ADHD Program

The Woodlands Behavioral Health and Wellness Center has specialized in the assessment and treatment of ADHD for the past 16 years. Initially as a unique pilot program our multidisciplinary treatment team developed new unique services for the treatment and diagnosis of ADHD when medication used to be the only treatment modality available.

Assessment and Diagnosis of ADHD Or Co-Existing Disorders 

Clients receive a comprehensive report containing test results, which may include diagnoses such as ADHD and any co-existing disorders such as depression, anxiety and Oppositional Defiance Disorder. The report also contains recommendations for treatment and academic accommodations.

Individualized Treatment Plan

An individualized treatment plan is developed according to the treatment recommendations in the assessment report. This plan contains treatment services to address the client' specific treatment needs related to ADHD and any co-existing disorders. Services are designed to focus on skills training to help the clients compensate for the emotional impacts, executive skill deficits, poor social skills and/or family conflict arising from ADHD. Services may include individual and family therapy, parent counseling, parent management training, parent child interaction therapy, executive skills coaching, social skills training and counseling to improve the quality of the client's sleep, diet and stress management skills.

Multidisciplinary Treatment team and Specialized Treatment Services 

The treatment plan is implemented by a multidisciplinary treatment team all under the same roof. In addition to formal team meetings team members work together to maximize the client's treatment, monitor the clients progress and update the client's treatment plan when needed.

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Neuropsychological Aspects of ADHD

Physicians and other mental health professionals often make a diagnosis of ADHD based solely upon a brief discussion of symptoms and administration of basic rating scales. At our practice, we want to be sure ADHD is the proper diagnosis and do so by conducting a thorough clinical evaluation that includes an in-depth clinical interview, administration of multiple rating scales (parent, teacher, informant/observer, and/or self-report), comprehensive evaluation of relevant cognitive skills, and behavioral observations made by the examiner. This allows us to systematically identify any symptoms that are present beyond what is typical for the individual’s age and garner a strong understanding of their neuropsychological functioning overall. Should ADHD symptoms be present to a marked degree, this evaluation will also provide insight into how those symptoms affect the individual’s daily functioning.

Contrary to the name, ADHD individuals do not have a primary attention deficit. Rather, they have an attention regulation issue. For example, individuals with ADHD can sustain their attention and sometimes even “hyperfocus” on tasks in which they are interested or motivated to complete. However, when tasks are not intrinsically interesting/motivating, monotonous, too challenging, not challenging enough, or not urgent, individuals with ADHD struggle to regulate their attention on the required task in order to get started or complete it. This is likely caused by the hypoactivity of frontal-subcortical circuits (dopamine insufficiency in the reward centers of the brain) that results in poor executive control of attention. This is why stimulant medications can often be helpful to manage symptoms, as they increase dopamine in the brain.

Understanding the neuropsychological aspects of ADHD allows us to have a more sophisticated understanding of this disorder being more than just a disruptive behavior disorder. Using the traditional clinical/physician interview along with rating scales results in heterogeneous ADHD samples having various characteristics and comorbidities. Instead, multimethod and multi-source evaluations of ADHD should be used and include cognitive, neuropsychological, behavioral, and academic data.

ADHD individuals do not have a primary attention deficit because they can bring attention to certain tasks when properly motivated. What is impaired in this disorder is the executive control of attention. This impairment is likely caused by the hypoactivity of frontal-subcortical circuits (dopamine insufficiency in the striatum) that result in poor executive control of attention. These are the individuals who are more likely to respond well to stimulant medications.

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Individual Treatment

Autism Spectrum • Intellectual (IQ) Testing • Vocational Testing

Cognitive-ADHD Children • Cognitive- ADHD Adults • Initial Diagnostic

Neuropsychological Assessment • Psychological/ Personality • Academic Accommodations

Autism Spectrum

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