Experiences with 1:1 therapy at CAAT

[Anonymous]

DC is 7, diagnosed with AuADHD. DC’s doctor has recommended therapy through CAAT to help with low frustration tolerance and general emotional expression. I understand that CAAT is 1. Out of network for insurance 2. Expensive and 3. Has a long waitlist. Doctor said CAAT is the gold standard in the area for kids who have autism and we should try to make it work if we can.

Did your child have success with 1:1 therapy at CAAT? Do you have recommendations for other therapists in Montgomery County that work especially well with patients who have autism?

[Anonymous]

Pass on them. There are a few other practices that exclusively focus on the AuADHD child population. We had a poor experience with CAAT.

[Anonymous]

CAAT reputable for evaluations, but I don't think they have any special magic for 1:1 therapies. Their PhD psychologists cost over 300$ per hour and the one we worked with was OK but not so great that I would do 1:1 therapy for my child. Maybe more senior ones are more impressive and worth it.

As with any provider - interview them, share your goals for therapy, see what approaches they use and how you click with them.

[Anonymous]

What does the acronym stand for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does the acronym stand for?

OP - not sure which acronym you mean but AuDHD is an online portmanteau of Autism and ADHD. It isn’t the name of the actual diagnosis but one used on these boards.

CAAT is The Center for Assessment And Treatment

[Anonymous]

I agree that CAAT’s magic is the evaluation. You can go anywhere for treatment.

[Anonymous]

Everyone claims CAAT is the “gold standard” but I don’t actually believe that. If the issue is behaviors the answer is parent management training, which you can get many places including from KKI or psychologists trained there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is 7, diagnosed with AuADHD. DC’s doctor has recommended therapy through CAAT to help with low frustration tolerance and general emotional expression. I understand that CAAT is 1. Out of network for insurance 2. Expensive and 3. Has a long waitlist. Doctor said CAAT is the gold standard in the area for kids who have autism and we should try to make it work if we can.

Did your child have success with 1:1 therapy at CAAT? Do you have recommendations for other therapists in Montgomery County that work especially well with patients who have autism?

We had a very poor experience with therapy there. Dr. Black is fantastic and they do a great job in thea of diagnosing but our experience was very bad with therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone claims CAAT is the “gold standard” but I don’t actually believe that. If the issue is behaviors the answer is parent management training, which you can get many places including from KKI or psychologists trained there.

People believe they are the gold standard because that's what they tell people. The owners wife is a social.worler and did our intake. She kept saying they were the rock stars of the autism world or something. Dr black is a rock star diagnostics but that's about it.

[Anonymous]

We had fabulous experiences with evaluations there. Everyone told us the reports were the most thorough and best they had ever seen (schools, therapists, etc). I don't have experience with their therapy, but I am a bit surprised to hear about this "gold standard" thing. My kid also has AuDHD, and no one (including CAAT itself has ever said that to us).

Are you talking about the Unstuck and On Target program? It is supposed to be very good for rigidity and making positive choices. We did it through CAAT (I don't think there are a ton of other locations), and it was useful (although not earth-shattering). It might depend on the issues your particular kid has and what you want to focus on. It's a parent and child program that lasts about 10 (12?) weeks.

I would find out what type of therapy is the recommendation. You can find good 1:1 therapists using different approaches at many different places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had fabulous experiences with evaluations there. Everyone told us the reports were the most thorough and best they had ever seen (schools, therapists, etc). I don't have experience with their therapy, but I am a bit surprised to hear about this "gold standard" thing. My kid also has AuDHD, and no one (including CAAT itself has ever said that to us).

Are you talking about the Unstuck and On Target program? It is supposed to be very good for rigidity and making positive choices. We did it through CAAT (I don't think there are a ton of other locations), and it was useful (although not earth-shattering). It might depend on the issues your particular kid has and what you want to focus on. It's a parent and child program that lasts about 10 (12?) weeks.

I would find out what type of therapy is the recommendation. You can find good 1:1 therapists using different approaches at many different places.

Not the Unstuck program, just one on one talk therapy. -OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone claims CAAT is the “gold standard” but I don’t actually believe that. If the issue is behaviors the answer is parent management training, which you can get many places including from KKI or psychologists trained there.

People believe they are the gold standard because that's what they tell people. The owners wife is a social.worler and did our intake. She kept saying they were the rock stars of the autism world or something. Dr black is a rock star diagnostics but that's about it.

How obnoxious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had fabulous experiences with evaluations there. Everyone told us the reports were the most thorough and best they had ever seen (schools, therapists, etc). I don't have experience with their therapy, but I am a bit surprised to hear about this "gold standard" thing. My kid also has AuDHD, and no one (including CAAT itself has ever said that to us).

Are you talking about the Unstuck and On Target program? It is supposed to be very good for rigidity and making positive choices. We did it through CAAT (I don't think there are a ton of other locations), and it was useful (although not earth-shattering). It might depend on the issues your particular kid has and what you want to focus on. It's a parent and child program that lasts about 10 (12?) weeks.

I would find out what type of therapy is the recommendation. You can find good 1:1 therapists using different approaches at many different places.

Not the Unstuck program, just one on one talk therapy. -OP

Anyone claiming 1:1 talk therapy is going to help your 7 year old with emotional regulation (at $300/hr out of network!) is literally proposing you burn your time and money. At that age what helps is *parent* therapy to set up clear discipline & reward good behavior. Even OT which I don’t think much of for emotional regulation would be preferable because at least you’re only out $150/hr and may find an in network OT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is 7, diagnosed with AuADHD. DC’s doctor has recommended therapy through CAAT to help with low frustration tolerance and general emotional expression. I understand that CAAT is 1. Out of network for insurance 2. Expensive and 3. Has a long waitlist. Doctor said CAAT is the gold standard in the area for kids who have autism and we should try to make it work if we can.

Did your child have success with 1:1 therapy at CAAT? Do you have recommendations for other therapists in Montgomery County that work especially well with patients who have autism?

We had a very poor experience with therapy there. Dr. Black is fantastic and they do a great job in thea of diagnosing but our experience was very bad with therapy.

Us too, on both accounts. The therapist had one way of doing things and couldn't/wouldn't vary according to my child's needs.

We had a better experience with Jeff Kranzler and his group, who also specializes in autism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone claims CAAT is the “gold standard” but I don’t actually believe that. If the issue is behaviors the answer is parent management training, which you can get many places including from KKI or psychologists trained there.

People believe they are the gold standard because that's what they tell people. The owners wife is a social.worler and did our intake. She kept saying they were the rock stars of the autism world or something. Dr black is a rock star diagnostics but that's about it.

We got an eval there which was really good and have heard good things about their PEERS program. We went there based on a recommendation from another provider who reads a lot of neuropsychs and I do think they have earned a strong reputation.

I didn't have great experiences with their intake or admin people. I felt the intake was very cursory, like they know people will pay them regardless of what they say and they didn't seem to really want to answer questions. On the admin side I think they could improve their communication. The other practices I've dealt with are so easy to deal with administratively. Which is a small thing I guess? But also not unimportant especially if you are working with them regularly.