Developmental pediatrician Dr. Conlon?

[Anonymous]

Just curious for those who went to Dr Conlon for a 1st time developmental evaluation. Presumably a doctor conducting a developmental evaluation can advise possibly that nothing is wrong, they do not know what is wrong, a child may have some issues, but not necessarily a disorder, they suspect a child has a disorder, they diagnose a disorder or they need more time and perhaps other specialists to really explain the problem, or they want to take a wait and see attitude. I don't know if all evaluations always necessarily result in a diagnosis, but how careful is Conlon with making a diagnosis?

[Anonymous]

I'm the 6/1 19:42 poster. In our case, Dr. Conlon has been cautious in assigning a fixed diagnosis for our developmentally delayed daughter, because she's so young (now 2), though he did give us a generic diagnosis for insurance purposes. He's been more focused on helping us identify the right treatments/interventions than the diagnosis itself. I've found him to be very flexible in his approach to treatments - he's very current with what's being discussed and studied in the medical research and autism communities alike. As a medical professional he seems to adhere to the American Academy of Pediatrics standards (i.e., wait until age three for an autism diagnosis) and current medical research to inform his recommendations, yet doesn't discount -indeed, he supports - approaches like floortime and dietary intervention that haven't (yet) been scientifically proven to work. For example, he doesn't come down one way or the other in the ABA versus Floortime debate. He rather recommends what he thinks will work best for an individual child.

Dr. Conlon is not shy about referring us to other specialists or for additional testing to gather more information to inform his evaluation. He seems to be a very self-aware individual who would have no qualms saying he doesn't know something or referring you to others who might be able to help. He hasn't demonstrated any ego - in our experience he's been very focused on what's best for the patient.

[Anonymous]

We've been seeing Dr. Conlon for 8 years now and I love talking to him and his ideas for my child. He does not regularly return phone calls unless I harass him for weeks. Reports take months to get. BUT when push came to shove and I had a tough eligibility case for school services he wrote a letter which was absolute perfection and has carried us through now 3 eligibility meetings (K, 2nd, and 5th grade). He's realistic but also optimistic. Paying OOP doesn't thrill me but he's worth it if you are more interested in what he says vs needing reports in a timely fashion.

[Anonymous]

KK in my opinion has no clue what they are doing when it comes to regulatory disorders. Yes, they MIGHT be able to diagnose autism spectrum disorders IF your child is exhibiting classic symptoms. But if your child has SOME symptoms but isn't having other symptoms, they are going to dump him into the PDD category, though he might not be PDD at all. This is because they are unable to distinguish a regulatory disorder from an autism spectrum disorder. I know, I took DS there. DS was mildly affected. They could not properly diagnose him. They were baffled. So I took him to Dr. Stanley Greenspan (bethesda psychiatrist). We really had to stretch our budget to pay for that appointment but he was able to properly diagnose DS as having a mild regulatory disorder, NOT an autism spectrum disorder and not PDD. He explained what the differences were so clearly.
While KK has a great reputation, they really are not the best for diagnosing kids who have the milder symptoms. A rare tantrum, one obsession only, mild rigidity, slightly delayed speech, undersensitivity or oversensitivity to a couple things only all might be categorized as mild. So in these cases I'd go to Dr. Greenspan and not KK. For classic symptoms of ASD, frequent tantrums, no speech or very little speech, no eye contact or minimal eyecontact, extremely sensitive, etc..etc..it'd be fine to go to KK.
Just my two cents.

[Anonymous]

So where does Conlon fall compared to a place like kk and greenspan? Does conlon also get regulatory issues and sensory issues and really taking the time to look at the child and their emotional connections over symptoms and checklists?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've been seeing Dr. Conlon for 8 years now and I love talking to him and his ideas for my child. He does not regularly return phone calls unless I harass him for weeks. Reports take months to get. BUT when push came to shove and I had a tough eligibility case for school services he wrote a letter which was absolute perfection and has carried us through now 3 eligibility meetings (K, 2nd, and 5th grade). He's realistic but also optimistic. Paying OOP doesn't thrill me but he's worth it if you are more interested in what he says vs needing reports in a timely fashion.

I totally agree with this. We, too, had a tough eligibility case (kindergarten) and were working with an educational consultant (Dr. Ruth Heitin who was fantastic). He really came through for us and we couldn't be more grateful. Our son LOVES him and Dr. Conlon really understood him in a very short amount of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So where does Conlon fall compared to a place like kk and greenspan? Does conlon also get regulatory issues and sensory issues and really taking the time to look at the child and their emotional connections over symptoms and checklists?

IMO, this is really a tough call. I don't know that you can really say one is better than another because it really depends on the child. There's so much co-morbidity and overlap of issues that it's hard to determine if at a particular moment in time a certain behavior is caused by ADHD, regulatory or sensory issues. For us, (I just posted about Dr. Conlon coming through for us at a tough kindergarten eligibility meeting) it took us a while to get to Dr. Conlon. We saw several other specialists first as we were trying to find out what was going on. Up to meeting Dr. Conlon, we were mostly learning what was not wrong with our child (no ASD, no PDD, no auditory processing issues, etc.). Dr. Conlon was really able to connect with our then 5 year old and in a very short time really seemed to understand what he was about. Our child still talks about wanting to go back and play with him. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

to the PP. who is KK? Where are your children who have regulatory disorders going to school? Thanks

[Anonymous]

I am just starting to look into getting an evaluation for my daughter (2.5 yr). She is displaying some "unusual" traits such as constantly stacking, sorting, arranging, etc. She very much plays alone and only makes close connections with me. In additon, her speech has not progressed in the past three or more months. Does anyone have advice of sites I could look at to learn more about possible disorders???? Also, I am attempting to get an appointment w/Dr. Conlon, but any suggestions of others who would be good for an initial eval???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am just starting to look into getting an evaluation for my daughter (2.5 yr). She is displaying some "unusual" traits such as constantly stacking, sorting, arranging, etc. She very much plays alone and only makes close connections with me. In additon, her speech has not progressed in the past three or more months. Does anyone have advice of sites I could look at to learn more about possible disorders???? Also, I am attempting to get an appointment w/Dr. Conlon, but any suggestions of others who would be good for an initial eval???

Where are you located? My first thought is to start with your local government's Early Intervention program which will provide free evaluations by a multi-discplinary team. It's a good place to start while you're lining up appointments with other specialists. We started with Fairfax County's Infant Toddler Connection and then transitioned to Child Find. Because your daughter is 2.5, you'd start with Child Find http://www.fcps.edu/dss/sei/preschool/childfind/overview.htm

You don't provide enough information to offer an opinion on disorders. What you describe could be a number of things and could also just be normal. You could also start looking for an Occupational Therapist to do an evaluation. OT is used to address many disorders. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am just starting to look into getting an evaluation for my daughter (2.5 yr). She is displaying some "unusual" traits such as constantly stacking, sorting, arranging, etc. She very much plays alone and only makes close connections with me. In additon, her speech has not progressed in the past three or more months. Does anyone have advice of sites I could look at to learn more about possible disorders???? Also, I am attempting to get an appointment w/Dr. Conlon, but any suggestions of others who would be good for an initial eval???

Where are you located? My first thought is to start with your local government's Early Intervention program which will provide free evaluations by a multi-discplinary team. It's a good place to start while you're lining up appointments with other specialists. We started with Fairfax County's Infant Toddler Connection and then transitioned to Child Find. Because your daughter is 2.5, you'd start with Child Find http://www.fcps.edu/dss/sei/preschool/childfind/overview.htm

You don't provide enough information to offer an opinion on disorders. What you describe could be a number of things and could also just be normal. You could also start looking for an Occupational Therapist to do an evaluation. OT is used to address many disorders. Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback. I am in Loudoun County; Have had some experience w/county services and was not impressed. My daughter is a twin who was born extremely premature. I realize there are some expected delays, but I can't decide if her repetitive play is normal or a sign of something bigger. She also does a lot of self-soothing when over-stimulated by noise, etc. Next to my other children, she does not interact w/others and does not handle w/change. I am probably being over-cautious, but I would hate it if I ignored something that was a "red flag".

[Anonymous]

These do sound like red flags though. I would see DIR Support Services in Bethesda. Ask for Jake.

[Anonymous]

I'm 10:30. I think you're correct in looking for more information. They do sound like warning signs and I don't blame you for being unimpressed with your county's early intervention services. We've got two kids in the system and it's interesting (and disappointing) that we've have very different experiences with the two kids. I think getting an OT evaluation would be a good place to start. I wouldn't discourage you from getting an appointment with a neurodevelopmental pediatrician - it usually takes months to get an appointment. It can sometimes take a while to get an OT eval but not as long as with a specialist. If you get a good OT evaluation and your daughter is just on the late side of normal, great. You can always cancel the appointment with the specialist. I don't know any service providers in Loudon County but our case worker with the the county's early intervention services was able to give me their list of providers. If you can get a list from your case manager, you might get some good leads on providers. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 10:30. I think you're correct in looking for more information. They do sound like warning signs and I don't blame you for being unimpressed with your county's early intervention services. We've got two kids in the system and it's interesting (and disappointing) that we've have very different experiences with the two kids. I think getting an OT evaluation would be a good place to start. I wouldn't discourage you from getting an appointment with a neurodevelopmental pediatrician - it usually takes months to get an appointment. It can sometimes take a while to get an OT eval but not as long as with a specialist. If you get a good OT evaluation and your daughter is just on the late side of normal, great. You can always cancel the appointment with the specialist. I don't know any service providers in Loudon County but our case worker with the the county's early intervention services was able to give me their list of providers. If you can get a list from your case manager, you might get some good leads on providers. Good luck!

what county are you in? Just curious about EI programs. Montgomery County has been great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what county are you in? Just curious about EI programs. Montgomery County has been great.

I'm in Fairfax County. Our experience with Infant Toddler Connection and our then 15 month old was great - although the county social worker told my husband that she suspected our child was on the austism spectrum. Not only is she unqualified to make that determination, it's not correct. But, in an organization that large, you're bound to encounter someone like her. The other staff, paticularly the multi-disciplinary team that evaluated him at 15 months was fantastic. We also loved the therapists. The transition from ITC to Child Find went smoothly and the staff at the Lorton office were great.

By the time we suspected our oldest had issues (then 4.5), he was too old for ITC and we contacted Child Find through the school in our district (as we're supposed to do). We were told that because he would be "kindergarten eligible" in the fall we had to wait until he started Kindergarten. That was untrue. Dealing with them was nowhere near as easy as it had been with ITC. It was like pulling teeth which isn't what you want to have to do when you suspect something might be wrong with your kid. We ended up doing everything privately. Not everyone has the means to do that and, let me tell you, it's not easy. What's funny is at the same time, we were working on getting our youngest into the Special Ed Preschool. It couldn't have gone more smoothly.