■ Your child is having difficulty mastering school subjects . This can begin as early as preschool or kindergarten , when you may notice that your child isn ’ t catching on to the letter sounds or doesn ’ t seem to be following the general pace of conversations .
■ Your child is having attention issues — he or she is too restless , impulsive , or inattentive , and it ’ s causing significant impact on his or her daily functioning . For young children , “ functioning ,” means being able to sit long enough to eat their meal , getting dressed , or sitting in circle time at school . For older children , it means being able to organize their morning , get dressed , take care of basic hygiene , get to school ( and remember to bring their books ), pay attention in class , master school subjects , manage homework , and be able to do some household chores . In other words , cope with the typical student ’ s daily schedule without throwing the whole family into chaos ( a child who is struggling will usually affect the whole family dynamic ).
■ Your child does well academically , but his or her social skills seem impaired , and it ’ s getting in the way of the child ’ s emotional growth or wellbeing .
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Sometimes parents who bring their children to my office will say , “ My neighbor told me not to test my child , that it ’ ll dig up too much information that we ’ d rather not know about .” “ Information is a good thing ,” I respond . “ You want to know your child ’ s strengths , don ’ t you ? Testing will show you the complete picture of your child , not just the challenges .” Your child ’ s strengths point the way to the type of interventions that will be most effective .
An evaluation will clarify your child ’ s situation , and get everyone on the same page . When you , your partner , and your child understand what the problems are , you are taking the fi rst step to solving them .
There is no ‘ right ’ age for testing ; some people may advise you to wait until your child is older . That is inadvisable ; early identification is critical in helping your child get the help that he or she deserves . #
Dr . Rita Eichenstein is a licensed psychologist with post-doctoral training in pediatric neuropsychology and special education in private practice at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles . Dr . Rita is the author of Not What I Expected : Help and Hope for Parents of Atypical Children and Positively Atypical . For more information , go to drritaeichenstein . com .
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