If you decide to have your child tested for a health problem, you'll need to know what to expect, how to make the testing work for you, and what will be expected of you as the parent.

How to Make Screening Work for You

You may have a pretty good idea of what's going on with your child by now — perhaps you've seen all the warning signs of drug use, or know that your child is depressed and why. Your child's school may have given you some potential diagnoses, too. And you may even have taken some online quizzes that turned up a diagnosis you've been suspecting for quite some time.

However, when you seek out a mental health professional, you should talk about the behaviors that concern you, not the diagnoses. During your initial phone call, say things like, “My child explodes over the littlest things,” “My daughter is always grumpy and lately has started hitting people at home and at school,” or “My son just won't do anything I ask without an all-out struggle and it's wearing me down,” as opposed to, “I think my kid has ODD,” “I'm worried that she could have ADHD,” or “His teacher says he probably has conduct disorder and maybe depression.”

This is to avoid biasing the professional. Lay out the facts — the behaviors and how they're affecting you, your family, and your child's environments — and let the professional consider them and recommend the appropriate tests. Ask questions about which tests will be done, and what they screen for.

Interviews

The mental health professional will need to interview you, your partner or another caregiver (like a divorced spouse) if available, and your child. Be patient here — it can take a couple of weeks to coordinate these appointments, get everyone into the office, and give the professional ample time in one-hour chunks to conduct in-depth interviews with each party and get a clear picture of what's going on.

You will probably have interviews both with and without your child. If you are stuck in a toxic cycle of name-calling, blaming, and conflict with your child or spouse, try to use effective communication skills (see Chapter 8) in order to make the visit more efficient. Focus on behaviors (“He slams doors in my face”) as opposed to vague explanations (“She's irresponsible”). Likewise, if you are working in tandem with another caregiver, focus on the specifics of what's not working (“I don't think my wife follows through on her threats of punishment”) rather than blaming or vague explanations (“He wouldn't know. He never pays attention!”). Blaming and vague explanations open the door for more conflict and won't make good use of your time during the visit.

Tests

Your mental health professional will probably recommend a battery of empirically validated tests. These will likely include a general personality test, a test for depression, a test for anxiety, a test for academic achievement, and a specialty test or two, as for ADHD. As stated above, such tests are usually expensive and take time and savvy to score and interpret, and this is one reason why your appointments won't be free unless you've gone a low-cost route.

Most tests take about ten to twenty minutes each, and the professional will read them to a younger child. They are usually true-false or multiple choice format. If you omit or cover up information when providing the necessary background, like the child's sex, age, and so on, it can negate the validity of the test. It's important to be completely honest with the professional in order for a correct diagnosis to be made.