Ritalin is a common treatment for children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder but one local family found that the drug was not the answer for their child.

ADD is characterized by persistent distractibility, forgetfulness, decreased attention and impulsive behavior but doctors now believe that those symptoms may also be associated with learning disabilities and illness.

Carol Partridge suspected that her son, Dominique, had ADD and was not surprised when his doctor prescribed Ritalin. Partridge found that the drug didn't help her son.

"His self-confidence was taking a real beating," Partridge said. "The Ritalin made him a little depressed, but it didn't have an effect on him academically."

Partridge turned to the Texas Children's Hospital's Learning Support Center for additional testing for Dominique.

Over the course of two days, Dominique was given a series of tests that evaluated learning and memory skills and tested his ability to work on both computer and paper tests. He was also given a complete physical, psychiatric and neurological evaluation.

Child neuropsychologist Dr. Kevin Krull said that the testing is necessary because diabetes and thyroid problems can mirror ADD symptoms.

Texas Children's Hospital screens 250 to 300 children annually for ADD.

"We have found that roughly 30 percent of the children are ADD," Krull said. "We have found a large percent of children have emotional problems, or they have behavior problems, such as anxiety, depression or oppositional behavior."

The testing concluded that Dominique had a nonverbal learning disorder.

Krull said that he will have to approach some things differently in school.

He may be able to take a test verbally and get a high score, but when he has to take it using paper and he has to look at the paper, it becomes difficult and he doesn't perform as highly," Krull said.

His mother is also faced with the challenge of working the school so he can take tests easily and she must also convince the insurance company that the diagnosis is real so that it will pay for occupational therapy.

Krull suggested parents should explore the possibility of learning disability testing at their school.

For more information about the Texas Children's Learning Support Center, call (832) 824-3700.