Who can diagnose learning and thinking differences in adults?

You’re not alone in feeling this way. I’ve spent more than three decades working with families whose children have learning and thinking differences. Over the years, I’ve found many parents who identified similar issues in themselves when listing symptoms of their child’s challenges. This makes sense, since some conditions run in families.

If you’re thinking of getting an evaluation, some of the professionals qualified to diagnose ADHD in adults include:

• Psychologists

• Psychiatrists

• Neuropsychologists

• Physicians or APRNs (advanced practice registered nurses) who’ve had extra training in ADHD

Learn more about how and where ADHD is diagnosed after high school.

If you want to be evaluated for learning differences like dyslexia, dyscalculia, or dysgraphia, you can try:

• State and local chapters of the Learning Disabilities Association of America, an Understood founding partner

• Local college or university psychology departments with PhD programs in areas like neuropsychology and educational psychology

• University-affiliated hospitals and clinics

• Your state’s vocational rehabilitation (VR) agency

Learn more about how and where learning differences like dyslexia can be diagnosed after high school.

Talk to your doctor about your concerns. Your doctor can help you find someone who knows a lot about diagnosing and treating adult symptoms of learning and thinking differences.

The psychologist at your child’s school or clinic may also be able to give you a referral. Or you can try community health centers, along with other resources that offer low-cost private evaluations for learning and thinking differences.

The point is that help is available for you. Seeking an evaluation for yourself can be a liberating experience. Some adults say the process helped them to stop viewing their issues as something destined to hold them back. Instead, they started viewing them as challenges to overcome.

Hear from other adults with learning and thinking differences:

• Read how having a son with sensory issues helped a mom better understand herself.

• Learn surprising ways dyscalculia affects this college student.

• Find out how dyslexia impacts a young woman in adulthood.