Case Study of KY

KY is a 7-year-old Malay girl who was brought in by her father to XX for psychological evaluations to
identify KY’s intellectual development, and adaptive behavior to see if the results are indicating to have
ADHD from her parents. KY's parents were concerned about her lack of attention span and hyperactivity
at school and at home. Her adaptive functioning and lack of social skills and communication difficulties.
She also reported during the diagnostic interview about her emotional dysregulation. According to her
mother, she is worried that KY might have difficulty coping and adapting to a government school where
there are many students in a class and more competitive for her academic skills. According to her mother,
since she was 3 years old, KY started to show hyperactive behavior compared to other kids. In terms of
KY's behavior, she would run towards anything when they go outside such as the shopping mall. The
mother feels stressed to go outside as she goes running somewhere and she will not come back until she
started to look for her. She is always moving, has trouble sleeping, and does not take any naps. In
addition, KY did not meet the development milestone according to her mother. She reported about her
speech delay and that she can only speak like 3-4 words sentences. The mother brought her to a speech
therapist in XX at the age of 5 years old. She had attended 5 sessions with the speech therapist. She
struggles to expand her sentences to more than 4 words. KY stopped the therapy sessions because of
the COVID19 pandemic. KY's parents have concerns about her communications skills which are slightly
poor compared to her peers. At times she becomes impulsive and hugs guests coming to the house. Both
parents are working and it is hard for them to divide the time to spend with KY and her younger sister. The
mother usually takes the kids along with her when she goes outside. The mother reported the difference
between the two sisters, like the little sister fears strangers but KY is not. The mother shared KY is
friendly towards kids younger than her age. She socializes more with her younger cousins at home, and
in the school setting she is shy and does not have many friends. KY’s mother also reported about screen
time that she has difficulty controlling, especially during the pandemic since both of her parents are
working at home. Now in the present moment, in terms of her speech, she can pronounce 's' properly and
expand her sentences. The mother reported she is not worried about her speech anymore but now when
she goes to school and when the teacher encourages her to speak, she speaks a lot more than usual.
KY’s parents are concerned about her future education and adaptive functioning. Therefore, they would
like to ascertain if the result of the assessment indicates that KY had ADHD.

Rule out: Autism, Developmental issues

Presenting problem: intellectual development, adaptive behavior, lack of social skills and
communication difficulties, emotional dysregulation

Predisposing: Inheritance of genetics, speech delay

Precipitating: Intend to go for government school

Perpetuating: Parents lack of attention, uncontrollable screen time

Protective: Friendly, Able to socialize, encouraging teacher

Recommendation: Behavioral therapy, social skills training, family therapy (encourage more
family time), speech therapy, occupational therapy (to manage concentration)
*Suggest parents to opt for a better special needs school as our aim is to create a safe and
happy learning experience.