Dr. Dahlgren and WISC

[Anonymous]

Clearly she is a hit or miss. So if someone is going to use her, they should know this. Their experience may be great or it may not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clearly she is a hit or miss. So if someone is going to use her, they should know this. Their experience may be great or it may not. [/quote

Exactly, and I would even say she's fine to use for testing,but just take with a big grain of salt things she says about ADHD or other issues. One of my friends has been really stressed about this since she mentioned ADHD to her. My friend's child most likely does not have ADHD. She was fine with my child but I'm glad I didn't follow her recommendations with respect to additional testing, etc for my child. I would have spent thousands and child so far successful in AAP without additional diagnosis or supports.

[Anonymous]

I think--and this will be a shock to many--an excellent business woman as well. Better than most in this niche. Has developed and maintained a cottage industry. I respect that about her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clearly she is a hit or miss. So if someone is going to use her, they should know this. Their experience may be great or it may not.

+1 but why risk being the miss. There are plenty of other testers to choose from. People act like their options are Dr. Dahlgren or GMU. This is FCPS, home of AAP, and you think only 2 testing options exist????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly she is a hit or miss. So if someone is going to use her, they should know this. Their experience may be great or it may not.

+1 but why risk being the miss. There are plenty of other testers to choose from. People act like their options are Dr. Dahlgren or GMU. This is FCPS, home of AAP, and you think only 2 testing options exist????

Because she is experienced, knows what she is doing, and will provide an accurate picture of your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly she is a hit or miss. So if someone is going to use her, they should know this. Their experience may be great or it may not.

+1 but why risk being the miss. There are plenty of other testers to choose from. People act like their options are Dr. Dahlgren or GMU. This is FCPS, home of AAP, and you think only 2 testing options exist????

Because she is experienced, knows what she is doing, and will provide an accurate picture of your child.

So will countless others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the issues with Dr. Dahlgren? I see mixed reviews about her without any substance. So, I'm wondering if we should consider seeing her. Just curious and any insight appreciated.

I find that there no issues with Dr. Dahlgren. I'm pleased with my interactions with her. My expectations were met. As she indicated in her message, there was a brief 5 min review of her assessment. She spoke fast, but not so fast that you couldn't understand her. She was hired to do a job and she did it. I wasn't looking for a friend or for someone to make me or my child feel special - we didn't hire her for that. The test went fine, my child was comfortable with her. I recognize that as parents, we believe our children are special and need to be treated like they are the finest. The reality is our children are only special to those whom they built relationships with... we didn't hire Dr. D to build a relationship, but to conduct a test. Dr. D was very professional and had a kind demeanor. Like an attorney, she did what she was hired to do. She spoke quickly to give all the information to be shared in the short time frame we were allotted...I appreciated that. I have the option to schedule a separate meeting to discuss the results in detail, and I'm sure she offers that to all. The responsibility is on the parent to the schedule the meeting...not her. I'm sure if she did that... this forum would blow up and say she is trying to get more money by scheduling an additional time. As I suspected, the bad reviews were without substance, but emotionally charged. Word of advice... manage your expectations.

[Anonymous]

Word of advice... go to someone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Word of advice... go to someone else.

Who would that someone else be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Word of advice... go to someone else.

Who would that someone else be?

http://www.flinthill.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/LS-Testing-Info-13-14.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Word of advice... go to someone else.

Who would that someone else be?

http://www.flinthill.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/LS-Testing-Info-13-14.pdf

This is not a recommendation. It's a list of options. How do I which ones are good?

[Anonymous]

For those parents who are freaked out with Dr. Dahlgren's mention of ADHD, just take it as a piece of additional data. She's telling you that based on what the score profile looks like. It's numbers. Also take as data that your 7 and 8 year olds have just practically started their school career so it's very early to tell. When you are applying for AAP, you are hoping and expecting that your kid will be good at everything- math, science, writing, organizational skills, thought processes etc. and ace that WISC with no issues so anything unexpected can be upsetting.

Despite the negative feedback here, we took our younger child to Dr. Dahlgren for AAP testing. He did not get the super high scores that Dr. Dahlgren is rumored to hand out. We were impressed with the detailed report she had written up because it gave us so much insight to how our kid thinks. We paid extra for another session for her to explain the results. She was frank and honest about what we needed for our kid's educational placement. She did mention ADHD when we reviewed the scores.

My older kid, who was in Gen Ed didn't have any school issues from preschool to 2nd grade. She was even a Young Scholar. Come 3rd grade, things began to change. Grades were still good but she started to not do well in Math and was getting stressed out in school. She got through 4th and 5th grade with good grades but her motivation and attention in school was just tanking. Come 6th grade, we started to wonder if she had a learning disability in Math and perhaps other issues. Not a single teacher mentioned ADHD. They said she might just have an attitude problem. We took her for an evaluation at our HMO and they gave us vague data on the likelihood of her having ADHD based on behavioral surveys. We were not getting any clear answers at all and it was getting so frustrating.

We decided to take our older child to Dr. Dahlgren a few months after we saw her for our younger kid. We appreciated her frank and honest approach to giving information. I like getting information straight up with no sugar coating. Our older kid got the entire battery of psycho educational testing along with a 1.5 hour parent interview and a 1.5 hour debrief. It was a relief to finally get explanations. Dr. Dahlgren jam packed the debrief and I was a amazed at how she was able to analyze my child. She gave us a 10-page report. Here we are 2 years later and I still look at that report when our kid approaches a problem a certain way. She did diagnose our older kid with ADHD. As devastated as I would have been getting that diagnosis when our kid was 7 or 8 years old, now I wished we had that information when she was that age. We had to overhaul the way we parented her and the way we approached school. Dr. Dahlgren did mention future concerns but knowing what I know now, ADHD does affect everything, so if she told some of you parents that, take that as another piece of data. It is true.

Are there really that many kids with ADHD? Now that I know what it is, I do see a lot of kids who I think have it based on behavior and what their parents say. Even without much historical data, Dr. Dahlgren looks at numbers and can easily see patterns of those who might have ADHD. Now that I know what it isn't, I know my younger child doesn't have it so we have not gone back for further testing.

Once my older kid needs to be retested for her 504 plan, we will definitely be going back to Dr. Dahlgren. I can see how she can rub people the wrong way if you are the kind of person who needs to be treated very gently and be talked to in vague terms, you probably should see someone else.

I did succumb to a sock puppet in another DCUM forum (for a different service) and hired a person. We've been working with that person for a few weeks now and things are just fine.

Things are hit or miss- but isn't everything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Word of advice... go to someone else.

Who would that someone else be?

http://www.flinthill.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/LS-Testing-Info-13-14.pdf

This is not a recommendation. It's a list of options. How do I which ones are good?

I mean research the same way you would for anything. I have used 2 of the ones on here and they were great! But you don't know me personally so not sure how much weight that has. But Dr. Dahlgren is just an option too. Some recommend her, some do. Use her at your own risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those parents who are freaked out with Dr. Dahlgren's mention of ADHD, just take it as a piece of additional data. She's telling you that based on what the score profile looks like. It's numbers. Also take as data that your 7 and 8 year olds have just practically started their school career so it's very early to tell. When you are applying for AAP, you are hoping and expecting that your kid will be good at everything- math, science, writing, organizational skills, thought processes etc. and ace that WISC with no issues so anything unexpected can be upsetting.

Despite the negative feedback here, we took our younger child to Dr. Dahlgren for AAP testing. He did not get the super high scores that Dr. Dahlgren is rumored to hand out. We were impressed with the detailed report she had written up because it gave us so much insight to how our kid thinks. We paid extra for another session for her to explain the results. She was frank and honest about what we needed for our kid's educational placement. She did mention ADHD when we reviewed the scores.

My older kid, who was in Gen Ed didn't have any school issues from preschool to 2nd grade. She was even a Young Scholar. Come 3rd grade, things began to change. Grades were still good but she started to not do well in Math and was getting stressed out in school. She got through 4th and 5th grade with good grades but her motivation and attention in school was just tanking. Come 6th grade, we started to wonder if she had a learning disability in Math and perhaps other issues. Not a single teacher mentioned ADHD. They said she might just have an attitude problem. We took her for an evaluation at our HMO and they gave us vague data on the likelihood of her having ADHD based on behavioral surveys. We were not getting any clear answers at all and it was getting so frustrating.

We decided to take our older child to Dr. Dahlgren a few months after we saw her for our younger kid. We appreciated her frank and honest approach to giving information. I like getting information straight up with no sugar coating. Our older kid got the entire battery of psycho educational testing along with a 1.5 hour parent interview and a 1.5 hour debrief. It was a relief to finally get explanations. Dr. Dahlgren jam packed the debrief and I was a amazed at how she was able to analyze my child. She gave us a 10-page report. Here we are 2 years later and I still look at that report when our kid approaches a problem a certain way. She did diagnose our older kid with ADHD. As devastated as I would have been getting that diagnosis when our kid was 7 or 8 years old, now I wished we had that information when she was that age. We had to overhaul the way we parented her and the way we approached school. Dr. Dahlgren did mention future concerns but knowing what I know now, ADHD does affect everything, so if she told some of you parents that, take that as another piece of data. It is true.

Are there really that many kids with ADHD? Now that I know what it is, I do see a lot of kids who I think have it based on behavior and what their parents say. Even without much historical data, Dr. Dahlgren looks at numbers and can easily see patterns of those who might have ADHD. Now that I know what it isn't, I know my younger child doesn't have it so we have not gone back for further testing.

Once my older kid needs to be retested for her 504 plan, we will definitely be going back to Dr. Dahlgren. I can see how she can rub people the wrong way if you are the kind of person who needs to be treated very gently and be talked to in vague terms, you probably should see someone else.

I did succumb to a sock puppet in another DCUM forum (for a different service) and hired a person. We've been working with that person for a few weeks now and things are just fine.

Things are hit or miss- but isn't everything?

Dr. Katie Hennessy is not hit or miss.

[Anonymous]

I meant to add Dr. Hennessy is great! Wonderful bedside manner. Child feels at ease. Very professional. Great write-up.