ADD/ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment
Confirming a diagnosis of ADD or ADHD isn't easy. A parent notices trouble focusing, or a teacher flags disruptive or impulsive behavior, and from there most diagnoses are made on symptoms alone, with treatment often meaning trial and error with medications like Ritalin, Adderall, or Vyvanse before anyone knows for certain whether the diagnosis was right. Many parents understandably don't want to put their child on medication just to see if it helps confirm a guess. Adults face a version of the same problem, often struggling for years with focus, follow-through, or time management before ADHD is ever considered as the cause.
At East Valley Naturopathic Doctors, we test before we treat, using objective, FDA-cleared tools instead of a symptom checklist alone.
How We Diagnose ADD/ADHD
We use two complementary tools to build an accurate picture:
- QEEG (Brain Mapping): Measures electrical activity across the whole brain and compares it to a normative database, showing patterns related to attention, mood, and cognitive function. Read more about how brain mapping works.
- QbCheck: A computer-based test using infrared movement tracking to measure attention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, compared against a control group matched for age and sex.
Together, these two tests typically take about an hour to complete and give a level of objective detail that symptom checklists alone can't provide. Combined evaluation for both tests, plus a follow-up discussion of results, is $500. Both tests are FDA-cleared, and at your request, we'll submit them to your insurance provider for reimbursement.
Naturopathic and Alternative Treatment Options
Once ADD/ADHD is confirmed, we build a treatment plan around the specific patterns your testing reveals, rather than jumping straight to medication.
Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback is the leading non-drug treatment for ADD/ADHD. It uses the findings from your brain map to retrain the specific areas of the brain where inefficient wiring or poor communication between regions is contributing to hyperactivity, inattention, or impulsivity. As those areas train toward more efficient patterns, attention and behavior tend to improve alongside them. Learn more about Neurofeedback therapy.
Root-Cause Testing
ADD/ADHD symptoms have also been linked to food allergies, genetics, and immune response. Alongside Neurofeedback, we offer specialty testing that can uncover contributing factors, including food allergy testing, toxic metals testing, candida overgrowth testing, detox and genetic pathway analysis, and organic acid testing. In some cases, these underlying issues are part of what caused the brain's inefficient wiring in the first place, and addressing them directly can improve how well any treatment, Neurofeedback included, actually works.
Common Questions
Is ADD/ADHD testing covered by insurance?
Both QEEG and QbCheck are FDA-cleared, and we'll submit testing to your insurance provider for reimbursement at your request.
How long does testing take?
QEEG and QbCheck together typically take about an hour to complete.
Can ADHD be treated without medication?
Many patients see meaningful improvement through Neurofeedback and root-cause testing alone. Where medication is still appropriate, it's used alongside these approaches rather than as the only option.
If focus, impulsivity, or hyperactivity have been a question mark for you or your child, testing gives us an objective place to start instead of a guess. One of our naturopathic physicians can walk you through what your results mean and what a personalized treatment plan looks like.
Ready to Get Started?
Request an appointment below and our team will follow up to go over pricing and next steps as a new patient.
