neuropsych question | ADHD Information

Well, I can only relate my situation....for us, her developmental ped diagnosed her with ADHD.  But she also has some other behaviors that continually confound me.  And she was also having trouble with schoolwork.  After we had tried her first round of meds, she still had these issues with her mood and schoolwork.  So I decided that I wanted to find out if she had some kind of mood disorder, ASD, or learning disabilities.  I also wanted to verify what her IQ was because I was wondering if pressuring her to get her work done correctly was a mistake if her IQ was low.....So in our case, ADHD-yes, ASD-no, LD-yes, mood disorder-no, IQ-average.  It was a relief somewhat to get some data to address those questions.  I feel more comfortable with diagnoses based on actual data anyway.

As for the school situation, we had been having some trouble getting the accommodations we wanted.  Having a neuropsych on our side did wonders in convincing the school that we needed more help for her on her IEP.
As for meds, it was the neuropsych's opinion that she was undermedicated at the time of testing, so yes, we continued to try to get the right dosage and meds in place.
We lucked out with our neuropsych--not only did the testing day occur on a school holiday, but our insurance covered it. HTH

OK, here's a question:

For those who have done that:

You have a child who was dx with add or adhd by a psych...you then take them to a neuro psych who dx something else like asbergers or nvld, etc.

So what changed in the way you were helping your child??

Did you change meds or eliminate meds??

Did you change something in your IEP or school plan?

I'm trying to understand what the value of doing all those neuropsych tests are because they are expensive and time consuming.

 

I am personally glad that we got the neuro eval done, we found out even more info on our son and great guidelines to help him in school and at home. It really does go into great details. Yes it is time consuming and $$$ But for us it was totally worth it. Since getting it done we understand our sons alot better and that has changed our relationship for the better. Not that we weren't out there researching and trying all these different things, cause we were. But we were just guessing and trying. With the test it gives you what is best for your child. It helped for the school too. Not sure what state you are in, but some places let you work out a payment scheduleThat's our experience, too.  The neuropsych does the dx and then refers you to other docs for treatment.  Our neuropsych wouldn't prescribe meds, she wanted ds's pdoc to do it.  She went through the dx with me and suggested stuff.  I guess it's up to you to take that dx and find the help you need.  That's what I did.  And as much as I complain about schools, the school ds was going to was very helpful and suggested stuff that never occurred to me.  Having a good resource or special ed teacher is so helpful!

My son is on Daytrana, which is a patch and it's working really well.  It's a gradual release and the drop off in the afternoon is gradual, too.  If my insurance suddenly wouldn't cover it, I'd still keep him on it. 

I'm no doc, but from what you said about your son, there is something else going on here besides just ADD.   When my ds was dxed, we had not started meds or had an IEP in place.  I called his former daycare teacher who had known him for 5 years and told her what we'd found out.  She said it explained a lot about his behavior.  For me, I stopped pushing him so hard about his handwriting and made sure that instead of demonstrating something that I explained it to him verbally.  That seemed to help with the nvld.

I hope this helps.  PM me anytime if you want.
Our ds was dxed by a neuropsych that my neurologist recommended.  He was dxed with ADD inattentive, dysgraphia and non-verbal learning disorder.  A pediatrician could have dxed the ADD, a psychiatrist may have found that and the nvld, but I think the neuropsych was the best one to go to.  Currently, the ADD is under control, the nvld seems to have diminished but the dysgraphia is probably the biggest problem he has right now.  If we hadn't had the dx, we would have gone through the last 6 years of school with him trying to keep up but the writing trouble would have discouraged him to the point of failing any class he had to write for.  The school recommended and provided assistive technology which has made a world of difference. 

The neuropsych ds was expensive, but since it was a doctor in the same practice as my neurologist (I've been going to her for almost 30 years) they billed me and let me make payments.  If I had to do it over again and couldn't get the same kind of billing arrangements, I'd put it on my credit card.  I think it's just too important not to have a full dx.  Besides, people buy all sorts of stuff on credit that they need a whole lot less than a proper dx for a child.  I don't want to get anyone in trouble with debt, but if you think this is what your ds or dd needs, then use whatever means you have to in order to get it.   Yeah, when you read up on stuff it's so easy to say "yeah, that's my son!".  I did that when I read a nvld but I also read it with Barkley's adhd writings.  I read too much maybe.  But now I'm trying to get the school to pay for the eval. It's worth a shot I guess.

Thanks for the advice...after the testing, did the neuropsych do any ongoing therapy that was helpful?  Are your children on meds?  Was that at the advice of the neuropsych?

Yes, I agree whatever the cost.  In the end, your goal is to make them happy adults who can take care of themselves and anything to make that goal happen is worth the money.

I'm not even sure my son has adhd.  The psych said yes after a few minutes but we never saw much of a difference on the meds he took.  And he can sit down and do homework.  Believe it or not, he's in 7th grade and he just came back from taking the SAT for practice.  I doubt he did well at his age, but the kid sat there for 4 hours and took the test, with no meds.  That's impressive to me!

 

For us, the neuropsych only did the testing, and no ongoing treatment.