At the AAP Meeting: ADHD Guidelines

When you get 8,000 pediatricians together in one place, you know some stuff is going down! If you’re not here, you can only imagine the debauchery. We’ve got pediatricians without ties, pediatricians wearing open-toed shoes, pediatricians passing children in the corridors and not even bending down to ask their names and ages. (Well, just one; the other 7,999 actually did.) Imagine the wildest party you’ve ever heard of and then scale it back a bit. No, more than that. WAY back! Yep, now you’ve got the picture.

Today’s big headline is the release of new guidelines on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). New research codifies what many pediatricians and behavior specialists already know: 4 -year-olds can and do get ADHD. I expect the usual parties to complain that we pediatricians are just a bunch of drug pushers trying to get every kid in the country on meds. I know this is not the case. Drug pushers dress much better than we do. And they have wilder conventions.

The  new guidelines also create one ultra-mega-algorithm that covers ADHD evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment, a boon for makers of diamond-shaped boxes connected by lines. It’s like when all the Power Rangers combine into that one super-robot, but instead of fighting evil space aliens it gets kids appropriate ADHD therapy which, if you’re a parent of a child with ADHD as I am, is infinitely more useful.

Finally the new guidelines help doctors identify co-existing mental health diagnoses in ADHD patients and suggest ways of collaborating on care with mental health professionals. As for getting payers to cover that mental health care when it’s needed, well, where’s that mega Power Ranger thing when you need it?