Anyone have a neuropsych recommendation in NoVA?

[Anonymous]

I've tried to run a search, but most of the ones recommended on here seem to be either in DC or Maryland. Anyone here have a good experience with someone in NoVa?

[Anonymous]

http://www.barryekdomphd.com/

Hi there my son's therapist recommended this practice but I decided not to go with them since they didn't take insurance. They had spots open without a wait when I called around the holidays. THe therapist said the final report she saw was very comprehensive. They are near Merrifield.

[Anonymous]

We've used Ekdom twice in the past. They will bill your insurance, but require a certain amount up front. It ended up insurance paid about half--still about $1200 for us to cover. Most psychologists don't accept/participate in plans. Ekdom is good, but we found his first report when DS was 9 much more helpful and were a bit disappointed with the report from age 13--a lot of psycho babble that didn't make sense and didn't really reflect where our kid was at, from our observations.

[Anonymous]

I am in Fairfax and we decided to go with Children's National Medical Center even though it's in MD--my insurance will cover a huge chunk of it.

I am the person who originally posted the Ekdom link--They will submit like PP said but my insurance pays nothing for out of network.

[Anonymous]

We recently had testing done with Suzie Muir in McLean and were very pleased, both with her interaction with DC and with the thoroughness of the report, which she subsequently spent signficant time walking us through and answering questions.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all, I'll start with calling about prices and appointment availability. We will be paying out of pocket b/c our HMO won't cover the cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've used Ekdom twice in the past. They will bill your insurance, but require a certain amount up front. It ended up insurance paid about half--still about $1200 for us to cover. Most psychologists don't accept/participate in plans. Ekdom is good, but we found his first report when DS was 9 much more helpful and were a bit disappointed with the report from age 13--a lot of psycho babble that didn't make sense and didn't really reflect where our kid was at, from our observations.

Hmm, this gives me something to think about. It doesn't sound good if the reports get less helpful. I wonder if Ekdom's way of reporting has evolved into more technical manner, rather than practical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We recently had testing done with Suzie Muir in McLean and were very pleased, both with her interaction with DC and with the thoroughness of the report, which she subsequently spent signficant time walking us through and answering questions.

I looked at her website and she does seem to be very thorough with the educational aspect. Did she also test for other possible neurological symptoms, ex. anxiety, ODD, etc.?

[Anonymous]

We met with Dr. Christina Ralph at Mindwell Psychology - http://www.mindwellpsychology.com/ . We didn’t have them do the testing, as we already had a lot done through the school, we just had them look through everything the school had done and the reports they’d written for DS to advise if we needed more and whether there was anything more we should ask for to be put on our IEP. I could not have been more happy with Dr. Ralph. She asked for all our reports ahead of time and really read them in detail so I didn’t have to re-teach everything when I got there; although it would’ve been in her financial interest to recommend additional testing, she was very clear that she didn’t think we needed more or that she had anything that would give us extra information; and when DS's IEP was ready – two weeks after my appointment with Dr. Ralph and when she knew I wouldn’t be coming back for services – she STILL read the whole thing and gave me really good feedback and I didn’t have to pay any extra money.

I was interested in sticking with them for counseling services - but their location (Herndon or Chantilly, I forget) and my home were too far apart to make it convenient.

[Anonymous]

We met with Dr. Varia at Mindwell-and had the same experience as above. Tons of time talking us through what we already had done and then helped fill in the gaps. The report was incredibly comprehensive and she was really easy to talk to. My son kept wanting to go back because it was such a good experience. They don't take insurance though.

[Anonymous]

We met with Dr. Varia at Mindwell-and had the same experience as above. Tons of time talking us through what we already had done and then helped fill in the gaps. The report was incredibly comprehensive and she was really easy to talk to. My son kept wanting to go back because it was such a good experience. They don't take insurance though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We recently had testing done with Suzie Muir in McLean and were very pleased, both with her interaction with DC and with the thoroughness of the report, which she subsequently spent signficant time walking us through and answering questions.

I looked at her website and she does seem to be very thorough with the educational aspect. Did she also test for other possible neurological symptoms, ex. anxiety, ODD, etc.?

No, sorry, but we didn't ask her to, and I'm not sure those are DC's issues - we wanted some testing for school applications and also to update prior scores to see where DC stands. I'd talk to her to see whether she can help with other testing. In our experience, she was very prompt and honest in responding to questions. If she can't help, she'll say so, and she may be able to direct you elsewhere. If she can help, great, because we thought her whole approach was very professional but relaxed at the same time.