246: Adult ADHD Assessments – Part 1: My Results with Laurie Peterson M. Ed, MA, LPC

This Week’s Episode:

On this episode, I am joined by Laurie Peterson.  Laurie is the owner and director of Diagnostic Learning Services in Plano, Texas.  Laurie and her group assess and diagnose students and adults with ADHD, Dyslexia, and other learning disabilities.  Laurie was diagnosed with ADHD in her late 20s.

In this conversation, you will hear Laurie and I discuss the battery of diagnostic assessments she administered to me.  You will hear us discuss the verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, processing speed, and memory assessments I took.  We describe what these tests are, and we go over my results. what my results.

Connect with Laurie Peterson:

Website – http://Diagnostic-Learning.com

You’ll Learn:

• [04:08] – Laurie shares her ADHD story.  
• [06:37] – Laurie talks about how she views and approaches the diagnosis when she meets with people.  
• [09:02] – I describe the battery of tests that Laurie did with me.
• [09:56] – Laurie explains why she looks at verbal comprehension when assessing for ADHD.  This leads to a discussion on how I am more of an “audio reader.”
• [14:23] – Laurie puts the scoring of these texts into context, and how scores can improve.
• [17:14] – We discuss how “verbal regulation” is where impulsivity and the organizing of ideas meet.
• [18:08] – Laurie talks about some vocational options for people who score higher in verbal comprehension testing.
• [19:20] – I scored in the “very average” range of perceptual reasoning. I explain why this surprised me.  Laurie explains this realm of the testing.
• [24:52] – Laurie talks about vision therapy, which retrains the muscles in your eyes.
• [32:01] – The next domain we cover is “working memory.”
• [37:43] – Processing speed is a domain in which I scored “below average.”  Laurie explains that score is common for people with ADHD.
• [43:18] – Coding and symbol search were two subsets that I didn’t enjoy.  I explain why I struggled with these.
• [46:42] – Laurie explains the adult memory test.
• [51:00] – Laurie describes the kind of background information she gathers.
• [53:00] – Laurie shares a few areas where my wife and I have different perceptions of my skills.
• [57:07] – I confess I thought, “What if I don’t have ADHD?”  Laurie confirms that I do have ADHD.