ADHD & TOVA FAQ

Q1. My son’s school thinks he has ADHD and they want him to take medication. I don’t want him to take medication if he doesn’t need it. How can I be sure he even has ADHD?

A1. Quite often schools have relied on parents and teachers completing pencil-and-paper behavioral questionnaires to determine if a kid has ADHD. The big problem with these questionnaires is they are subjective. Four or five different people can give four or five different opinions of behavior. They are also limited by what they actually observe. Parents generally don’t observe their kids’ behavior at school and teachers don’t observe their students’ behavior at home. The TOVA is an objective test that measures reaction time and the types of responses from the test subject. It is very accurate in identifying both the presence and absence of ADHD.

Q2. My son was diagnosed with ADHD and is taking medication, but he isn’t getting any better. In fact, he’s getting worse. Can the TOVA test help him?

A2. Yes. We can administer a TOVA before your son has his medication. This can confirm or rule out ADHD. After the TOVA is completed he takes his medication. We wait two hours, repeat the TOVA, and compare the results.

Q3. My daughter’s teacher thinks she may have ADHD. The teacher said that my daughter often daydreams in class and her notebooks are filled with doodling and not class notes. She has a lot of trouble with homework. She either loses the assignments or she does them and forgets to turn them in. At school, her desk and locker are a mess, and at home her room is a disaster. She’s a sweet girl and there have never been behavior problems. She acts nothing like an obnoxious hyperactive boy. How could she have ADHD?

A3. Contrary to popular opinion, ADHD is not the same thing as hyperactivity. There are three types of ADHD: hyperactive/impulsive, inattentive and mixed. Someone with inattentive ADHD could have no hyperactive symptoms at all. Girls with ADHD are usually the inattentive type and they often lack the behavioral problems commonly seen in hyperactive boys. For this reason, girls with ADHD are often not diagnosed. The TOVA is very good at identifying the inattention that’s prominent in ADHD girls.

Q4. I’m skeptical of tests. I’ve heard so much about gender, racial and cultural biases in tests. How do I know this test is even valid?

A4. The TOVA has been in use for 20 years and thousands of people have taken it. It has been exhaustively researched and studied. Regarding gender, there are separate statistical norms for males and females because they do perform differently. The TOVA is language-free and culture-free. It involves responding to different types of squares that flash on a computer screen. Because there are no words, the TOVA will not be affected by dyslexia, poor reading skills or blurry vision. The TOVA can be used even for an illiterate person or a person who speaks no English. The squares are in black and white so the TOVA will not be affected by color-blindness. If someone has severe vision impairment, there is an auditory version of the TOVA. And provided the subject can hold and press a button, the TOVA should not be affected by physical disability.

Q5. This test sounds high-tech. I bet it’s time consuming and expensive.

A5. The test itself takes about 22 minutes to complete. We get the results immediately afterwards. We review them and discuss them with the client. The whole process takes about an hour and is done in one visit. When we do a medication pre-test post-test, the client is free to leave during the 2 hour interval between tests. We charge the same hourly rate for the TOVA as we do for individual and family therapy, but we do charge an additional $20 interpretation fee because the testing company charges us to interpret the test.

Q6. Will my insurance cover the TOVA test for ADHD?

A6. If you give us your insurance information and permission to contact them, we will gladly call them and verify your benefits.

Q7. My insurance says this test can only be done by a licensed psychologist. Is this true?

A7. The Illinois Professional Counselor and Clinical Professional Counselor Licensing Act (225 ILCS 107) and the National Board of Certified Counselors Code Of Ethics list testing, measurement and evaluation as services that Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors are allowed to provide. We will be happy to discuss coverage issues with your insurance and provide them with copies of the Illinois law and NBCC Code Of Ethics.