what do you get out of dev ped appointments?

[Anonymous]

For a rising Kindergartener, what do you find useful from regular developmental pediatrician check ins? We have ASD/ADHD diagnosis and services lined up. What else is beneficial to you in these appointments every 6-9 months? I like the dr, it's at children's, and covered by our insurance, but I can't help but wonder if I am missing some value added that I can derive from it?

[Anonymous]

For mine, we discuss whether there's any sign of epilepsy. I don't think you need it every 6 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For mine, we discuss whether there's any sign of epilepsy. I don't think you need it every 6 months.

Is it because there is some possible symptom present or family history?

[Anonymous]

Do they prescribe Rx? Thats the only reason I ever keep going back to doctors.

[Anonymous]

My DS is in 4th and I think you should keep the DevPed appointments because if you want a change in the IEP for any reason, I have found that a letter from the DevPed outlining why a child needs a certain setting or accomodation goes a long way.

[Anonymous]

We see our dev pediatrician monthly for the time being. My son is also a rising kindergartner with adhd and is being evaluated for mild autism.

Right now we are working on medication, so we need to see our doctor frequently. We also need to track growth and monitor behaviors.

[Anonymous]

Our developmental ped at Children's National became our point person when new issues arose, especially during late elementary school.

I did go through a short phase where I wondered if those appointments were worth it. Just stretch them out to a year. If you need them, developmental peds can help flag that you need another specialist and smooth/shorten the way to an appointment.

We also have gotten letters and used their expertise to back up the parent view in IEP meetings.

[Anonymous]

IMHO, the value of dev ped's isn't in the assessments they do, but in the recommendations they provide in their reports. They can recommend appropriate services or school programs and those reports can then be used to push the school system to giving your child what they need. For this reason, I don't think it's necessary to see a dev ped frequently, but would be helpful to have assessments done during transition years.

[Anonymous]

We talk about medication and make plans for any concerning behavior. At times we've also talked about needed services and accommodations for school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We talk about medication and make plans for any concerning behavior. At times we've also talked about needed services and accommodations for school.

OP here. So how do you get the Dr sufficiently informed about services? For example, if your child is in Speech, how do you keep the Dr up to date on the progress? Do you get feedback if goals are reasonable/relevant? How does the Dr know what would be the necessary accommodations in school? Based on your input? or you provide some observation records or IEP data on behavior?
I feel like Dev. Ped. can be a central specialist who can guide everything we do, but how can all this awareness be achieved in 1 hr every 6 months? (Honest question, I want to learn how people leverage this great resource).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We talk about medication and make plans for any concerning behavior. At times we've also talked about needed services and accommodations for school.

OP here. So how do you get the Dr sufficiently informed about services? For example, if your child is in Speech, how do you keep the Dr up to date on the progress? Do you get feedback if goals are reasonable/relevant? How does the Dr know what would be the necessary accommodations in school? Based on your?
I feel like Dev. Ped. can be a central specialist who can guide everything we do, but how can all this awareness be achieved in 1 hr every 6 months? (Honest question, I want to learn how people leverage this great resource).

When my child was younger, I paid for him to observe at school once. Otherwise, through my reporting, report cards/IEP progress reports, evaluations. When necessary, he talks to other professionals (therapists, etc.).