WHY DO PARENTS ALWAYS REQUIRE THE SAME? ADHD AND THE ASSESSMENT OF HIGH INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY IN THE CURRENT CLINICAL PRACTICE

Abstract

Currently, the demand for evaluation and intervention in possible cases of ADHD has skyrocketed in the consultations of clinical children’s psychology. The same applies to the demand for evaluation of children with high capacities. The symposium aims to respond to the increase in this type of demands, clearly discernible in recent years in the University Clinic of Psychology of the UCM (CUP-UCM) in Spain. In addition, the protocols for assessment and intervention in ADHD and high capacities that are being carried out in the University Clinic of Psychology of the Complutense University of Madrid (CUP-UCM) will be exposed, with special emphasis on the new techniques and tests implemented in these protocols. The first communication attempts to answer the question on the title and will stress the need for parents to “tag” the problems or special situations of their children, as a way to respond to the demands that lead them to consultation. The second communication will present the CUP-UCM Emotional Development Scale and its clinical application, both in cases of ADHD and in high capacities, because of children in both situations usually have a deficit of emotional regulation skills that must necessarily be evaluated in function of the child’s age. The third communication, entitled “Difficulties in emotional regulation beyond diagnosis”, will address the application of the CUP-UCM protocols, with the exemplification of a case of ADHD and another of high capabilities. The fourth communication, “Differences between ADHD in adolescents and distraction-impulsivity associated with other pathologies” will focus on addressing ADHD in late adolescents, a population that increasingly presents a greater demand for care, as well as the need to a correct differential diagnosis.

Cristina Larroy is Doctor in Psychology from the Complutense University of Madrid, Full Professor with accreditation to the Clinical Psychology Department of the university, and co-director of the Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology. She currently directs the University Psychology Clinic of the UCM and the Immediate Telematic Psychological Attention Service for PsicallUCM Students. She is a Psychologist Specialist in Clinical Psychology and representative of the Council of Psychology of Spain in the Commission of Accreditation to the Psychologist Certificate Specialist in Psychotherapy of the European Federation of Associations of Psychologists (EFPA) and of the Europsy Certificate (European Psychology Certificate), titles of which she is possessor. Her contributions to the study and dissemination of the problems of Clinical Psychology are specified in several books (some of them related to child psychology such as “The disobedient child” with more than ten reeditions and translated into several languages, “My son does not obey: realistic solutions for disoriented parents “,” The child who becomes a Swede “,” Brothers “, etc.), book chapters, conferences, contributions to congresses, etc. She has also worked with problems in adolescence, specifically with TCA patients and adolescents with menstrual cycle problems. Her most relevant line of research focuses on Health Psychology in women and girls.