Blog #14 - Final Blog

            I actually wrote some about Chapter 15 last week, because I got a little ahead of myself.  The information in the chapter was quite interesting to me.  It did have me thinking about the importance of being sensitive to certain groups when thinking about test administration.  I thought back to the Multicultural Counseling class that I took last semester.  In my mind, one of the most important aspects of being able to work with all different types of groups is educating oneself.  Not only will it be important for me to educate myself before I enter the field, but it is also important to constantly educate myself while I am actually in the field.  It will also be important to evolve with the generational differences.

            Another thing that sparked my interest in the chapter was short section on ADD and ADHD.  It can be argued that both of these disorders are often over or miss diagnosed within children.  When I was in 9^th grade I received a psychiatric evaluation because I was failing half of my classes in school.  I don’t remember much about the evaluation because I remember not taking it serious or caring much about it.  All I remember was the psychiatrist telling my parents that I had ADD, and that I probably be on some sort of medication.  I vaguely remember taking an assessment during that evaluation, but I felt like he didn’t do nearly enough throughout that evaluation to be able to diagnose me with a deficit disorder.  I refused to take the medication, based on the fact that I didn’t agree with the psychiatrist’s evaluation.  Until this day, I still feel like I never really had ADD.  I just didn’t really care about school, and wasn’t interested in applying myself.  I was just too stubborn and immature to be able to focus on what should have been important to me at that time. 

            I know that as a counselor involved in assessing students, I may run into situations where I believe children have been over or miss diagnosed.  It’s just interesting to think about how I may handle those situations as a counselor.  Do I have any kind of ethical responsibility to do anything in that situation? Should I reach out to the psychiatrist? The parents? Or should I just simply trust the diagnosis and move on?  Interesting things to reflect on and think about.

Drummond, R. J. and Jones, K. (2010). Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.