning Services, and they’ve spent years helping people of all ages navigate the complex world of ADHD and learning disabilities. 

We get into the nuances of ADHD evaluations, the importance of comprehensive assessments, and the pitfalls of quick online diagnoses. Laurie and Abbey also share their experiences with the rise in evaluations post-COVID and the crucial role of proper testing in setting up effective interventions. 

Laurie Peterson and Dr. Abbey Weinstein are the dynamic hosts of the widely successful podcast "Let’s Talk Learning Disabilities." Laurie, the Founder and Executive Director of Diagnostic Learning Services, holds dual master’s degrees in Special Education and Professional Counseling, and is a National Certified Educational Diagnostician (NCED). Dr. Weinstein, the Director of Assessment for eDiagnostic Learning Services, brings over 22 years of experience in education, including a Ph.D. in Special Education. Together, they leverage their extensive expertise in assessing and addressing learning disabilities like Dyslexia and ADHD, making them respected voices in the field.

Episode Highlights:
[00:00] - Introduction and welcome to Laurie Peterson and Dr. Abbey Weinstein.[4:10] - Laurie and Abbey share the importance of comprehensive ADHD evaluations and the impact of their work.
[6:20] - Differences between evaluations for academic accommodations vs. personal understanding of ADHD.
[14:12] - Discussion on the ethical concerns of quick online ADHD evaluations.
[22:31] - Frustrations with the school system’s approach to ADHD and learning disabilities.
[25:02] - The rise in ADHD evaluations post-COVID and the influence of social media.
[26:35] - The accuracy of self-diagnosis and the role of proper childhood history in ADHD diagnosis.
[37:32] - How to take the first steps if you suspect ADHD in yourself or your child.
[38:44] - Where to find Laurie and Abbey for more information or to schedule an evaluation.

Links and Resources:
Let’s Talk Learning Disabilities Podcast: https://ltldpodcast.com/
Diagnose Learning Disabilities Website: https://www.ediagnosticlearning.com/ 

Thank you for tuning into "SuccessFULL with ADHD." If this episode has impacted you, remember to rate, follow, share, and review our podcast. Your support helps us reach and help more individuals navigating their journeys with ADHD.

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Transcript

Brooke Schnittman: 0:00

I have seen 1000s of IEPs, and that ruling out piece is so important, because, yeah, a diagnosis is a diagnosis, but then what do you do with the diagnosis, and how do you accommodate or how do you level the playing fields at school with the right accommodations and services? Should this person get reading because they have a reading disability and they're below grade level in reading, or should they get reading because they have a focusing issue and or an attention issue, and they just need to fill in the gaps right now because they haven't been able to attend, and once they meet their goals, of course, then they're out of reading. So there's so many nuances, and I love the name of your company, because legitimately, that's what you guys do. You're diagnosticians. You're not just slapping an ADHD label on and saying, Okay, you're good to go. You're spending three to four hours with people and thoroughly reviewing it and getting outside information from people who've known them their whole lives. Hi everyone, and welcome back to another episode of successful with ADHD today. I have Lori Peterson and I have Abby Weinstein, who are directors of diagnostic learning services and E diagnostic learning. I'm going to introduce both of them separately, but I'm thrilled to have them here because they posted me on their amazing podcast, let's talk learning disabilities. And since that, I think we've developed a really nice friendship and colleague relationship, and I've seen the work that these two amazing women have produced, and the results of the evaluations that they review and go over with the clients that they serve So real quickly, without further ado. Laurie Peterson is a master's of education. She also has an MA, an LPC, NC, Ed, the list goes on, and is the founder and executive director of diagnostic learning services and E diagnostic learning, as well as the host of successful podcast, let's talk learning disabilities, and has a master's degree in special education, me too and professional counseling. Lori has dedicated herself to advocating for comprehensive assessments, which is so important, and that's what we're going to get into the nitty gritty of today that meet the diverse needs of students beyond school requirements. She's respected voice in the field, actively educating groups and schools on understanding and supporting students with learning disabilities like dyslexia and ADHD and in her spare time, Lori serves on the executive board for the North Texas chapter of Chad children and adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Thank you for doing that, because that's a very robust job, and it's not a paid job either. So thank you for dedicating your time to that. And then we have the wonderful Dr Abby Weinstein, who's the director of assessments for diagnostic learning services and E diagnostic learning, as well as the co host of Let's Talk learning disabilities as well, with over 22 years in education and as an extensive experience as an ABA home therapist, teacher and educational diagnostician, Abby holds a master's degree in special ed with educational diagnostician certification and a PhD in special education with a minor in educational leadership from Texas Women's University. And Dr Weinstein is actively involved in professional organizations, including the Council for Exceptional Children Texas educational diagnostician Association North Texas, Chad and council for learning disabilities. Okay, my mouth is dry now. Thank you, ladies for coming on and for your grace. We have been wanting to do this for quite a while now, and we haven't because of my health issues with covid, but thank you for being here, and I know that it's been a very busy summer for both of you with testing.

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 4:10

First of all, yes, happiness. We're always excited to be on other people's podcasts, because we spend a lot of our time recording our own podcast with a lot of special guests, so it's fun to be on the other end and get to share what we do and what we're passionate about and and what we do and why we do it and how thoroughly we do it. So thank you for having us. Yes, thank you so much. Absolutely. It's a pleasure, and I'm it's nice to have the role reversal here I get it. I like not having the pressure and just kind of answering the questions, but it's still pressures, right? So when I spoke to both of you, I had no idea that your company does online evaluations as well as in person.

Brooke Schnittman: 5:00

In. And, of course, they're comprehensive and thorough, and there's a review of it, and it's more than 30 minutes, and, and, and, and because I've seen the results of the people, you've tested the impact they've had, and worked with them in coaching, and that awareness that has and the thoroughness of your evaluations has really transformed their process and coaching. So I commend both of you. Thank you. I love that. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And I was so excited to know that you do it virtually too, because we know that there is waiting lists in the UK. Years of waiting lists and waiting lists all around and that's what has made some of these online, overnight value ADHD evaluation companies popular, unethically, right, right? So I know what you do is ethical. Can you explain how the testing goes? First of all, I know it's a lot, the length of time that the evaluation consists of, and how the review of it is done as well.

Laurie Peterson: 6:21

I think you know, what's interesting about what we do is that we want to meet the needs of the client. So it always starts with, what do they need to know this information for? Obviously, do they just want it for their own personal like, do I have ADHD? Maybe get on medication, maybe get some accommodations at work? Or are they a student in college or high school where they're going to need some accommodations in place for standardized testing, things like AC, t, s, a T, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, those kinds of things. So first, we want to take that into consideration, because we do offer two different types of evaluations for adults, for students that are needing any kind of accommodations, we want to make sure that we're giving them the right documentation. We'd hate for them to take their documentation back to their school or their licensing agency and then say, Oh, I'm sorry. We need a more thorough eval so we include all the academic areas in addition to the ADHD, so that we can show how the ADHD impacts them academically. That assessment's about three and a half to four hours, and it's great information, because not only can we diagnose the ADHD, but we can explain to them how it's impacting their academic abilities and why they're seeing some of the academic difficulties that they're seeing. Because that's typically the complaint they come to us with, I can't remember what I've read. I feel like everything's 100 times I can't I can't finish a test to save my life, and that's where their real struggles are. But for adults who aren't in school, they really just have more of those executive function struggles the day to day life, you know, procrastinating, time management, speaking from experience, forgetting to pick your kids up at school, things like that, you know, they just want to know if they have it. So we've taken an approach where we feel like more information is better, and we want to rule out any other, you know, issues that might be going on that could be causing some ADHD like symptoms. So we do a full like standardized cognitive eval that looks at their processing skills. We do some executive functioning assessment, we do some questionnaires and surveys, and then we use an objective measure as well that they can take on the computer anywhere they live. And it's a 20 minute objective test. It's called the QB check, and it's a really, really, really boring test that helps us see what happens when they're bored. Because, as you know, with ADHD, if it's something that's fun, we're going to kill it. But if it's boring, it's all you can do to stay focused. And so that gives us some amazing data. So we never rely on just one test. You should never, ever, ever make a diagnosis based off just one piece of data. We want to look for a preponderance of evidence, so we take all of that information and then determine based on the diagnostic criteria, if they need it, and if they do, what can they do about it? And Abby and I are huge proponents of coaching, we feel like we both take medication for ADHD and it's a game changer, but it is not going to get me organized. It is not going to keep me from procrastinating. It doesn't affect my overwhelm, and that's where we feel like the coaching piece comes in. So we try progressiveness Exactly. So we talk ad nauseam about coaching and the importance of pairing those two things together. But our goal really is to be a resource for our clients that, you know, we make this diagnosis, we go over all of the testing, and then a year later, something happens. They've decided to change jobs, or they need, you know, they just have questions the medic.

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 10:00

Education maybe isn't working as much. We want to be a resource for them, so we're here for that as well. And I feel like it's really been a very rewarding process. And getting to not just address people here in our home state of Texas, but to help people across the country, in across the globe, has been awesome. It's been awesome. That's incredible. Yeah, I think another to add to that, another really great aspect of doing a comprehensive evaluation is that we can rule out any type of learning disabilities that might be causing the inattention you know, your child may be struggling in school and look very inattentive and hyperactive and whatnot, but it could be more, you know, task avoidance, because they're struggling in reading or writing or spelling or math. So that is another great aspect of our comprehensive assessment. We're testing all academic areas, and we're ruling out any type of learning differences or processing or disorders while we're looking at ADHD. And in addition, you know, a lot of those online companies that do, they just give the the client a questionnaire to fill out online, typically, and a lot of those questionnaires are more like screeners rather than diagnostic tools, but we're not only having you know the client or the child's parents fill out an executive functioning skills survey based on their observations, we're working with the individual for three and a half to four hours, so we have all that time to also observe them and how they do under pressure and under time constraints, and how well they can sustain their attention for three and a half hours. And so, like Lori said, we use a preponderance of evidence, and I think that is key. And it also it helps us better explain to the client why they struggle with the things they struggle with, but also it helps with that plan for success moving forward. It helps give, give them hope and, you know, understanding and knowledge, but it also allows them to receive those accommodations if need be. And there's also, you know, it's very, very common for individuals with ADHD to have other comorbid conditions or coexisting conditions. So, you know, a lot of times we will find there's an anxiety disorder or there's a reading comprehension disability or there's dyslexia,

Brooke Schnittman: 12:58

yes, yes. I mean, all of us have been in the school system at some point, and I have seen 1000s of IEPs, and that ruling out piece is so important, because, yeah, a diagnosis is a diagnosis, but then what do you do with the diagnosis, and how do you accommodate or how do you level the playing field at school with the right accommodations and services. Should this person get reading because they have a reading disability and they're below grade level in reading? Or should they get reading because they have a focusing issue and or an attention issue and they just need to fill in the gaps right now because they haven't been able to attend before, and, you know, once they meet their goals, of course, then they're out of reading. So there's so many nuances. And I love the name of your company, because, like, legitimately, that's what you guys do. You're diagnosticians. You're not just slapping an ADHD label on and saying, Okay, you're good to go. You're spending three to four hours with people and thoroughly reviewing it and getting outside information from people who've known them their whole lives.

Laurie Peterson: 14:12

I think you know to touch on, Abby was talking about the screeners that some of these other companies are using that can be valuable information as part of a comprehensive, you know, assessment. But you know, my fear with those is always I can go through and basically, what those are, just the diagnostic criteria. You know, do you do these things? And if you check into foxes, five or six out of nine? Boom, you're in but why? Why do you do these things? Why do you have trouble paying attention? Is it because you have another learning disability? Is it because you have an auditory processing issue? Maybe there are so many reasons why you might check that box. It may not be ADHD, and you may be headed down a road that's not going to be where your health really comes from. And so to me, that is careless, yeah, and think about how much time and.

Brooke Schnittman: 15:00

Energy is spend, money is spent on medication and the wrong type of support. And then you come to find out years later that it wasn't ADHD, or it is ADHD, but it's also these other coexistent conditions that are the source of your anxiety or the source of your grogginess, or the source of your working memory issues. So absolutely, I mean, it's really like, you would never go to a doctor and just, you know, say, hey, my knee hurts, and then you take a questionnaire, and then he does surgery, right? That's like, scary. Yeah, it's very scary. And now I want to also talk about the flip side and all of this like so you guys are very ethical in what you do. I mean, I've learned a lot about both of you and your company, and I know that there's people out there that cannot afford to do a comprehensive evaluation. So what do you recommend for those people who just don't have the funds and the resources to pay for a private evaluation.

Laurie Peterson: 16:09

This is what's so frustrating, too. And honestly, and I wish that this wasn't our we don't come across the same thing. You know, insurance just doesn't want to cover a lot of this stuff, and even when they do cover it, what they reimburse the practitioner for is is embarrassing, and it's unfortunate, because it's it's caused a lot of professionals to move away from taking insurance. However, there are still some out there that do some psychologists or psychiatrists that may still be in network. Now, they're probably going to have a wait list, but at the end of the day, if that is the way that you can get your diagnosis, and you have to wait six months, but you only have to pay your copay, it might be worth it, right? Oftentimes, those professionals may or may not do a full comprehensive battery. They may focus more on just the ADHD, which is okay, they'll they'll still do a good eval. They may or may not include the learning disability stuff, but you know, that is always my first recommendation. If it's not a school aged child, if it's a school aged child, obviously going back through the school again, it can be a little bit of a headache, but you pay for it with your taxes. Go take advantage of that many

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 17:23

school districts do not diagnose ADHD, no, they don't. Oh

Brooke Schnittman: 17:28

my gosh, yes.

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 17:30

That was a great recommendation that Lori said by, you know, going through a psychologist that may be in your insurance network. I also have recommended to clients before that can't afford. You know, our evaluation to call some you know, a lot of big four year universities, their psychology departments have, you know graduate students that have to get so many hours in administering different types of tests that they'll do. They'll take outside clients, and they'll do comprehensive assessments or psycho educational they have a clinic or psychological evaluations. So, so it's also a good idea to call your nearest four year you know, university asked to be connected to the Psychology Department. That's usually where they have those people, those graduate students, or that will do testing. Absolutely,

Brooke Schnittman: 18:33

I've never heard of that, and I appreciate you sharing that with the audience, because that is huge. So go. If you don't have the funds, there's too long of a wait list for people in network, go to your local University, see if there's a grad student who needs the hours. That's wonderful. What I also know as a workaround, obviously, it's not my first recommendation, but you said for schools that not all schools can test ADHD, and I've seen it because I've been in several schools, several amazing schools in New York, and I came to Florida, and the education system is slightly different. In New York, you have to have someone who knows how to test for ADHD, right? Who's licensed, wow. So we had someone in our school district to do it, but in Florida, they don't. Well, at least, I don't want to stay, say, for all districts in Florida, but for the district I'm in, they don't test for ADHD. So what the work around that I've seen in some of my clients is writing the letter to the school district to get the full battery of evaluations. I don't know how long it's going to take, but you do that, and then you go to the pediatrician, if you can't afford the full comprehensive, right, and get the ADHD diagnosis. If they believe that there's ADHD as well,

Laurie Peterson: 19:52

well. And a lot of times in that school evaluation, that was going to be another recommendation, because oftentimes, if, if you have a. A pediatrician that will really read that report and see all the times where the clinician mentions difficulty paying attention. Had to get refocused, very fidgety. I mean, you could probably just read through that report based on if you know how to interpret the scores and read the observations. It's an easy it's kind of a slam dunk. All the data is there. They just need someone to Yes, makes it, make the diagnosis. So that is a really great idea, yes, yes.

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 20:27

And in Texas, you know, we have a lot of districts, actually, majority of districts, we have school psychologists that work for the school districts, and they will do some observations and some testing and some surveys, and they'll say that the student demonstrates some characteristics of ADHD, but they still can't diagnose it. They want it to be a medical diagnosis, and this form that has to be filled out by an MD, which is a little bit frustrating at times, but it's extremely

Brooke Schnittman: 21:08

frustrating. Yes, yeah, seeing it from a parent and like myself, I have two stepsons with ADHD. One of them is so severely hyperactive, off the charts. ADHD and the districts we were working with, even with my credentials, we had to fight tooth and nail for over two years for them to test him and give him a thorough even though he was already a classified IEP student, he had an I've Yeah, but they he wasn't classified under other health impaired. He was classified under speech and language. He had the ADHD diagnosis, but they wouldn't make it other health impaired. Don't get me started. So they started telling me things that had nothing to do with ADHD, like I didn't know what I was talking about and I felt crazy. And to your point about money and time, I ended up having to hire an advocate, just because she had advocate next to her name. And luckily, she got the testing for him inside the school district. But when you're thinking about which route you should go, right, just consider all of these things. If you're a parent listening to it, it might not be as easy as you think to get the school to test depending on where you are, but hopefully you can right faster. Exactly

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 22:32

another thing the schools, you know, oftentimes they're looking for, quote, unquote educational need, and if the students making decent grades, they won't what's

Brooke Schnittman: 22:45

decent Well,

Laurie Peterson: 22:47

passing, they're passing.

Brooke Schnittman: 22:49

What's passing, right

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 22:51

70 here in Texas, if they're passing, then a lot of schools don't see a need to spend the time and money and clientele or personnel on an evaluation, and they'll say, yeah, they don't even need any accommodations because they're doing just fine, but they don't have any idea the amount of hours and time and effort that is spent behind the Scenes at home in order to get those passing grades,

Brooke Schnittman: 23:23

absolutely, you almost want to recommend the parent to just let the kid fail so the school district can see that, no, they don't have the natural ability and at the same level as the other neurotypical, quote, unquote Students do,

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 23:39

sure, right? Or the student did their homework, but they're so disorganized, they can't find it in their backpack, or they forget it at home, and it doesn't get turned in. You know, that should be a red flag to the school staff. Instead of letting mom drive up to the school and drop off the homework, that should be part of that data they're collecting to determine, you know, does the student have a need for some support?

Brooke Schnittman: 24:09

So get this. So in the school that my stepson was in, he was getting 30s and 40s on classwork, but then, of course, when he would go to school with homework, because I forced him to do his homework, he was getting 90s and 100 so they're like, yeah, the average is 70, so he's not failing, right, right? So it could be very frustrating as a parent. To your point, it

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 24:33

is very frustrating. And then if you have an evaluation that shows you, know, for instance, his basic reading skills are well above average. Then we need to figure out how to get him to work up to his true potential in the classroom setting, in the educational environment, because a 70 is not his true potential,

Laurie Peterson: 24:58

but they don't care. What's that potential? Well, they care about passing, passing,

Brooke Schnittman: 25:02

passing, yeah, oh yeah, it's so any parents listening, we hear your frustrations for sure. Have you seen an uptick over the past few years in evaluations? Definitely. I feel

Laurie Peterson: 25:16

like we've seen an uptick in school aged evaluations since kids were home with covid and parents got to actually see that what the kids were doing or could and couldn't do, and I think that blew up. But I feel like our adult ADHD evaluations have really blown up, and I think that's been because of social media and the awareness and those companies that are popping up to offer these evaluations. It's, it's just brought more awareness to the to the whole space. And now everyone is like, Wow, maybe I do have it, but I do feel like we've, we've seen an increase both from covid, and ever since then, it's just sort of snowball. Because even kids today will have parents that said, Look, my kids were home for two years during the most pivotal years in their education. I don't know if it's just when we've got gaps, we can't pay attention, or there's really something, you know, what is it? And they're just frustrated.

Brooke Schnittman: 26:12

Have you noticed that the people, because a lot of people, are self diagnosing, which, you know, good for them if they can't get the evaluation right away, right in the meantime. But have you noticed the people who have self diagnosed or had the inclination that it was ADHD, more specifically, talking about adults here, that they've been right with their diagnosis? I

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 26:35

would say the majority, yes, if, if they suspected it, whether they read about symptoms on the internet or whatever, if they suspect it, and they have taken the step to request an evaluation and pay for it. The majority of the times, their gut feeling is correct, and they do end up having ADHD however, there are a lot of adults that feel like they're struggling with all of these executive functioning skills, or their working memory and or symptoms of ADHD. But when we dig deep and have them fill out a history of symptoms form, they didn't have any struggles during childhood. And you know, part of the diagnostic criteria says that symptoms must have been present prior to age 12. So a lot of adults, I think, due to age and of their job and not learning coping and compensatory skills. On their own, they start

Brooke Schnittman: 27:43

covid

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 27:44

and covid, yep, but you know, so it's not often, but there have definitely been, you know, a handful or more of adult clients that think they have ADHD, but we can't really diagnose it because they didn't indicate any symptoms during childhood.

Brooke Schnittman: 28:04

Yeah, so it's more of just your executive functions have deteriorated over time as they should throughout age, or hormones, like you said, or covid or traumatic brain injury, or dementia, Alzheimer's or diabetes, like so many things, right? Right? And just because menopause, just because they don't have an ADHD diagnosis, doesn't mean that they can't do anything about

Laurie Peterson: 28:26

it, right? Like, we still recommend coaching, yeah,

Brooke Schnittman: 28:30

exactly, exactly, exactly. And

Laurie Peterson: 28:32

what's interesting, though, Brooke, is that we do have a lot of adults that come to us not even talking about ADHD. I've literally had, I mean, they all think they have dyslexia. And they think they have dyslexia because they have to read and read and reread and reread, and they can't cop our hand, and we do the test and it's like, it's not dyslexia. You have ADHD? And they're like, No, I don't know. And we've got all the data, right? We're like, but look at all this, look at the pattern, look at look at your QB test, like, look at all of this. And they're like, No, it's dyslexia. And we're like, you know, it's hard because they've decided. They've decided what it is via Google.

Brooke Schnittman: 29:10

It's so interesting. I read something. I read something that 45% of people with ADHD also have a coexisting learning disability, one the top one being dyslexia. But the thing that is so fascinating, right, that I don't think the layperson knows, because they're not a specialist, right? And there is all this misinformation out there, is that it's usually not dyslexia, even though you think it's dyslexia, I'm not gaslighting you and saying you don't have dyslexia, but it's less common to the person who thinks they have dyslexia. Yes, well, and it's

Laurie Peterson: 29:47

because we don't understand what dyslexia is, right? And that's where the issue comes from. People think it's letter reversals. People think it's difficulty comprehending what they read, and while comprehension can be impacted by dyslexia. That is not the only, you know, the only characteristic. So we really have to inform them, and I would say, 99% of the time, once we really explain to them what dyslexia is, what it looks like, you know, and show them how their performance in those areas was average to above average. They it does. And sometimes they need to marinate in a little bit. But by the time we're done talking to them and going over everything, they're like, You know what? You know what? That actually makes more sense, like they're but they are, you know, they come to us 100% sure they have dyslexia, and it's really interesting, and you're right. It is. It does coexist. But I do think in adults, it's less common if you haven't already been diagnosed with dyslexia, to all of a sudden wake up with it one day, or have it get so bad as an adult that you get diagnosed, we've had, we've had older students get diagnosed, college kids that are super bright and have learned how to compensate, but the majority of those people are going to get caught during their school aged years. I wanted to just throw out too. We've had a couple, a couple college kids come through, and I do feel like this is more common than what we've even seen who have been incredibly bright, and they've actually been tested for ADHD in the past, and a psychologist or a psychiatrist or a doctor has said, No, you don't have it because they scored so well on their standardized testing, right there. Even their working memory was off the charts. And that's just because they're crazy smart and they've got great compensatory strategies. But it doesn't mean just because you're super smart that you can't have ADHD, right? And so a lot of people come in. We've had people come in that have scored off the charts on all the standardized stuff, but the QB and their their symptoms and their history. Scream ADHD, so again, it's not about intelligence. It's not about school performance, because a lot of people have coping strategies and have developed those out of necessity. So there's so much nerd that goes into it than just one test or one score,

Brooke Schnittman: 31:58

yes, yes. And real quick. I know we don't have too much time, but I recently learned more about pots, and the correlation of that with women, with ADHD. And now, of course, I'm hyper focusing on it. I'm like, do I have pots? Do I have pots? So anyway, so there's just all these other things right that we can discover. So to wrap up here, what would be the first step if someone is either struggling and in school? Let's start there, and then for an adult who thinks that they need more information about how their brain operates,

Laurie Peterson: 32:41

you know, for personally speaking, call us. We're happy to talk to you. We love we're if you call, you're not committing to being tested if you just have questions or want to pick our brain like that's what we do. But I would say, you know, check out, we have some podcasts about the different learning disabilities. Your Podcast, do a little bit of research. But really, if you just want to talk to somebody and just say, here's where I'm at, what do you think? And we're not going to try to rope me into testing. You know, there are a lot of people say, I don't know that that's the right thing for you to do right now, but we're happy to answer any questions that they have

Brooke Schnittman: 33:21

that's so nice that you do that that's really not many people do that.

Laurie Peterson: 33:25

People get the right information. You know, yeah,

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 33:28

there are a lot of times that we recommend a parent, you know, go to their pediatrician first, or that someone you know, talk to a counselor or go psychiatrist, psychiatrist or go rule out, you know, some visual processing issues or auditory process, hormone imbalance. Yeah, maybe you've just entered menopause or or perimenopause

Brooke Schnittman: 33:56

for that. Yeah, exactly.

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 33:59

And also, you know the fact that we do, in addition to all the processing testing and the academic testing and some executive functioning skills surveys, that objective test that we have that is an objective measure of regulating attention, activity and impulsivity, it has been such a valuable piece of data because, you know, it graphs their performance and it actually compares them to a sample of someone their age without ADHD in the control group. So it's been very helpful for the people that are like, Nah, I don't have ADHD. I don't think so. And it's really convincing data. Also for those parents that maybe they only have one child, or the child they're getting tested is the oldest child, and they don't really have, you know, a frame of. Reference for comparison, and they don't think their child has ADHD. And we show them the results of, you know, look, can they sustain and regulate their attention during a 20 minute test? And then we can make it, you know, like in the classroom during direct instruction, especially if it's a subject that's not as very, not as interesting or meaningful to them. During 20 minutes of instruction, they are missing lots of pieces. So if we don't get the ADHD symptoms well managed and under control right now, then eventually your student may have gaps and fall farther behind. So I love that we have that objective data, and it's worked in our favor in many different instances, you know, and even we've had, you know, parents called a schedule on a lot of adolescents, especially girls, but boys and girls have said to their parents, I think I have ADHD, and I want to be tested for ADHD so they can fill out their survey and they can mark every single thing as a definite concern. And you know, the parent is like, really, you're basing this on her input, but then when we show

Brooke Schnittman: 36:23

Yes, I am actually

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 36:26

right. You know, their their input is super important and valuable, of course, however, if they're determined to have ADHD so they can get accommodations, or they can be like their friends, or whatever they can, kind of, you know, overly report high symptoms, but you can't trick that QB test, that objective measure. You know, there's no way of tricking that test, or, you know, causing it you score higher. And

Brooke Schnittman: 36:57

that's why it's so important to get a thorough evaluation. And just to that point, because you brought it up here, I had several people come to me on my instagram and say, I'm so upset I wasn't diagnosed with ADHD because they thought, right, that they finally understood their brain. But that's why we need to understand our brain, right? ADHD could be something else, and maybe you can get that help for that right? Or if you don't know what your diagnosis is, yet, you could still engage in coaching or other behavioral supports that could help your symptoms at least.

Laurie Peterson: 37:33

You know, Brooke, one quick thing I wanted to share, too, that Abby and I kind of enjoy doing, is, if someone has been tested and they don't understand the results, or they don't understand why they don't have it, we're happy to look it over and explain and help them understand it, because I do feel like you get that information and not there are some people out there that do an amazing job of explaining it and helping people understand, but oftentimes people leave an office and think, why don't I have it? I don't understand, even though they're holding a report in their hand. So if someone just needs an explanation and will they will help them, you know, figure out, was this a good, thorough evaluation? Did it cover everything? Is there something else you need to know, whether that's from us or from somebody else, doesn't matter. Is there more data gathering that needs to happen? So we're happy to look over and help people sort of interpret those results if they need it.

Brooke Schnittman: 38:25

True moral diagnosticians here who just are looking to help the neurodivergent community all ages. So Abby and Lori, where can people find you if they are looking for information, if they think they need an evaluation, or if they want to review their evaluation that they already had. So

Laurie Peterson: 38:45

our website is E diagnosticlearning.com best place to find us. You can read about all the different things we test for how we do it, and then there's a way you can contact us through the website. Just put a note in there that you'd like to talk to Lori or Abby, and we'll make sure we get right back to you,

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 39:01

definitely. And and one more great resource, in my opinion, that we have is our podcast called Let's Talk learning disabilities. And if you go to www.lt LD podcast.com, that is the actual website for our podcast. You can see every episode that we've recorded in chronological order, talking about various disabilities, but you can also choose by category. So you can click on the box that says ADHD, and you it'll bring up every episode that we've recorded where we've talked about ADHD, or we've interviewed an ADHD coach, and listen to those, because that's a great resource, and it may help you decide, yes, I want to call them to schedule an evaluation, or maybe I don't need to, or I need to work on these skills. First, or find a coach first. So just want to throw that out there as a great resource.

Brooke Schnittman: 40:06

Thank you so much, and go. I'll put this all in the show notes too. So for those visual learners, you'll get the visual as well, and you could just click directly on the link. Abby Lori, thank you so much for being on here. I know I learned a lot, and I'm sure our listeners will too, and please try to take a break. I know that you are swamped right now with evaluations.

Laurie Peterson: 40:34

We are, but we're making it. We will. Thank

Dr. Abbie Weinstein: 40:38

you so much for having us. We really appreciate it, and thank you for having us.

Laurie Peterson: 40:43

Brooke, thanks, Brooke, we appreciate it, and thank you for what you do. We are so grateful to have you as a resource for our clients. Absolutely

Brooke Schnittman: 40:50

thank you, and right back at you. Thanks for listening to this episode of successful with ADHD. I hope it helps you on your journey, and if you need any additional support for you or a loved one with ADHD, feel free to reach out to us@coachingwithbrooke.com and all social media platforms at coaching with Brooke. And remember, it's Brooke with an E. Thanks again for listening. See you next time you