ADHD Evaluation and Diagnosis in Dayton, OH
Dr. Aaron Winkler’s practice provides ADHD evaluation and treatment for high-functioning adults across Dayton, along with ADHD-specific therapy and direct communication with your primary provider about treatment recommendations.
Megan Bruce, LCSW/ LISW leads specialized ADHD care in Dayton, building a full diagnostic picture for professionals across engineering, academic, and creative sectors who have struggled for years with organization and follow-through.
How We Help
A Real Evaluation
A full diagnostic assessment built around your actual history and daily life.
A Bridge to Your Prescriber
A detailed report and direct consultation your prescriber can act on right away.
Ongoing Therapy
ADHD-specific therapy that keeps building after your diagnosis lands.
ADHD Evaluation for High-Functioning Adults in Dayton
ADHD can stay invisible in adults who consistently deliver under pressure, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t struggling underneath. You might recognize yourself in one of these scenarios:
Business & Tech Professional | Between contract engineering work tied to Wright-Patterson and a software role at Reynolds and Reynolds, Dayton keeps its professionals on tight, detail-driven timelines. You can build the plan and still lose an hour reorganizing your task list instead of starting it. Our ADHD evaluation gives that stall a real explanation. |
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Athletic Professional | You've built the discipline to coach a youth team through the season at Day Air Ballpark or train clients out of a gym in Kettering. But the paperwork, scheduling, and equipment orders after practice keep slipping past you no matter how sharp you are on the field. Our evaluation can tell you whether that's a time-management habit or something more specific to how your brain works. |
Creative & Entrepreneurial Professional | Keeping a studio at Front Street or selling work through the First Friday Art Hop means you set your own schedule and answer to your own deadlines. New pieces come easily, but invoices and client follow-up sit unanswered for weeks at a time. Our ADHD-specific therapy builds the structure that turns your ideas into finished, paid work. |
The Parent Whose Child Was Recently Diagnosed | Watching your child go through ADHD testing at Oakwood schools may have put a name to patterns you recognize in yourself. A private evaluation with our clinic helps you understand those patterns and get the treatment you need. |
Why Choose Dr. Winkler's Practice?
Most adult ADHD care rushes to a diagnosis and stops there. Dr. Winkler’s practice goes further. We build a full evaluation, real therapeutic support, and a clear bridge to your prescriber into one coordinated plan, designed to support lasting emotional resilience and executive function.
| What Matters to You | Dr. Winkler's Practice | Typical ADHD Providers |
|---|---|---|
| Adult ADHD expertise | Adult ADHD is the only condition our clinic treats, so every evaluation is designed specifically around how it shows up in high-functioning careers | ADHD care may be one small piece of a broader general practice |
| Care coordination | Your diagnosing clinician speaks directly with your prescriber to move treatment forward | You're often left to relay information between providers yourself |
| Long-term perspective | Your plan pairs your diagnosis with ADHD-specific therapy aimed at lasting insight and real, sustainable change | Short-term approaches typically stop at managing symptoms |
How Your Evaluation Works
| Structured Symptom Tracking |
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| Between your first and second sessions, you log how ADHD actually plays out during a normal week: an email you rewrite three times before it's ever sent, a bill you know is due but still forget. |
| That log gives your clinician real, dated evidence to review before you ever sit down together. |
| In-Depth Diagnostic Assessment |
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| Your clinician pairs that log with a thorough review of your history, tracing your experience from childhood into your life now. |
| You come out of this session with a full diagnosis and a clear sense of what happens next. |
| Prescriber Consultation and Guidance |
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| If medication fits your plan, your clinician writes up specific findings and calls your prescriber personally, covering exactly what was assessed and what to expect next. |
| You also receive a written summary you can hand to any licensed provider on your own. |
| Ongoing ADHD-Specific Therapy |
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| Once your diagnosis is set, sessions dig into the specific habits years of masking built, like starting a task only under deadline pressure or writing off a hard week as simple stress. |
| Each session adds a concrete tool for planning, focus, or follow-through you can use right away. |
| We dig deep into how you experience things like hunger, stress, and emotional connection, so you can truly understand yourself on a new level. |
Is Private ADHD Evaluation Right for You?
You might benefit from a private evaluation if:
- You have always felt mentally scattered despite strong intelligence or drive
- You feel like everyone else got a set of instructions for life that you missed
- You look successful from the outside but struggle with focus, organization, or follow-through
- You often feel emotionally drained by constant overwhelm
- You have wondered whether you might have ADHD but were never formally evaluated
- You are tired of relying on extra effort, urgency, or productivity systems just to keep up
- You are constantly playing catch-up and worried about letting people down
- You want real clarity, not a rushed screening or generic care
- You would rather have discreet, personalized support than a one-size-fits-all approach
About Dr. Aaron Winkler
Dr. Aaron Winkler is a board-certified psychiatrist and nationally recognized expert in adult ADHD. He founded and directed the Stanford Adult ADHD Clinic and serves on the APSARD National Guidelines Taskforce, helping to shape the future of adult ADHD diagnosis and treatment. His clinical care combines the latest research with a clear understanding of how ADHD impacts high-functioning adults.
At his practice, Dr. Winkler provides thoughtful, individualized care that goes beyond managing symptoms. He is dedicated to helping patients move from merely coping to experiencing real growth, true resilience, and emotional freedom. Every step of treatment reflects his belief that meaningful change happens when care respects both your struggles and your strengths.
About Megan Bruce, LCSW/ LISW
Megan Bruce, LCSW/ LISW is a Licensed Independent Social Worker specializing in adult ADHD diagnosis and treatment. She trained directly under Dr. Aaron Winkler, founder of the Stanford Adult ADHD Clinic, and uses the evaluation process he developed to provide the same depth of diagnostic care his practice is known for.
Megan brings advanced training in psychodynamic and experiential therapies to her work, helping patients understand not just what they are experiencing, but why. She works closely with each patient’s primary care provider to coordinate next steps, so a diagnosis becomes a clear path forward rather than an isolated finding.
Expert ADHD Care Designed for You
Our clinic sees your struggles for what they are and builds a plan around real answers. Book a weekday or evening video appointment at a time that fits your Dayton schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
1How do I know if I'm a high-functioning adult with ADHD?
Look for a pattern, not a single moment: you hit deadlines but only under real pressure, coworkers see you as capable while bills or errands pile up at home, and you’ve built your own systems just to keep up that other people don’t seem to need. If that sounds familiar, a formal evaluation is the only way to know for certain, since the same pattern can point to ADHD in one person and something else entirely in another.
2Will the same clinician handle my entire treatment, from evaluation through therapy?
Yes. Megan Bruce, LCSW/ LISW sees you through every stage of care in Dayton, from your first session through ongoing therapy. Her full background is above.
3Will my regular doctor take my diagnosis seriously?
We have in-depth experience working with providers about medication management. Every report lays out your evaluation results and how ADHD affects your daily life in enough depth for another provider to pick up your care. We can work with your provider directly if needed.
4I have insurance. Does that cover anything here?
Not directly. We’re an out-of-network provider, so you pay us upfront. We’ll give you an itemized receipt you can send to your insurer, and many patients do get partial reimbursement that way.
5What if I don't want medication at all?
Medication is not the right path for everyone. When your assessment points to therapy alone, we build that plan with the same care as one that includes medication.
6Two sessions doesn't sound like enough time. How is that a real evaluation?
A lot of the work happens between your first and second appointments. Structured symptom tracking follows how ADHD shows up across real days of your life. From there, your clinician’s review of your history completes the picture. Together, they give your clinician everything needed for an accurate diagnosis in two focused sessions.