IEP/ADHD EVAL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private testing is that if you are paying a doctor to find ADHD, they will. You are paying for the service of receiving a diagnosis. If you go with the county you are getting professionals who deal with a lot of kids and are reasonably objective about the outcome of the tests. I'd go through MCPS and put aside the money for your kid's first car.

I would fear this as well. I don't know anyone who had this done and found out their child did not have ADHD.

No private psychologist or medical doctor will diagnose a disability that doesn't exist. They have their reputations and license at stake which is more than the MCPS school psychologist.

Private testing is expensive because of the amount of testing and documentation that is needed. For my children - educational and neuropsyc testing took about 8 hours which occurred over 2 sessions so the child could perform at his best. The psychologist interviewed myself and my child separately to try to determine the type of problems my child was having. He also gave me teacher forms for two of my child's teachers to fill out and mail back to their office. He reviewed my child's binder and assessments to gather information on the types of mistakes my child made as well as areas of strength.

MCPS spent 1 hour with my child and didn't go into the depth of an evaluation that the private psychologist did. MCPS missed the disabilities that my child had but they didn't disagree with what the private psychologist identified.

This is incorrect. MCPS psychologists are also licensed and also would be jeopardizing said license for identifying a disability if there isn't one. Also, I've seen reports from psychologists diagnosing a child with a language disorder on the basis of a single subtest. The comprehensive test wasn't even given! Also, MCPS is tasked with identifying disabilities not disorders. Private practitioners identify any and all disorders. Did you end up with an IEP or a 504?

PP - Per the US Department of Education, ADHD falls under Other Health Impairment - a disability in which the student may qualified for either an IEP or be protected under Section 504. If the MCPS School Psychologist fails to properly use the DSM-5 criteria she professes to be applying in her report, what licensing board do I file a complaint to? The answer is No One. An MCPS School Psychologist can be totally off base but there is no licensing agency to complain to.

Also, without identifying the disability, the IEP team would fail to consider if there is an educational impact because there is no disability. Per the US Department of Education, if a child is identified as a child with ADHD, by the vary nature of the disability, the child is considered to be significantly impaired in thinking and concentration and would qualify for a Section 504 plan. However, the identification is needed by a psychologist for the 504.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private testing is that if you are paying a doctor to find ADHD, they will. You are paying for the service of receiving a diagnosis. If you go with the county you are getting professionals who deal with a lot of kids and are reasonably objective about the outcome of the tests. I'd go through MCPS and put aside the money for your kid's first car.

I would fear this as well. I don't know anyone who had this done and found out their child did not have ADHD.

We and the school psychologist thought my child had ADHD. Went to a private neuropsychologist for confirmation because we were open to considering medication and, after 1/5 days of testing, the child was diagnosed with anxiety. No ADHD at all. They can present in very similar ways, and the more extensive testing teased out the differences. We're treating the anxiety and all the ADHD-like symptoms have disappeared.

It's a health issue. Don't go cheap.

If you get the testing done at Children's Hospital or the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore most insurance will pay most of it. They won't at a private neuropsychologist. The downside is the wait times for the appointments are long - e.g. 6-7 months intially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS psychologists, the ones who are school psychologists, are certificated employees who are certified to work in schools. That is not the same thing as being a licensed PhD psychologist. There are some PhD psychologists employed by MCPS yes, but certified school psychologists are not licensed and there is no licensing authority to complain to if they screw up or worse, completely mis diagnose your child.

Ditto

Do NOT rely on school psychologists to help you diagnose your child's learning disabilities. They just don't have the comprehensive training to tease complex cases out.

[Anonymous]

There's no accountability in MCPS. A school psychologist can mislabel or fail to diagnose a disability but then what? No one in MCPS really follows up to see how your child is doing with interventions or if their plan is working. It's a bureaucracy that children easily fall through the cracks.

Get a private evaluation. Check with your health insurance. We have BCBS and it was just a $30 co-pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's no accountability in MCPS. A school psychologist can mislabel or fail to diagnose a disability but then what? No one in MCPS really follows up to see how your child is doing with interventions or if their plan is working. It's a bureaucracy that children easily fall through the cracks.

Get a private evaluation. Check with your health insurance. We have BCBS and it was just a $30 co-pay.

Where did you go that accepted BCBS?

[Anonymous]

I just think it's incredibly unlikely mcps would even do the testing for ADHD. To get them to test you have to show educational impact and they will never believe the ADHD is affecting the education. They've repeatedly refused to test our extremetly ADHD kid. Even now with a stixrud diagnosis they say that the educational impact is due to his lack of motivation not the ADHD and assert that he is capable of doing the work. As a result, we have a 504, not an Iep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's no accountability in MCPS. A school psychologist can mislabel or fail to diagnose a disability but then what? No one in MCPS really follows up to see how your child is doing with interventions or if their plan is working. It's a bureaucracy that children easily fall through the cracks.

Get a private evaluation. Check with your health insurance. We have BCBS and it was just a $30 co-pay.

Where did you go that accepted BCBS?

mChildtens Hospital takes it. So does KKI. Amt of copay depends on your employer's policy.

[Anonymous]

I realize this is an old thread
What is the Kennedy Krieger testing called so I can check with my insurance company if it would be covered?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I realize this is an old thread
What is the Kennedy Krieger testing called so I can check with my insurance company if it would be covered?

Neuropsychological testing/profile. But check on Children's as well: KKI sometimes triages and recommends against their doing the testing for less serious cases (they are highly specialized and I think justifiably have to try to save appointments for those who need them the most). Our insurance would have covered either KKI or Children's but pretty much nothing else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I realize this is an old thread
What is the Kennedy Krieger testing called so I can check with my insurance company if it would be covered?

You'll get much better info on the special needs forum.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/forums/show/36.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:when my daughter needed an evaluation, she was in private school and we used a professional neuropsych for her evaluation. Her 3rd grade brother, also private school, needs an evaluation for ADHD as well. But I understand that we can self-refer him to the MOCo system. Our insurance covers about 1/3 of the cost, which is substantial. Should we use the County services instead? If so, what differences can we expect?

Never let MCPS evaluate your child! NEVER.
You pay for outside evaluations.
Mvps is way past the breaking point for being able to afford to help adhd kiddos. Every employee in the Spec Ed system is under tremendous pressure to deny and withhold services.
Once they evaluate your child and deem him to have less needs than he really has (if any) they now have a rebuttal to any outside evaluation that you bring in.
You are especially prone to being denied for services because your family history of affording private school means you can afford private help and will not want to help you at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just think it's incredibly unlikely mcps would even do the testing for ADHD. To get them to test you have to show educational impact and they will never believe the ADHD is affecting the education. They've repeatedly refused to test our extremetly ADHD kid. Even now with a stixrud diagnosis they say that the educational impact is due to his lack of motivation not the ADHD and assert that he is capable of doing the work. As a result, we have a 504, not an Iep.

This happened to us this year too. There needs to be a supreme court case pertaining to public school calling adhd kids unmotivated and having poor work habits. It's biased. It's discriminatory. And it's especially difficult to hear after being forced to listen to how "anti biased" the schools are. Hypocrites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just think it's incredibly unlikely mcps would even do the testing for ADHD. To get them to test you have to show educational impact and they will never believe the ADHD is affecting the education. They've repeatedly refused to test our extremetly ADHD kid. Even now with a stixrud diagnosis they say that the educational impact is due to his lack of motivation not the ADHD and assert that he is capable of doing the work. As a result, we have a 504, not an Iep.

This happened to us this year too. There needs to be a supreme court case pertaining to public school calling adhd kids unmotivated and having poor work habits. It's biased. It's discriminatory. And it's especially difficult to hear after being forced to listen to how "anti biased" the schools are. Hypocrites.

There needs to be a Supreme Court case and mass protest forcing Congress and State houses to pay for the widely increasing expense of Special Education or clear parameters out on what FAPE covers and the expense that should come from the school district. Not to mention a program help improve the working conditions for SpecEd teachers and raise their salaries. Then more people will enter the field and those that already have the skills and certification will want to perform the work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private testing is that if you are paying a doctor to find ADHD, they will. You are paying for the service of receiving a diagnosis. If you go with the county you are getting professionals who deal with a lot of kids and are reasonably objective about the outcome of the tests. I'd go through MCPS and put aside the money for your kid's first car.

I would fear this as well. I don't know anyone who had this done and found out their child did not have ADHD.

No private psychologist or medical doctor will diagnose a disability that doesn't exist. They have their reputations and license at stake which is more than the MCPS school psychologist.

Private testing is expensive because of the amount of testing and documentation that is needed. For my children - educational and neuropsyc testing took about 8 hours which occurred over 2 sessions so the child could perform at his best. The psychologist interviewed myself and my child separately to try to determine the type of problems my child was having. He also gave me teacher forms for two of my child's teachers to fill out and mail back to their office. He reviewed my child's binder and assessments to gather information on the types of mistakes my child made as well as areas of strength.

MCPS spent 1 hour with my child and didn't go into the depth of an evaluation that the private psychologist did. MCPS missed the disabilities that my child had but they didn't disagree with what the private psychologist identified.

New poster here. We just did a private eval too. 6 hours and all the forms for the teachers and me as well. It was covered by insurance. I've paid $45 out of pocket so far. Although one portion may be as high as $350. I asked for testing for ADHD, anxiety, executive functioning, and learning disabilities that might contribute to reading and writing challenges. So maybe that's why mine was only six hours vs. eight.

Just wanted to let folks know there are insured private options out there, that cost less. Maybe it as comprehensive as stixrud-type, which don't accept insurance. But it seems more comprehensive than the County.

What kind of insurance? That sounds great!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private testing is that if you are paying a doctor to find ADHD, they will. You are paying for the service of receiving a diagnosis. If you go with the county you are getting professionals who deal with a lot of kids and are reasonably objective about the outcome of the tests. I'd go through MCPS and put aside the money for your kid's first car.

I would fear this as well. I don't know anyone who had this done and found out their child did not have ADHD.

Then get a second opinion, or learn as much about ADHD as you can to have critical understanding. Don't go with MCPS psychologists. They cycle in and out quickly. I had students who were middle of evaluations and never saw the same psychologist. At times, I was astonished by how little understanding they had of student behavior.