What does a nuerologist do? | ADHD Information

My son was diagnosed by his pediatrician and a development pediatrician, 2 years ago, when he was 6 1/2. They both diagnosed ADHD. No surprise there. The dev ped said that he had a slight LD in lang arts. He is on focalin right now. Meds work well most of the time. He really struggles with writing in school. He mostly refuses to do it. His handwriting was really horrible before he started meds. He can't seem to get his thoughts from his head onto the paper. When not medicated he is pretty hard to handle.

He is in third grade now and writing is really becoming an issue. I want to take him for further diagnosis. What does a neurologist do? I have seen neuropsycologists mentioned on this board as being helpful, but mostly not covered by insurance.
When I searched my insurances' doctor directory, there are doctors that are listed under Psychiatry/Neurology.

I am trying to figure out what i need. Psychologist, psychiatrist or neurologist. Can anyone help?

Thanks
my son had adhd  he was put on meds he had very bad hand writting   he could not get his thoughts from his head onto the paper he was going to fail so his teacher  had the school do a child study on him he is in ld classes  for other health impairments(ADHD) and along woth that he  go to  Occupational Therapy for his hand writing at school so talk to yous child's teacher it has helped my little boy alot before you could not understand what he is writting and as for his ld classes he goes for language arts only school can be a great help and a good book to read on adhd is called healing add by Daniel Amen very good book any question you can e-mail me at Littleone4u65@aol.com  Littleone4u6539126.9113888889Our neuropsych recommended concerta.  Neuropsychs can't prescribe, so I had to get my pdoc to write the prescription.  Getting a complete dx is so important!  We spent 0 getting one and when it comes to ds and ADD, it's the best money we've ever spent.  We got a 13-page, single-spaced dx and when I showed it to ds's former daycare teacher she read it and said that it explained so many things!  You may not be able to find a neuropsych who's up on all the meds and their side-effects and will help you manage them.  You probably won't find a doctor who can prescribe who understands ADHD and LD's like a neuropsych.    Use them both because they both have stuff to offer the other can't do.

An experienced neurologist is a good choice when you want to make sure that adhd symptoms are not related to something else.

My ds was dx by a neuroped, a neurologist who specializes in children.  He asked for blood tests to see if symptoms were related to thyroid problems. He also had an EEG and a Magnetic Resonance to determine if there was a brain abnormality causisng the symptoms. He also asked me to have him be evaluated by two different psychologists to see if both of them got to the same conclusion; they did. Finally he was definitely diagnosed adhd. I feel very confident about my son's dx.

Good luck!!

Mariaven39126.2153472222I know I'm really late in replying. But if you need help with your son's handwriting his fine motor skills may still be poor. My daughter was just recently diagnosed with ADD inattentive type and put on Strattera 10mg. She's also been referred to see an OT (Occupational Therapist) to help with her handwriting and fine motor skills. I would suggest trying that out first. Call your Pediatrician to get a referral for some in your area.

Good Luck!
My ds was dxed by a neuropsych.  She dxed the ADD and also his dysgraphia and a slight non-verbal learning disorder (you gotta tell him, not show him how to do something).  It was the writing that was giving him fits, we got the ADD under control with the patch.  He uses assistive technology which he wouldn't have gotten except for the fact that he had a dx of dysgraphia.  (Dysgraphia is a disconnect between the brain and the fingers, making it difficult for kids to format and align their letters and be able to express themselves in writing)

Our dx wasn't covered by insurance, but they let us make payments.  If I had to do it over again and payments weren't an option, I'd put it on my credit card. 

The handwriting issues could be dysgraphia, fine motor skill problems or it could be he's just a late bloomer when it comes to writing.  The point is you need to find some way to make it easier on him because written output is so important!   jfla2 also has a son with dysgraphia and has used all sorts of different strategies to help him.  One is handwriting without tears.  I think the website is hwtears.com

do a search of her name and you'll get a lot of info.  She posts on just about every thread that has to do with handwriting/dysgraphia.  You'll find most of these subjects on the school issues board.
I want to say thanks for all of these posts.  I am trying to decide the next step for my son,  we have only taken him to his peditrician and a couple of times to just a licensed therapist.  We are really needing someone who understands not only ADHD but the medications, side effects, etc...  So this post answered some of my questions.If you want to help his handwriting, an OT is the one to do that for you. Or, maybe you could have him keyboarding instead of writing. I believe that schools can make that accommodation for him. My dd also hates writing and is very sloppy at it. She did her valentines last night, and oh, my, they are special! And she groaned about it the whole time.

My son sees a neurologist. To me it is more comforting when dealing with the meds because the brain is his specialty and it just seems fitting. My son has always had poor handwriting. However when we started him on the Concerta, his teachers all said they noticed an huge improvement in his handwriting. Seems to be an ADHD thing. We try and encourage good handwriting but to me, just getting the work done and legible is more important and that is what we explained to the teacher.

(Shawn B, love the pic! My son likes Ovechkin, but Crosby wins him over only because he's a Canuk)

gottagr8kid, Thanks :) Crosby of course is good too. We have season tickets for the Caps and being that Pittsburgh is one of our biggest rivals, I'm partial to Alex LOL!

Another note... We see all of them actually, Neurologists, Psychologist, and Psychiatrists. The neurologists mainly deal with both of my daughters seizures. My 5 year old recently had her 2nd seizure in a year, and my 3 year old has already been diagnosed with a general seizure disorder. We're not sure what causes them, but I have a feeling it has to do with illnesses and over heating (even though they're not Febrile seizures).

Psychologists (someone correct me if I'm wrong here since I too am new to this stuff) deals with testing, and therapy of mental illnesses

Psychiatrists deal mostly with medications and general therapy but not as intense as a Psychologist or a licensed therapist, but they work closely with these other therapists and Dr's for the over all treatment.

I hope that's right anyway! LOL That's what I was told when I was calling around trying to find help for my daughter and myself.