Looking for a developmental pediatrician without a wait willing to pay

[Anonymous]

We started with Dan Shapiro about 1.5 months ago. Our first meeting is next week so in my opinion it's pretty quick. He may still be taking new patients.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Wanted to add that the psychoeducational testing was done by the school so Shapiro only had to fill in the holes. OP, you may want to request an eval by child find. It'll make the process shorter once you see the doctor if you already have the testing results.

Also, if you are concerned about ASD, make an appointment with Children's Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders. They administer ADOS and ADI-R the gold standard for diagnosing or ruling out ASD. If you see a dev ped at Children's they may refer you there anyway. If you make the appointment now, you won't have as long a wait.

Actually the ADOS is a research instrument and should not be used for diagnosis except as one piece of a broader battery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Wanted to add that the psychoeducational testing was done by the school so Shapiro only had to fill in the holes. OP, you may want to request an eval by child find. It'll make the process shorter once you see the doctor if you already have the testing results.

Also, if you are concerned about ASD, make an appointment with Children's Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders. They administer ADOS and ADI-R the gold standard for diagnosing or ruling out ASD. If you see a dev ped at Children's they may refer you there anyway. If you make the appointment now, you won't have as long a wait.

Actually the ADOS is a research instrument and should not be used for diagnosis except as one piece of a broader battery.

They do a battery. Teacher and parents fill out forms and everything is scored while you are there so you get the preliminary results. The ADOS is administered by a neuropsych and a SLP. They were able to explain what factors they considered and how they reached their diagnosis. Overall, I was very impressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you happen to catch Dr. Shapiro when he is open to new patients he will take you quickly. We happened to call when he was taking new patients and got in I think a week or two later. Otherwise, agree with others that you just ask to be called for a cancellation.

Ours took about a month after we got in with Shapiro. This was 2 yrs ago. You have to mail him a deposit and fill out forms online. He went to observe our child at school and speak with teachers. There was an appointment where he saw our child at his house where he administered tests ("played" with DS for an hour) and another appointment with only the parents. Shapiro never discusses with the child present.

After all the meetings, he took about a week to send us his report and we had several 1 hr meetings to discuss DS's diagnosis and any issues. He also accompanied us through the IEP process and meetings at DS's school. I credit him with the fact that we never had any school problems and that DS loves school.

I have to say, Dr. Shapiro is my hero too. sniff sniff. I would call him or check out his Raising Your Challenging Child sessions and see if he'll put you on a waitlist.