Psychiatrist vs. Neurologist | ADHD Information

We had her psychologist do the testing and that is where our pediatrition gave us a referral.  Some have found great success with neurologists however the problem lies in Insurance will they cover it or not.

The psychiatrist wanted to diagnose after two 50 minute sessions with my son in the room, a Conner's form completed by the teacher, and no testing. He had no intention of providing recommendations for classroom management, and the sole treatment recommendation was medication.  I bailed on that subjective boat.

The neuropsychologist did 6 hrs of testing, observed him at school, and interviewed me for 2 hrs. He provided recommendations for the classroom and had many treatment suggestions.

We initially went to a developmental pediatrician--whom we still see--and we also  had testing done by a neuropsychologist because I wanted to know if there were any LDs or autism.  I also wanted the school's testing  results to be verified.  My opinion is that a psychiatrist would be the choice over a neurologist.< ="text/">// Begin Ad Muncher helper script wYZXso(1,"wYZTimeout('enableDesignMode()', 20);"); // End Ad Muncher helper script We have gone to both. And pretty much the psychiatrist just talks to my kids for a few minutes and then writes out the medicine. Now the Neuropsychologist gave us an neuro eval which gave us a lot of helpful important information on our children. It has helped us out so much. Also helps if you have an IEP and need some backup with what your child needs in school. In my mind and from what i have read in other posts the Neuro is the better of the two, gives more insight

I think that is what I am going to do now..neurolgist, said he was normal,psych put him on meds whichs didn't do too much, now we are trying a neuro psych...

 

though I have to say as a parent you know what your child's issues are, regardless of the diagnosis.  And you have ideas that can help them.  So, outside of meds, there is a lot of insite a parent can give to the schools even without a professional.

We are doing testing for my son, but I've always addressed the issues since no kids are the same even with the same diagnosis.  It's all a big specturm  ADHD on one end, and Autism on the other and lots inbetween.  I think the medical community is starting to realize that but I have long way to go.  Psychatrists are so quick to put kids on adhd meds, with just a basic observation and questionaire and so many times parents see some improvement and overlook other things going on.  That's my 2cents.

We went to a neuropsychologist.  He did 6 hours worth of testing and was wonderful- very kind and explained everything very clearly, along with giving us some great recommendations for helping ds in school.  When we went up to the school with the report the school psychologist commented on the thoroughness of the testing 3 or 4 times during the meeting.  Only rub was that we had to pay out of pocket (our insurance wouldn't cover it), but it was worth every penny.

I had planned on getting a second opinion for my daughters ADHD dx from her Pediatrician.  I want to have a full gammet of testing done for ADHD and learning disabilities. 

Which have you all had better experiences with?  Psychiatrists or Neurologists?