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I answered My kid slops through her chores or takes forever to do it. I've tried everything based on both my own experience with ADHD, and my own research into that same topic.

I make a very strong recommendation in that answer based on that, but at no point do I claim to make any kind of diagnosis. I've since updated the answer with a footnote/caveat to hopefully make that even clearer.

Looking at this meta answer, it looks like both folk wisdom and anecdotal evidence can be tolerated on this stack, so long as they're supported.

I'd like to think my answer was informed and supported by the articles I quote and link.

However I do recognise concerns of overdiagnosis of ADHD, as well as the medical nature of my answer (which was not present in the question), might make some people who aren't familiar with this topic uncomfortable.

I've received a downvote which, while by itself is negligible in the long run, does indicate that my answer was not well received.

So does my recommendation of seeking a specialist overstep bounds, given I am not a qualified specialist in this field? I see the recommendation of seeking therapy from a specialist has been very well received in the past, despite being recommended by a non-therapist (at least by my best knowledge) in the past. Admittedly that user is a physician, so does have some non-specialist knowledge of a bunch of topics, potentially including therapy!

But my question remains, do you need a qualification (in that field or otherwise) to make a recommendation on this site that somebody or their child seek diagnosis?

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    Just FYI, a physician practicing for decades in this day and age needs to know a lot about when to refer patients to a counselor, and something about common psychiatric diagnoses. And, as someone treating kids and adolescents of all ages, what is normal and what is clearly not, and when to refer for testing and treatment.
    – anongoodnurse
    Sep 9, 2021 at 9:38

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While we do have ongoing discussions on where the boundary is for this site regarding medical diagnosis, I think the key problem you have in your post is in the very first line:

This child most likely has ADHD1, and needs to see a specialist.

The words "most likely" make this a diagnosis - so we would want to see your qualifications in this space.

A much better first line would be:

This child may have ADHD1, which a specialist could diagnose and help with treatment.

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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – Rory Alsop Mod
    Sep 9, 2021 at 17:28

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