Before your child begins treatment of any kind you should ask:

• How much experience do you have treating children with similar symptoms?
• What are the goals of this treatment?
• What is the evidence that this treatment is effective?
• How will we measure the effectiveness of this treatment?
• How long should we expect our child to be treated?
• What is our role in the treatment?
• What are possible adverse events and when might they appear?

Questions for someone prescribing medication:

• What is the generic name of this medication, and what do we know about how the active chemical ingredient works?
• What are the alternative medications, and why did you choose this one?
• If it’s effective, what will this medication do for my child?
• How do you arrive at the best dosage for this medication?
• How long does it take to work?
• What are the potential side effects?
• How will you measure the effectiveness of the medication?
• What kind of monitoring will you do while my child is on the medication?
• What’s the research on this medication?
• How many patients have you treated with this medication?
• How long should my child continue to take this medication?
• If we choose to stop using the medication, how slowly must it be discontinued, and how do you monitor that tapering-off process?

Questions for someone recommending behavioral therapy:

• What is the therapy called?
• What was it designed to treat, and what is it used for?
• What’s the evidence for its effectiveness?
• Is the therapy manualized, and how closely must we follow the manual?
• What is the specific goal of this course of treatment?
• How many patients have you treated with this specific therapy?
• What special training have you had? What does it involve? How long does it typically take?
• When can we expect to see changes in behavior?
• What is the parents’ role?
• Do you typically involve other family members?
• How will we measure progress?