The problem:
About 10% of children in the US are diagnosed with ADHD, and the numbers are rising. This means that about 5.4 million children are currently diagnosed with ADHD. Many of these children’s parents have paid from $500 to $2,000 for an ADHD assessment for this diagnosis. This amounts to tens of millions of dollars. In difficult financial times, this money would have been better spent on treatment.
The cost of assessment is a barrier to effective treatment for many families. After paying for these expensive assessments, many parents cannot then afford quality treatment. This leaves them limited to the most inexpensive treatment modes, which usually means psychiatric drugs alone. Children benefit more from money spent on treatment that includes parents and deals with behavioral problems than on expensive assessment.
The solution:
“Since medication is certainly not the best treatment choice for most children, I want to reduce the financial barrier to usually more expensive, non-drug treatments. To accomplish this, I now offer a FREE online professional quality ADHD and ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) assessment. This free ADHD and ODD assessment is created in exactly the same way as the expensive assessments are. It gathers teacher and parent data, and compares these to age and sex graded norms. Then it uses decision rules to select a diagnosis and create a comprehensive, multi-page narrative report. The report describes the child’s behavior patterns socially, academically and behaviorally as well as giving treatment recommendations.
In fact, the reports provided by psychologists are usually also computer generated narratives, not individually crafted reports. They are slightly personalized and then explained to the parents. My free report is written in clear and understandable language that requires no professional interpretation to understand. Because this assessment can be done in the convenience of parents home and schedule, it takes less effort, time and, of course, money”, explains Dr. Weathers.
“Users report that the reports very accurately describe their child and the advice is helpful. To quote one mother ‘I couldn’t believe how accurately your report described my son. What was more important is that your description of his problems and the links in the report helped me understand my son’s struggles and how I can begin helping him without drugs. I can’t believe that this was all for free Thank you.’ Once the problem is described as solvable by methods parents can employ, many parents are able to resolve their child’s issues without further professional help”, reports Dr.Weathers.
You can see a sample report at: http://bit.ly/hXPuV3
The spread of sophisticated computer technology has lead to the broad recognition that face to face contact is unnecessary in many areas of medicine. It is being replaced by e-mail and telephone psychotherapy, telephone and email physician consultation, etc. Numerous research studies on remote psychological assessment and treatment have demonstrated its efficacy in a wide range of settings. This can make assessment more convenient and affordable, and in this case, free.
Free ADHD help action steps:
1) Take the free ADHD-ODD online test at: http://bit.ly/hOvpWK, which will be emailed to parents within 1/2 hour.
2) Read the description and advice in the report to understand your child’s struggles.
3) Learn how to help your child without drugs.
Since Dr. Weathers is a licensed clinical psychologist, the confidentiality of the information you send to him is protected by law.
About Lawrence Weathers, Ph.D., Child Psychologist
Dr. Weathers earned a Ph.D. in Child Clinical Psychology from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in 1974. He has almost 40 years of experience providing psychological assessment and treatment, the vast majority of which has been with children and adolescents. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Psychotherapy.
He is the author of two books on the drug-free ADHD treatment. His first book, ADHD: A Path To Success, presented a radically new and much more reasonable non-neurological explanation of ADHD. His second book, ADHD: Drug-free and Doin’ Fine extends the concepts from his first book and provides extensive research to support both his theory of ADHD and his treatment practices. His Vita can be downloaded at: http://bit.ly/fce3vt
Contact Details
Lawrence Weathers, Ph.D.
6921 E Jamieson Rd. Spokane WA 99223
Email: docweathers@adhdtreatment.org
Phone: 509-448-6462
Website: http://www.adhdtreatment.org
