How long to wait for PhD appt? | ADHD Information

I would try to see a NeuroPsych. They do more intensive testing and are better than plain Psycologists. Yes, it takes a long time to get in unless the professional isn't very good.

We did not have to wait long to get into good child psychiatrists for my children who have working dxes of bipolar disorder.  However, the wait for a neuropsychological evaluation (which was testing for 8 hours over the course of 2 days) was about 2 months.  IMHO, it's worth the wait for a good professional.

 

I had her appt. with a Dev.& Beh. Ped. We waited for 6 mos. We still haven't gotten a clear answer! Even after the eval.! ( Of course, we messed around with talk therapy/ parenting classes for 6 mos prior to that) And about 4 mos before that of me insisting to the reg. ped. that we even needed anything in the first place!

Maybe I have Munchausen by Proxy!!!!!!! Nothing is wrong with my kid!!!!!!!!!! ( Not wrong anyways, just unbalanced)

months----i waited like 6 mos. for my daughter's appt. w/the neuropsych.Yes, it can take forever to get an appointment. I did have some luck with calling around, but have found that the ones that have openings have them for a reason!!! While doing research on ADHD, I came across this site and am very glad to have found it.  Have read some interesting stuff.  This may seem like a silly concern, but I'm curious how long it took to get an appointment to have your child tested with the psychologist?  I was referred to a certain PhD by our pediatrician, but when I called this morning, I was told that the doctor is only in on Mon & Tues and that it wouldn't be until May to get in for the work-up.  So, my concern is this...I have a 5 year old Kindergartener who has been having trouble since day one.  If we have to wait until May to even get a work-up done, Kindergarten will be pretty much over and he may not be able to pass and go on to first grade.  Not just that, but just knowing how to start working with him on this problem would be great to start sooner than later.

Is it normal to have to wait this long, or should I be looking around for another PhD in our area to get in sooner? 
I had to wait 5 months to get in to see a psychiatrist.  He is the only one who specializes in children within a 3 hour drive of where I live.  I have only seen him once, but he seems good.  I think the wait depends on where you live, small town vs big town, and so on.  Possibly on the type of insuranceyou have also, even though this shouldn't matter.

My wait for the neuropsyche is 5 months.

In the meantime you need to contact the school and get some classroom accommodations in place. Request and Academic Intervention committee meeting. You can get reading intervention if he is not passing the state tests also. You don't need that eval to do something NOW.

Is your child's bday near the cut-off date? Is he a fall or summer baby?

yes in deedie.psychiatrists have an md, and psychologists do not ,  correct?  I get them mixed up.

I hate to tell you -- we won't even go to psychologists for therapy any more.  We're sticking with psychiatrists all the way around.  Two days after my son had his manic reaction to Zoloft, he was unbelievably angry, aggressive, anxious, depressed -- you name it, he had it.  I brought him to a new psychologist, who is well-regarded in our area, and he refused to talk for the entire session.  At the end she sent him out and brought me into her office.  She asked, "Would you give him a consequence for not talking to me?"  I said, "No."  She then told me we were not setting enough limits with him and that was why he was acting angry, depressed, anxious, etc.  Yeah, right!  I thought it was her job to build a therapeutic relationship with him; my job was to get him there, which I did.  We never went back again.

 

If the stims don't work, you probably have a misdiagnsos, however try more than the Focalin. If nothing works, or the child gets worse, see the NeuroPsych. Regular Psycologists aren't the best diagnostitians. They messed up my son's diagnosis but good. I know it's scary to think "beyond ADHD" but, if the ADHD stuff and behaviorl mod doesn't work, you do your child no favor by sitting on the dx. But that's jumping the gun. I wish you luck. Take care. OlderMom38838.1820023148

[QUOTE=OlderMom]Regular Psycologists aren't the best diagnostitians. They messed up my son's diagnosis but good. [/QUOTE]

I totally agree with that!  Two regular psychs, who did educational testing, missed my son's dyslexia; whereas, one of the top dyslexia diagnosticians in the state said, "Your son is absolutely, positively, unequivically, without a doubt, dyslexic."  I actually had a supposed expert in educational testing, who had a Ph.D. in psychology, tell me that my son could not be dyslexic because he spelled phonetically .  I will never again take my son to a Ph.D. in psychology for the testing of anything.  Therapy?  Yes.  Testing?  No way.

Well, things have moved along rather quickly. It's been a while since I
posted this first message, but I wanted to reply back to everyone who put
some input here for me. Thanks!

We got in sooner to the PhD because they had a cancellation. We've been in
3 times now since this last post. And, also still meeting the the Pediatrician.
So, it has been determined that my son does have ADHD and has been
started on Focalin XR 5mg. Today was his 3rd dose and I'm thinking it may
not be strong enough. But, would like to give it at least a week to see how
things go.

Thanks to everyone for giving your input.