Bostonmother,
I am always confused by your posts. I know you do not get access to a computer very often or for a long period of time, and this is part of the problem. Sooo...I am going to write a long post, hoping it covers some of the subjects you've mentioned in the last month or two:
Diagnosing. If you have not had your daughter evaluated by a neuropsychologist, it is probably best to do so because a neuropsychologist can diagnose both ADHD (among other things) and learning disabilities. With all the difficulties your child is having in school, she may well have learning disabilities.
Whom your child sees. Once your child is dxed with ADHD or ODD or anything else that requires meds, it is not uncommon for the meds to be prescribed by a nurse practitioner, who works for a psychiatrist. There are psychiatrists out there who do both therapy and prescribing of meds, but most do not. Most psychiatrists just prescribe meds and meet with the patient once every six months or once a year to see how the meds are working. Any other problems go through the nurse practitioner. If you want your child to receive therapy, in addition to meds, you have to search for a psychiatrist who does both, or you have to have a private psychologist your child sees for the therapy, in addition to the psychiatrist for the meds.
School. Once your child is dxed with a learning disability or some type of neurological disorder, such as ADHD or ODD, your child may be eligible for Special Education services or a 504. To read more about these, you can look in the education section of the forum. There's a thread titled "ADHD and Special Education or 504," which will tell you the differences between the two.
my daughter is seeing a psych nurse shouldn't she be seeing a psych doctor.... Is she helping your daughter? There are drs out there who are lousy so I would rather have my child seeing someone who is helping him no matter what their title or degree.
Thank Lillian
diagnose by a delvopmentoal pedi... and she said that my dd needs to see a pysch, so she has been seeing her and she called me today and said base on the forms that I filled out she also has odd but she doesn't want to medicate her for that she thinks she needs intensive behavioral therapy.