My son was dx'ed by our neuropsych. We paid a little over 00- the receptionist who made the appt. told us that the other doc in the office charges 00 for the same exam. We stuck with the first doc since he's highly regarded in our area, but it underscores the advise to shop around- even in the same practice. 00 sounds like a lot- can I ask were you live? I thought my area was expensive! I'm in a suburb outside of Baltimore- very poor city, but the county in which the neuropsych practices (next to the one I live in) is one of the wealthiest in the state.
Our reason for getting the eval. was because DS's ped. was reasonably sure that adhd was the problem but since there were also anxiety issues she declined to diagnose him herself. Both the ped. and DS's therapist went over the options with us, and when the therapist told us about the neuropsych we thought it was well worth the money to get a firm dx and also be able to rule (or dx as it turned out) LDs and anxiety.
Getting DS help at school was also a factor in getting the eval. (as were the behavioral problems at home). The school kept insisting he was an average student and wouldn't listen when I explained that As and Fs average out to a C. Boy, did that report change their tune. They still haven't given him much in the way of support but it's been enough. It was also nice to sit in the meeting and watch the school psychologist page through the report- he just kept repeating that it was very thorough. He couldn't say much else since at the previous meeting he had told me all my concerns were not problems while the neuropsych report showed that they were.
I'm not sure how much the exam would help you, except maybe to understand you daughter a little better. I mean, I knew my son didn't pay attention but I was surprised to learn that he did so poorly on a test they use to help measure attention that he doesn't have an official score (it was less thatn 1%). It's also nice to be able to point to the IQ scores when he starts to rant about how stupid he is when he messes up on his school work. I can just say, no, your doctor tested you and it says in his report that you have above average intelligence. He'll argue with me about anything, but the neuropsych is apparently a higher power that is not to be argued with.
First of all, shop around. If it's not covered by your insurance then tell your doctor - some will give a discount - and tell them you're pricing other doctors because they might give you an even bigger discount.
Personally, I think it's worth it, at least it was in my case. Because of his official diagnosis the school was much better about working with him, and it really had made a big difference.
i truly am on the fence on whether to have a complete neuropsych test done...will the results of it truly be worth 00 to us? we have to meet our deductible and the clinic my pediatrician recommended is out of network currently. the other clinics in our area either do NOT accept insurance anyways...and have a 6 month wait. my dd does average academically, i just see her struggling some socially and in the independence area. at times, i wonder what we would do differently even it does come back that she has a slight learning disability or anything else. make sense? i am torn...it is a lot of money, we are already paying for her med out of pocket...i guess a small portion of the 4800 has already been met. i am sure that she would benefit from social skills classes, etc...but i've been looking and there don't seem to be any in our area. sometimes i think we just need to love her for who she is...and would another diagnosis really help our household understand her more? if there is another diagnosis...or are her struggles just adhd related fully. some kids are just more *quirky*...i look around our neighborhood and there are MANY that don't seem to fit the mold persay. having said all of this...it's truly hard to know what to do. i want to help her fit in...but i'm not sure test results are the answer.
i truly am on the fence...it's not like she's not worth spending the money, it's just that it is a lot of money...besides the whole emotional factor thrown in of going through the testing, etc.
again, she's average academically, just has problems with self control a bit and transitioning from point A to point B. she is less mature than other girls 11 years old...but that's typically the norm for adhd kids.
anyways...i am sure it's all a case by case scenario...i have friends that have advised me to just let her be for now and see how middle school goes next year. i truly am torn, i want to do the right thing.
just curious as to whom found the testing VERY helpful for their kid, etc.
shelley
I'm just going to tell you our story. My daughter has ADHD and a couple of learning disabilities. We' ve always used schools evals, by 6th grade, she was not progressing at ALL. She struggled a LOT in middle school, so we ended up hiring an advocate and have spent a few thousand dollars on her. We're now moving her to a fully SPED program at a different school. It is the right move, but the only way we are getting this for her and school to pay was that he did all the right evaluations per the advice of our advocate. The gap for her is just getting wider not closer. She is so socially behind (as awell as acadmeically). Now the kids are into boys and more "teen" things, she's not there and kind of gets ignored. Academically we know exactly what her LD's are and how she needs to be taught to and how they need to modify for her.
I'm not telling you to DO it, but think about it a lot before you decide not to. That is a LOT of money, it really is. Just understand waiting is fine, but everything takes SO long to do.
for us the IQ scores were also huge as my daughters kept decreasing over the years, due to her "attentional issues". This helped show she needed more individual support to reach her potential and make effective progress.
00.00 does sound high, I've been looking around for my younger daughter (just in case), most are around the 00.00 mark, give or take.
shelley, I'm glad you're doing it. Please keep us posted. GOOD solid testing is the foundation when plowing though the educational system. You may never need that, but I tell you if you're dealing with any LD's you are going to be happy to have these kinds of things and well documented reports on hand. Keep a good filing system and have all this stuff easily accesible. Again, hopefully she'll keep doing well and you'll never need to [ush the school, but it's a life siver if you do. I'm covering my tracks with my younger daughter (who is not diagnosed with anything) out of pure fear of what we've gone through with my oldest. Rather be prepared unnecessarily than the other way around.That is about the amount of money I spent for my son to have 30 neurofeedback treatments for ADHD. They helped tremendously. My son went from having multiple detentions each month to only 2 for all of last year. He was much better able to control his behavior after the neurofeedback. The special ed teacher was amazed at him when he returned to school (we did it last summer). If you are spending that much money, you should look into this type of treatment.
thanks for your nice replies. i contacted our insurance today and also the clinic and i was reassured that this clinic is now in network, which will help us once our deductible has been met. i live in a nice suburb and these two women just recently opened their own clinic/they branched off from another. there are only a few options here, and the two others don't accept insurance at all i'm told and there is a 6 month wait to boot. i did find out today that we have met a bit more of our deductible, more than i thought, and we are planning on going ahead with the testing next week i guess. this way my kid's physicals and the rest of the year stuff will be covered...on a positive note:)
thanks again!
i'll keep you all posted!
shelley