At what age should you do neuropsychology evaluation for your child?

[Anonymous]

A neuropsych does resting in addition to the psycho educational testing for ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not request psychoeducational testing from your school system? Or did you already get one since you have an IEP? I wouldn't think you would need a ton of information beyond that at this point (developmental/IQ testing, academic readiness/achievement testing, behavior questionnaires and self help skills/adaptive behavior questionnaires).

This. We had a psychoeduational evaluation for DS at 4 which was done by the school at no cost to us. The eval was done over three days and included classroom observations by the psychologist as well as input from DS's teachers so not just a checklist form eval. However, it missed the ADHD - most young children are not diagnosed with ADHD unless it is severe - but did diagnose ASD which was confirmed by ADOS/ADI-R at Children's and our developmental pediatrician. These evaluations got DS and IEP at 4 in preK.

Had a neuropsych eval at 7, which diagnosed ADHD, combined type, and confirmed the ASD.

DS is having another neuropsych eval next month at 10 in preparation for middle school.

Our son also has unilateral hearing loss but mild and does not wear a hearing aid but it appears to have no academic impact. He tests above grade level across the board academically at a dual language school.

Because most schools don’t do them and don’t even have actual psychologists on staff, and when they do do the tests, they often give very low iq scores or inflated results depending on the desired outcome. This is why people distrust the school doing sensitive and complicated testing. Also, unlike your son, some people have children that do struggle academically and need to figure out the real answer why. Simply giving them it or social skills classes isn’t going to solve their problems. Bottom line, just because it turned out great for your child given his set of issues, it does not work that way far more often.

How can this be true? I live in the south, bottom of the barrel for public school funding, and a psychoed eval is part of every IEP. IQ tests are standardized instruments and publishing companies have very strict criteria about who can administer and interpret them. If you are aware of someone with improper credentials using these tests, or of score manipulation occurring, you should report it.

Though I do agree most schools don't have their own personal psychologist. The way it works here is that there is a special education department that runs out of the central office. Psychologists go from there to the schools to complete the testing, or families bring them to the center. It doesn't make sense to fund a full psychologist for every school.

And, trust me, psychoeducationals are not "sensitive and complicated testing" for psychologists-- clinical, school, PH.D., or master's level. For most families I know it was more than enough information for their young kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not request psychoeducational testing from your school system? Or did you already get one since you have an IEP? I wouldn't think you would need a ton of information beyond that at this point (developmental/IQ testing, academic readiness/achievement testing, behavior questionnaires and self help skills/adaptive behavior questionnaires).

This. We had a psychoeduational evaluation for DS at 4 which was done by the school at no cost to us. The eval was done over three days and included classroom observations by the psychologist as well as input from DS's teachers so not just a checklist form eval. However, it missed the ADHD - most young children are not diagnosed with ADHD unless it is severe - but did diagnose ASD which was confirmed by ADOS/ADI-R at Children's and our developmental pediatrician. These evaluations got DS and IEP at 4 in preK.

Had a neuropsych eval at 7, which diagnosed ADHD, combined type, and confirmed the ASD.

DS is having another neuropsych eval next month at 10 in preparation for middle school.

Our son also has unilateral hearing loss but mild and does not wear a hearing aid but it appears to have no academic impact. He tests above grade level across the board academically at a dual language school.

Because most schools don’t do them and don’t even have actual psychologists on staff, and when they do do the tests, they often give very low iq scores or inflated results depending on the desired outcome. This is why people distrust the school doing sensitive and complicated testing. Also, unlike your son, some people have children that do struggle academically and need to figure out the real answer why. Simply giving them it or social skills classes isn’t going to solve their problems. Bottom line, just because it turned out great for your child given his set of issues, it does not work that way far more often.

How can this be true? I live in the south, bottom of the barrel for public school funding, and a psychoed eval is part of every IEP. IQ tests are standardized instruments and publishing companies have very strict criteria about who can administer and interpret them. If you are aware of someone with improper credentials using these tests, or of score manipulation occurring, you should report it.

Though I do agree most schools don't have their own personal psychologist. The way it works here is that there is a special education department that runs out of the central office. Psychologists go from there to the schools to complete the testing, or families bring them to the center. It doesn't make sense to fund a full psychologist for every school.

And, trust me, psychoeducationals are not "sensitive and complicated testing" for psychologists-- clinical, school, PH.D., or master's level. For most families I know it was more than enough information for their young kid.

Are we talking about psychoeds or neuropsychs? The former is the bread and butter of a school psychologist. The latter is rarely provided by the public schools, unless it's through an I.E.E..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not request psychoeducational testing from your school system? Or did you already get one since you have an IEP? I wouldn't think you would need a ton of information beyond that at this point (developmental/IQ testing, academic readiness/achievement testing, behavior questionnaires and self help skills/adaptive behavior questionnaires).

This. We had a psychoeduational evaluation for DS at 4 which was done by the school at no cost to us. The eval was done over three days and included classroom observations by the psychologist as well as input from DS's teachers so not just a checklist form eval. However, it missed the ADHD - most young children are not diagnosed with ADHD unless it is severe - but did diagnose ASD which was confirmed by ADOS/ADI-R at Children's and our developmental pediatrician. These evaluations got DS and IEP at 4 in preK.

Had a neuropsych eval at 7, which diagnosed ADHD, combined type, and confirmed the ASD.

DS is having another neuropsych eval next month at 10 in preparation for middle school.

Our son also has unilateral hearing loss but mild and does not wear a hearing aid but it appears to have no academic impact. He tests above grade level across the board academically at a dual language school.

Because most schools don’t do them and don’t even have actual psychologists on staff, and when they do do the tests, they often give very low iq scores or inflated results depending on the desired outcome. This is why people distrust the school doing sensitive and complicated testing. Also, unlike your son, some people have children that do struggle academically and need to figure out the real answer why. Simply giving them it or social skills classes isn’t going to solve their problems. Bottom line, just because it turned out great for your child given his set of issues, it does not work that way far more often.

How can this be true? I live in the south, bottom of the barrel for public school funding, and a psychoed eval is part of every IEP. IQ tests are standardized instruments and publishing companies have very strict criteria about who can administer and interpret them. If you are aware of someone with improper credentials using these tests, or of score manipulation occurring, you should report it.

Though I do agree most schools don't have their own personal psychologist. The way it works here is that there is a special education department that runs out of the central office. Psychologists go from there to the schools to complete the testing, or families bring them to the center. It doesn't make sense to fund a full psychologist for every school.

And, trust me, psychoeducationals are not "sensitive and complicated testing" for psychologists-- clinical, school, PH.D., or master's level. For most families I know it was more than enough information for their young kid.

Are we talking about psychoeds or neuropsychs? The former is the bread and butter of a school psychologist. The latter is rarely provided by the public schools, unless it's through an I.E.E..

Talking about psychoed eval for OP's child who is turning 5 yrs old and generally considered too young for a neuropsych

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not request psychoeducational testing from your school system? Or did you already get one since you have an IEP? I wouldn't think you would need a ton of information beyond that at this point (developmental/IQ testing, academic readiness/achievement testing, behavior questionnaires and self help skills/adaptive behavior questionnaires).

This. We had a psychoeduational evaluation for DS at 4 which was done by the school at no cost to us. The eval was done over three days and included classroom observations by the psychologist as well as input from DS's teachers so not just a checklist form eval. However, it missed the ADHD - most young children are not diagnosed with ADHD unless it is severe - but did diagnose ASD which was confirmed by ADOS/ADI-R at Children's and our developmental pediatrician. These evaluations got DS and IEP at 4 in preK.

Had a neuropsych eval at 7, which diagnosed ADHD, combined type, and confirmed the ASD.

DS is having another neuropsych eval next month at 10 in preparation for middle school.

Our son also has unilateral hearing loss but mild and does not wear a hearing aid but it appears to have no academic impact. He tests above grade level across the board academically at a dual language school.

Because most schools don’t do them and don’t even have actual psychologists on staff, and when they do do the tests, they often give very low iq scores or inflated results depending on the desired outcome. This is why people distrust the school doing sensitive and complicated testing. Also, unlike your son, some people have children that do struggle academically and need to figure out the real answer why. Simply giving them it or social skills classes isn’t going to solve their problems. Bottom line, just because it turned out great for your child given his set of issues, it does not work that way far more often.

How can this be true? I live in the south, bottom of the barrel for public school funding, and a psychoed eval is part of every IEP. IQ tests are standardized instruments and publishing companies have very strict criteria about who can administer and interpret them. If you are aware of someone with improper credentials using these tests, or of score manipulation occurring, you should report it.

Though I do agree most schools don't have their own personal psychologist. The way it works here is that there is a special education department that runs out of the central office. Psychologists go from there to the schools to complete the testing, or families bring them to the center. It doesn't make sense to fund a full psychologist for every school.

And, trust me, psychoeducationals are not "sensitive and complicated testing" for psychologists-- clinical, school, PH.D., or master's level. For most families I know it was more than enough information for their young kid.

Are we talking about psychoeds or neuropsychs? The former is the bread and butter of a school psychologist. The latter is rarely provided by the public schools, unless it's through an I.E.E..

Talking about psychoed eval for OP's child who is turning 5 yrs old and generally considered too young for a neuropsych

Yes. OP is asking if it is worth it to get a neuropsych now. Some of us are suggesting she get a psychoeducational eval instead. Not as comprehensive as a neuropsych, but should be free through the school and should yield helpful information for a 5 year old.