Neurospych Testing Recs- Who did you use and did you love them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about Kennedy Krieger?

Haven't used her but Dr. Alison Mostow at KKI was recommended to us.

.

“may benefit from” is more professionally accurate than “requires.”

I disagree. It's far more generic. A very big proportion of children "may benefit" from smaller classroom sizes and individualized instruction. But for children with certain profiles it may be the difference between staying on grade level or not, having meltdowns or not, ruined self esteem or not, school refusal down the line or not.

For "may benefit from" I can read a book on general topics about ASD children, listen to podcasts, chat on a forum like this one. Expecting clarity on what supports and settings your child needs is not outlandish. Providing this clarity is not unprofessional.

there are zero treatments that are so well proven that an expert can say they are “required.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about Kennedy Krieger?

Haven't used her but Dr. Alison Mostow at KKI was recommended to us.

She is a clinical psychologist, not Neurodevelopmental one. We had a 3 hr evaluation with her for a child of 5 and she explained the difference between her eval and full neuropsych. I found the results of testing informative and she was very attentive, but the report disappointed me a bit. It was basically a very careful record of everything we said at parents' intake, some stuff from other specialist reports we submitted and then test results. In terms of recommendations she endorsed everything we were already doing (truth be told, we are doing a lot), so I didn't come away with a sense of fine-tuned direction or understanding what we should do more of or less of.

An important note for those who need to lean on heavily on neuropsych results in IEP process - the KKI recommendations were phrased as "may benefit from", we asked to revise to a more persuasive language and got "xyz is recommended". This may depend on individual child's profile, but nothing in the report said "required" which is strange to me. My child is broadly at age expectation academically for K, but has AuDHD, dev. delay, general emotional immaturity and elevated anxiety scores. So with this report if we were doing K at public school, getting any service minutes would not be a given with this type of report. We did have a good parent feedback session and discussed all questions that we raised.

I have no issues with test results and am glad I was able to get my child tested by a reputable specialist at a place that takes our insurance, but I felt like for the next neuropsych whenever it happens to be, I will go with a different practice, privately. Also, KKI doesn't do 2 versions of report like some private practices do.

I think you are expecting to much. Evaluations and “neuropsychs” give you objective results based on normed instruments. Specific details and projections about what your particular kid needs are not really able to be discerned except on a general level for what the practitioner recommends for other kids with similar profiles. You need to work with therapists and schools to figure out what is really going to work for your child in practice.

I've been struggling with this conceptually over the years. Coordination of care. SLP can assess language, OT - her domain, ABA - behaviors. Who is supposed to look at the child wholistically and pin point issues that are not squarely in one of these? If there is limited time or resources, who can tell you how to prioritize or sequence interventions? Who is supposed to tell the family what tier 1 problems/goals are and which ones are tier 2 or 3? I was told that this is dev. ped. OK, we have a very nice one at Childrens but we see her every 8 months or so for 1 hr. Is she supposed to read reams of reports from other therapists to fully wrap her head around my child's profile and give this guidance to the family? It's not happening. She answers questions, confirms that we're generally on track, can recommend providers if we can't find a good one in a specific area, but doesn't tell me what to do in the next 12-18-24 months to support progress. I love all of our providers, but they are in private practice, nobody is going to say you can drop me to once in 2 weeks and ramp up hours with provider X in another domain. I am an educated professional who is committed to help my child, but I am a lay person in special needs domain, how am I supposed to figure it out? Neuropsych costs several thousand dollars and I "expect too much" because they are only accountable for reporting standartized test results for this money? Come on.

I mean of all those professionals, the neuropsych is the LEAST likely to give you some kind of prescription for what to do. They are testing your child’s functioning on standardized instruments, that’s it. They don’t know your kid, his family resources, the local school. And yes I fully agree that paying thousands for that is a waste which is why I advocate for going through insurance or the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school did a good one. Otherwise, anyone who takes your insurance. They are standardized, normed tests.

I strongly disagree, unless you get a rec for someone good who takes your insurance. This is the kind of thing where you want to feel like you've left no stone unturned, and fund it accordingly, even if it means being in some debt. This diagnosis will determine what kind of accommodations your child gets for the next several years as well as what medications, if any, a doctor will recommend. I would go with someone random to take out my child's tonsils, but not for this.

We worked with Dr. Elliott Blumenstein in Silver Spring. He was a total delight--easy to be with, open to questions, my son loved him, and he really opened our eyes. I can't say enough good things about him.

Most kids don’t need to leave “no stone unturned” because the issues just are not that complex. FWIW we got very similar results between Childrens, KKI and the school - these are normed instruments after all. And the diagnosis does NOT determine the accommodations! That’s totally backwards. Most people don’t have reams of $$ and in most cases are better served to save their money for therapies/tutoring. With the exception perhaps of learning disorders, developmental conditions severe enough to need testing are obvious and do not need to be “teased out.” If they are that “subtle” then the therapy approach is probably going to be pretty general.

tl;dr - developmental issues are not hidden and if they are, they are not actually developmental issues.

I find this take a little bizarre. What is a "general therapy approach"? That sounds like a money pit. Do you think kids with lower support needs don't deserve supports specific to their challenges? Or do you just think our kids are over diagnosed? Tell that to the many people whose teenage girls get a late diagnosis of autism when they are already experiencing severe mental health challenges due to the lack of supports that boys with similar issues are able to get much earlier.

It matters if social challenges are caused by anxiety or if the root is autism, and it's not that easy to tell especially since anxiety typically comes along with autism. We as parents absolutely needed that teased out in order to continue our child's supports after she had showed significant improvement.

I actually don't think there is any perceptible difference between social challenges in young children caused by anxiety vs autism.

I also don't think girls diagnosed in adolescence with autism have a neurodevelopmental condition that has much in common with that seen in three year old boys diagnosed with autism. I think there are a lot of different disabilities we have chosen to call autism, for some reason.

Almost all the little boys I know who were diagnosed with autism in toddlerhood and preschool have significant mental health issues as teens, so the supports they got throughout childhood didn't seem to prevent that aspect of autism. Unfortunately.

I am not saying everyone doesn't deserve support.

Experts in the field would strongly disagree with you on most of what you said. A kid with anxiety but not autism will perform differently on the ADOS than a kid with autism even if the kid with autism doesn't conform with your stereotypes about autistic kids. This is not an unstudied topic. You are not an authority on this so stop pontificating on the diagnoses of kids you've never met.

DP. Right so this whole thing of needing to shell out $7k to get an expert to “tease out” autism v anxiety is uneccesary. You can to to KKI or Childrens and have someone with the exact same training administer the exadt same normed test; but covered by insurance. Then you can take your $7k and spend it on something like an enriching SN camp or tutors instead.

1. Some people have insurance that will reimburse out of network costs at a certain percentage. We did and it was either wait indefinitely for a provider that takes insurance or get our kid tested within a few months and importantly, before kindergarten. Every situation is different.
2. You can rail online all you want about how stupid you think the notion of 'teasing out" autism is to you. I personally am glad I followed the advice of a wonderful therapist to seek an evaluator with expertise in autism in girls and my child is benefiting. It's weird as hell that my child getting the support she needs is so hilarious to you.
3. You seem to think administering and interpreting the tests is really easy. Sounds like you should break into the field. You could make a fortune!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about Kennedy Krieger?

Haven't used her but Dr. Alison Mostow at KKI was recommended to us.

She is a clinical psychologist, not Neurodevelopmental one. We had a 3 hr evaluation with her for a child of 5 and she explained the difference between her eval and full neuropsych. I found the results of testing informative and she was very attentive, but the report disappointed me a bit. It was basically a very careful record of everything we said at parents' intake, some stuff from other specialist reports we submitted and then test results. In terms of recommendations she endorsed everything we were already doing (truth be told, we are doing a lot), so I didn't come away with a sense of fine-tuned direction or understanding what we should do more of or less of.

An important note for those who need to lean on heavily on neuropsych results in IEP process - the KKI recommendations were phrased as "may benefit from", we asked to revise to a more persuasive language and got "xyz is recommended". This may depend on individual child's profile, but nothing in the report said "required" which is strange to me. My child is broadly at age expectation academically for K, but has AuDHD, dev. delay, general emotional immaturity and elevated anxiety scores. So with this report if we were doing K at public school, getting any service minutes would not be a given with this type of report. We did have a good parent feedback session and discussed all questions that we raised.

I have no issues with test results and am glad I was able to get my child tested by a reputable specialist at a place that takes our insurance, but I felt like for the next neuropsych whenever it happens to be, I will go with a different practice, privately. Also, KKI doesn't do 2 versions of report like some private practices do.

I think you are expecting to much. Evaluations and “neuropsychs” give you objective results based on normed instruments. Specific details and projections about what your particular kid needs are not really able to be discerned except on a general level for what the practitioner recommends for other kids with similar profiles. You need to work with therapists and schools to figure out what is really going to work for your child in practice.

I've been struggling with this conceptually over the years. Coordination of care. SLP can assess language, OT - her domain, ABA - behaviors. Who is supposed to look at the child wholistically and pin point issues that are not squarely in one of these? If there is limited time or resources, who can tell you how to prioritize or sequence interventions? Who is supposed to tell the family what tier 1 problems/goals are and which ones are tier 2 or 3? I was told that this is dev. ped. OK, we have a very nice one at Childrens but we see her every 8 months or so for 1 hr. Is she supposed to read reams of reports from other therapists to fully wrap her head around my child's profile and give this guidance to the family? It's not happening. She answers questions, confirms that we're generally on track, can recommend providers if we can't find a good one in a specific area, but doesn't tell me what to do in the next 12-18-24 months to support progress. I love all of our providers, but they are in private practice, nobody is going to say you can drop me to once in 2 weeks and ramp up hours with provider X in another domain. I am an educated professional who is committed to help my child, but I am a lay person in special needs domain, how am I supposed to figure it out? Neuropsych costs several thousand dollars and I "expect too much" because they are only accountable for reporting standartized test results for this money? Come on.

I mean of all those professionals, the neuropsych is the LEAST likely to give you some kind of prescription for what to do. They are testing your child’s functioning on standardized instruments, that’s it. They don’t know your kid, his family resources, the local school. And yes I fully agree that paying thousands for that is a waste which is why I advocate for going through insurance or the school.

Our evaluator got to know my kid pretty well through parent interviews, interview with her OT that sees her every week, school observation, student and teacher questionnaires and testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school did a good one. Otherwise, anyone who takes your insurance. They are standardized, normed tests.

I strongly disagree, unless you get a rec for someone good who takes your insurance. This is the kind of thing where you want to feel like you've left no stone unturned, and fund it accordingly, even if it means being in some debt. This diagnosis will determine what kind of accommodations your child gets for the next several years as well as what medications, if any, a doctor will recommend. I would go with someone random to take out my child's tonsils, but not for this.

We worked with Dr. Elliott Blumenstein in Silver Spring. He was a total delight--easy to be with, open to questions, my son loved him, and he really opened our eyes. I can't say enough good things about him.

Most kids don’t need to leave “no stone unturned” because the issues just are not that complex. FWIW we got very similar results between Childrens, KKI and the school - these are normed instruments after all. And the diagnosis does NOT determine the accommodations! That’s totally backwards. Most people don’t have reams of $$ and in most cases are better served to save their money for therapies/tutoring. With the exception perhaps of learning disorders, developmental conditions severe enough to need testing are obvious and do not need to be “teased out.” If they are that “subtle” then the therapy approach is probably going to be pretty general.

tl;dr - developmental issues are not hidden and if they are, they are not actually developmental issues.

I find this take a little bizarre. What is a "general therapy approach"? That sounds like a money pit. Do you think kids with lower support needs don't deserve supports specific to their challenges? Or do you just think our kids are over diagnosed? Tell that to the many people whose teenage girls get a late diagnosis of autism when they are already experiencing severe mental health challenges due to the lack of supports that boys with similar issues are able to get much earlier.

It matters if social challenges are caused by anxiety or if the root is autism, and it's not that easy to tell especially since anxiety typically comes along with autism. We as parents absolutely needed that teased out in order to continue our child's supports after she had showed significant improvement.

I actually don't think there is any perceptible difference between social challenges in young children caused by anxiety vs autism.

I also don't think girls diagnosed in adolescence with autism have a neurodevelopmental condition that has much in common with that seen in three year old boys diagnosed with autism. I think there are a lot of different disabilities we have chosen to call autism, for some reason.

Almost all the little boys I know who were diagnosed with autism in toddlerhood and preschool have significant mental health issues as teens, so the supports they got throughout childhood didn't seem to prevent that aspect of autism. Unfortunately.

I am not saying everyone doesn't deserve support.

Experts in the field would strongly disagree with you on most of what you said. A kid with anxiety but not autism will perform differently on the ADOS than a kid with autism even if the kid with autism doesn't conform with your stereotypes about autistic kids. This is not an unstudied topic. You are not an authority on this so stop pontificating on the diagnoses of kids you've never met.

DP. Right so this whole thing of needing to shell out $7k to get an expert to “tease out” autism v anxiety is uneccesary. You can to to KKI or Childrens and have someone with the exact same training administer the exadt same normed test; but covered by insurance. Then you can take your $7k and spend it on something like an enriching SN camp or tutors instead.

1. Some people have insurance that will reimburse out of network costs at a certain percentage. We did and it was either wait indefinitely for a provider that takes insurance or get our kid tested within a few months and importantly, before kindergarten. Every situation is different.
2. You can rail online all you want about how stupid you think the notion of 'teasing out" autism is to you. I personally am glad I followed the advice of a wonderful therapist to seek an evaluator with expertise in autism in girls and my child is benefiting. It's weird as hell that my child getting the support she needs is so hilarious to you.
3. You seem to think administering and interpreting the tests is really easy. Sounds like you should break into the field. You could make a fortune!

Let me be very clear: I think private providers are taking money from families without money to spare to provide a service with little utility that they could get for FREE on a short-term basis from their county/school, or covered by insurance on a longer term basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about Kennedy Krieger?

Haven't used her but Dr. Alison Mostow at KKI was recommended to us.

She is a clinical psychologist, not Neurodevelopmental one. We had a 3 hr evaluation with her for a child of 5 and she explained the difference between her eval and full neuropsych. I found the results of testing informative and she was very attentive, but the report disappointed me a bit. It was basically a very careful record of everything we said at parents' intake, some stuff from other specialist reports we submitted and then test results. In terms of recommendations she endorsed everything we were already doing (truth be told, we are doing a lot), so I didn't come away with a sense of fine-tuned direction or understanding what we should do more of or less of.

An important note for those who need to lean on heavily on neuropsych results in IEP process - the KKI recommendations were phrased as "may benefit from", we asked to revise to a more persuasive language and got "xyz is recommended". This may depend on individual child's profile, but nothing in the report said "required" which is strange to me. My child is broadly at age expectation academically for K, but has AuDHD, dev. delay, general emotional immaturity and elevated anxiety scores. So with this report if we were doing K at public school, getting any service minutes would not be a given with this type of report. We did have a good parent feedback session and discussed all questions that we raised.

I have no issues with test results and am glad I was able to get my child tested by a reputable specialist at a place that takes our insurance, but I felt like for the next neuropsych whenever it happens to be, I will go with a different practice, privately. Also, KKI doesn't do 2 versions of report like some private practices do.

I think you are expecting to much. Evaluations and “neuropsychs” give you objective results based on normed instruments. Specific details and projections about what your particular kid needs are not really able to be discerned except on a general level for what the practitioner recommends for other kids with similar profiles. You need to work with therapists and schools to figure out what is really going to work for your child in practice.

I've been struggling with this conceptually over the years. Coordination of care. SLP can assess language, OT - her domain, ABA - behaviors. Who is supposed to look at the child wholistically and pin point issues that are not squarely in one of these? If there is limited time or resources, who can tell you how to prioritize or sequence interventions? Who is supposed to tell the family what tier 1 problems/goals are and which ones are tier 2 or 3? I was told that this is dev. ped. OK, we have a very nice one at Childrens but we see her every 8 months or so for 1 hr. Is she supposed to read reams of reports from other therapists to fully wrap her head around my child's profile and give this guidance to the family? It's not happening. She answers questions, confirms that we're generally on track, can recommend providers if we can't find a good one in a specific area, but doesn't tell me what to do in the next 12-18-24 months to support progress. I love all of our providers, but they are in private practice, nobody is going to say you can drop me to once in 2 weeks and ramp up hours with provider X in another domain. I am an educated professional who is committed to help my child, but I am a lay person in special needs domain, how am I supposed to figure it out? Neuropsych costs several thousand dollars and I "expect too much" because they are only accountable for reporting standartized test results for this money? Come on.

I mean of all those professionals, the neuropsych is the LEAST likely to give you some kind of prescription for what to do. They are testing your child’s functioning on standardized instruments, that’s it. They don’t know your kid, his family resources, the local school. And yes I fully agree that paying thousands for that is a waste which is why I advocate for going through insurance or the school.

Our evaluator got to know my kid pretty well through parent interviews, interview with her OT that sees her every week, school observation, student and teacher questionnaires and testing.

that’s still an extremely narrow and static perspective to make projections or detailed recommendations about services.

[Anonymous]

We used mindwell and were happy. https://mindwell.us/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about Kennedy Krieger?

Haven't used her but Dr. Alison Mostow at KKI was recommended to us.

She is a clinical psychologist, not Neurodevelopmental one. We had a 3 hr evaluation with her for a child of 5 and she explained the difference between her eval and full neuropsych. I found the results of testing informative and she was very attentive, but the report disappointed me a bit. It was basically a very careful record of everything we said at parents' intake, some stuff from other specialist reports we submitted and then test results. In terms of recommendations she endorsed everything we were already doing (truth be told, we are doing a lot), so I didn't come away with a sense of fine-tuned direction or understanding what we should do more of or less of.

An important note for those who need to lean on heavily on neuropsych results in IEP process - the KKI recommendations were phrased as "may benefit from", we asked to revise to a more persuasive language and got "xyz is recommended". This may depend on individual child's profile, but nothing in the report said "required" which is strange to me. My child is broadly at age expectation academically for K, but has AuDHD, dev. delay, general emotional immaturity and elevated anxiety scores. So with this report if we were doing K at public school, getting any service minutes would not be a given with this type of report. We did have a good parent feedback session and discussed all questions that we raised.

I have no issues with test results and am glad I was able to get my child tested by a reputable specialist at a place that takes our insurance, but I felt like for the next neuropsych whenever it happens to be, I will go with a different practice, privately. Also, KKI doesn't do 2 versions of report like some private practices do.

I think you are expecting to much. Evaluations and “neuropsychs” give you objective results based on normed instruments. Specific details and projections about what your particular kid needs are not really able to be discerned except on a general level for what the practitioner recommends for other kids with similar profiles. You need to work with therapists and schools to figure out what is really going to work for your child in practice.

I've been struggling with this conceptually over the years. Coordination of care. SLP can assess language, OT - her domain, ABA - behaviors. Who is supposed to look at the child wholistically and pin point issues that are not squarely in one of these? If there is limited time or resources, who can tell you how to prioritize or sequence interventions? Who is supposed to tell the family what tier 1 problems/goals are and which ones are tier 2 or 3? I was told that this is dev. ped. OK, we have a very nice one at Childrens but we see her every 8 months or so for 1 hr. Is she supposed to read reams of reports from other therapists to fully wrap her head around my child's profile and give this guidance to the family? It's not happening. She answers questions, confirms that we're generally on track, can recommend providers if we can't find a good one in a specific area, but doesn't tell me what to do in the next 12-18-24 months to support progress. I love all of our providers, but they are in private practice, nobody is going to say you can drop me to once in 2 weeks and ramp up hours with provider X in another domain. I am an educated professional who is committed to help my child, but I am a lay person in special needs domain, how am I supposed to figure it out? Neuropsych costs several thousand dollars and I "expect too much" because they are only accountable for reporting standartized test results for this money? Come on.

I mean of all those professionals, the neuropsych is the LEAST likely to give you some kind of prescription for what to do. They are testing your child’s functioning on standardized instruments, that’s it. They don’t know your kid, his family resources, the local school. And yes I fully agree that paying thousands for that is a waste which is why I advocate for going through insurance or the school.

Our evaluator got to know my kid pretty well through parent interviews, interview with her OT that sees her every week, school observation, student and teacher questionnaires and testing.

that’s still an extremely narrow and static perspective to make projections or detailed recommendations about services.

It worked great for us. I can only speak to our experience. Evaluator really "got" our child and recommendations are super helpful.

It's true, our particular evaluator did not have a crystal ball. So we will likely be seeking another eval in 2-3 years. We hope to get it from the same person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school did a good one. Otherwise, anyone who takes your insurance. They are standardized, normed tests.

I strongly disagree, unless you get a rec for someone good who takes your insurance. This is the kind of thing where you want to feel like you've left no stone unturned, and fund it accordingly, even if it means being in some debt. This diagnosis will determine what kind of accommodations your child gets for the next several years as well as what medications, if any, a doctor will recommend. I would go with someone random to take out my child's tonsils, but not for this.

We worked with Dr. Elliott Blumenstein in Silver Spring. He was a total delight--easy to be with, open to questions, my son loved him, and he really opened our eyes. I can't say enough good things about him.

Most kids don’t need to leave “no stone unturned” because the issues just are not that complex. FWIW we got very similar results between Childrens, KKI and the school - these are normed instruments after all. And the diagnosis does NOT determine the accommodations! That’s totally backwards. Most people don’t have reams of $$ and in most cases are better served to save their money for therapies/tutoring. With the exception perhaps of learning disorders, developmental conditions severe enough to need testing are obvious and do not need to be “teased out.” If they are that “subtle” then the therapy approach is probably going to be pretty general.

tl;dr - developmental issues are not hidden and if they are, they are not actually developmental issues.

I find this take a little bizarre. What is a "general therapy approach"? That sounds like a money pit. Do you think kids with lower support needs don't deserve supports specific to their challenges? Or do you just think our kids are over diagnosed? Tell that to the many people whose teenage girls get a late diagnosis of autism when they are already experiencing severe mental health challenges due to the lack of supports that boys with similar issues are able to get much earlier.

It matters if social challenges are caused by anxiety or if the root is autism, and it's not that easy to tell especially since anxiety typically comes along with autism. We as parents absolutely needed that teased out in order to continue our child's supports after she had showed significant improvement.

I actually don't think there is any perceptible difference between social challenges in young children caused by anxiety vs autism.

I also don't think girls diagnosed in adolescence with autism have a neurodevelopmental condition that has much in common with that seen in three year old boys diagnosed with autism. I think there are a lot of different disabilities we have chosen to call autism, for some reason.

Almost all the little boys I know who were diagnosed with autism in toddlerhood and preschool have significant mental health issues as teens, so the supports they got throughout childhood didn't seem to prevent that aspect of autism. Unfortunately.

I am not saying everyone doesn't deserve support.

Experts in the field would strongly disagree with you on most of what you said. A kid with anxiety but not autism will perform differently on the ADOS than a kid with autism even if the kid with autism doesn't conform with your stereotypes about autistic kids. This is not an unstudied topic. You are not an authority on this so stop pontificating on the diagnoses of kids you've never met.

DP. Right so this whole thing of needing to shell out $7k to get an expert to “tease out” autism v anxiety is uneccesary. You can to to KKI or Childrens and have someone with the exact same training administer the exadt same normed test; but covered by insurance. Then you can take your $7k and spend it on something like an enriching SN camp or tutors instead.

1. Some people have insurance that will reimburse out of network costs at a certain percentage. We did and it was either wait indefinitely for a provider that takes insurance or get our kid tested within a few months and importantly, before kindergarten. Every situation is different.
2. You can rail online all you want about how stupid you think the notion of 'teasing out" autism is to you. I personally am glad I followed the advice of a wonderful therapist to seek an evaluator with expertise in autism in girls and my child is benefiting. It's weird as hell that my child getting the support she needs is so hilarious to you.
3. You seem to think administering and interpreting the tests is really easy. Sounds like you should break into the field. You could make a fortune!

Let me be very clear: I think private providers are taking money from families without money to spare to provide a service with little utility that they could get for FREE on a short-term basis from their county/school, or covered by insurance on a longer term basis.

I mean you don't even think my child's diagnosis is real, even though you've never met my child. Of course you think these alternatives are fine. You think it would be fine if my child didn't get a diagnosis. But that's not what's best for my family. I am grateful our insurance actually pays a full 80% of the cost, and I wish more families had this benefit.

And as someone who has had to deal with getting out of network claims approved through my insurance, I absolutely understand why certain providers don't take insurance. It's a massive waste of providers' time. I would much rather use providers that can focus their resources on serving my child, not paying someone to spend hours on the phone for insurance reps to gaslight them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school did a good one. Otherwise, anyone who takes your insurance. They are standardized, normed tests.

I strongly disagree, unless you get a rec for someone good who takes your insurance. This is the kind of thing where you want to feel like you've left no stone unturned, and fund it accordingly, even if it means being in some debt. This diagnosis will determine what kind of accommodations your child gets for the next several years as well as what medications, if any, a doctor will recommend. I would go with someone random to take out my child's tonsils, but not for this.

We worked with Dr. Elliott Blumenstein in Silver Spring. He was a total delight--easy to be with, open to questions, my son loved him, and he really opened our eyes. I can't say enough good things about him.

Most kids don’t need to leave “no stone unturned” because the issues just are not that complex. FWIW we got very similar results between Childrens, KKI and the school - these are normed instruments after all. And the diagnosis does NOT determine the accommodations! That’s totally backwards. Most people don’t have reams of $$ and in most cases are better served to save their money for therapies/tutoring. With the exception perhaps of learning disorders, developmental conditions severe enough to need testing are obvious and do not need to be “teased out.” If they are that “subtle” then the therapy approach is probably going to be pretty general.

tl;dr - developmental issues are not hidden and if they are, they are not actually developmental issues.

I find this take a little bizarre. What is a "general therapy approach"? That sounds like a money pit. Do you think kids with lower support needs don't deserve supports specific to their challenges? Or do you just think our kids are over diagnosed? Tell that to the many people whose teenage girls get a late diagnosis of autism when they are already experiencing severe mental health challenges due to the lack of supports that boys with similar issues are able to get much earlier.

It matters if social challenges are caused by anxiety or if the root is autism, and it's not that easy to tell especially since anxiety typically comes along with autism. We as parents absolutely needed that teased out in order to continue our child's supports after she had showed significant improvement.

I actually don't think there is any perceptible difference between social challenges in young children caused by anxiety vs autism.

I also don't think girls diagnosed in adolescence with autism have a neurodevelopmental condition that has much in common with that seen in three year old boys diagnosed with autism. I think there are a lot of different disabilities we have chosen to call autism, for some reason.

Almost all the little boys I know who were diagnosed with autism in toddlerhood and preschool have significant mental health issues as teens, so the supports they got throughout childhood didn't seem to prevent that aspect of autism. Unfortunately.

I am not saying everyone doesn't deserve support.

Experts in the field would strongly disagree with you on most of what you said. A kid with anxiety but not autism will perform differently on the ADOS than a kid with autism even if the kid with autism doesn't conform with your stereotypes about autistic kids. This is not an unstudied topic. You are not an authority on this so stop pontificating on the diagnoses of kids you've never met.

DP. Right so this whole thing of needing to shell out $7k to get an expert to “tease out” autism v anxiety is uneccesary. You can to to KKI or Childrens and have someone with the exact same training administer the exadt same normed test; but covered by insurance. Then you can take your $7k and spend it on something like an enriching SN camp or tutors instead.

1. Some people have insurance that will reimburse out of network costs at a certain percentage. We did and it was either wait indefinitely for a provider that takes insurance or get our kid tested within a few months and importantly, before kindergarten. Every situation is different.
2. You can rail online all you want about how stupid you think the notion of 'teasing out" autism is to you. I personally am glad I followed the advice of a wonderful therapist to seek an evaluator with expertise in autism in girls and my child is benefiting. It's weird as hell that my child getting the support she needs is so hilarious to you.
3. You seem to think administering and interpreting the tests is really easy. Sounds like you should break into the field. You could make a fortune!

Let me be very clear: I think private providers are taking money from families without money to spare to provide a service with little utility that they could get for FREE on a short-term basis from their county/school, or covered by insurance on a longer term basis.

I mean you don't even think my child's diagnosis is real, even though you've never met my child. Of course you think these alternatives are fine. You think it would be fine if my child didn't get a diagnosis. But that's not what's best for my family. I am grateful our insurance actually pays a full 80% of the cost, and I wish more families had this benefit.

And as someone who has had to deal with getting out of network claims approved through my insurance, I absolutely understand why certain providers don't take insurance. It's a massive waste of providers' time. I would much rather use providers that can focus their resources on serving my child, not paying someone to spend hours on the phone for insurance reps to gaslight them.

I didn’t say it wasn’t real …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school did a good one. Otherwise, anyone who takes your insurance. They are standardized, normed tests.

I strongly disagree, unless you get a rec for someone good who takes your insurance. This is the kind of thing where you want to feel like you've left no stone unturned, and fund it accordingly, even if it means being in some debt. This diagnosis will determine what kind of accommodations your child gets for the next several years as well as what medications, if any, a doctor will recommend. I would go with someone random to take out my child's tonsils, but not for this.

We worked with Dr. Elliott Blumenstein in Silver Spring. He was a total delight--easy to be with, open to questions, my son loved him, and he really opened our eyes. I can't say enough good things about him.

Most kids don’t need to leave “no stone unturned” because the issues just are not that complex. FWIW we got very similar results between Childrens, KKI and the school - these are normed instruments after all. And the diagnosis does NOT determine the accommodations! That’s totally backwards. Most people don’t have reams of $$ and in most cases are better served to save their money for therapies/tutoring. With the exception perhaps of learning disorders, developmental conditions severe enough to need testing are obvious and do not need to be “teased out.” If they are that “subtle” then the therapy approach is probably going to be pretty general.

tl;dr - developmental issues are not hidden and if they are, they are not actually developmental issues.

I find this take a little bizarre. What is a "general therapy approach"? That sounds like a money pit. Do you think kids with lower support needs don't deserve supports specific to their challenges? Or do you just think our kids are over diagnosed? Tell that to the many people whose teenage girls get a late diagnosis of autism when they are already experiencing severe mental health challenges due to the lack of supports that boys with similar issues are able to get much earlier.

It matters if social challenges are caused by anxiety or if the root is autism, and it's not that easy to tell especially since anxiety typically comes along with autism. We as parents absolutely needed that teased out in order to continue our child's supports after she had showed significant improvement.

I actually don't think there is any perceptible difference between social challenges in young children caused by anxiety vs autism.

I also don't think girls diagnosed in adolescence with autism have a neurodevelopmental condition that has much in common with that seen in three year old boys diagnosed with autism. I think there are a lot of different disabilities we have chosen to call autism, for some reason.

Almost all the little boys I know who were diagnosed with autism in toddlerhood and preschool have significant mental health issues as teens, so the supports they got throughout childhood didn't seem to prevent that aspect of autism. Unfortunately.

I am not saying everyone doesn't deserve support.

Experts in the field would strongly disagree with you on most of what you said. A kid with anxiety but not autism will perform differently on the ADOS than a kid with autism even if the kid with autism doesn't conform with your stereotypes about autistic kids. This is not an unstudied topic. You are not an authority on this so stop pontificating on the diagnoses of kids you've never met.

DP. Right so this whole thing of needing to shell out $7k to get an expert to “tease out” autism v anxiety is uneccesary. You can to to KKI or Childrens and have someone with the exact same training administer the exadt same normed test; but covered by insurance. Then you can take your $7k and spend it on something like an enriching SN camp or tutors instead.

1. Some people have insurance that will reimburse out of network costs at a certain percentage. We did and it was either wait indefinitely for a provider that takes insurance or get our kid tested within a few months and importantly, before kindergarten. Every situation is different.
2. You can rail online all you want about how stupid you think the notion of 'teasing out" autism is to you. I personally am glad I followed the advice of a wonderful therapist to seek an evaluator with expertise in autism in girls and my child is benefiting. It's weird as hell that my child getting the support she needs is so hilarious to you.
3. You seem to think administering and interpreting the tests is really easy. Sounds like you should break into the field. You could make a fortune!

Let me be very clear: I think private providers are taking money from families without money to spare to provide a service with little utility that they could get for FREE on a short-term basis from their county/school, or covered by insurance on a longer term basis.

I mean you don't even think my child's diagnosis is real, even though you've never met my child. Of course you think these alternatives are fine. You think it would be fine if my child didn't get a diagnosis. But that's not what's best for my family. I am grateful our insurance actually pays a full 80% of the cost, and I wish more families had this benefit.

And as someone who has had to deal with getting out of network claims approved through my insurance, I absolutely understand why certain providers don't take insurance. It's a massive waste of providers' time. I would much rather use providers that can focus their resources on serving my child, not paying someone to spend hours on the phone for insurance reps to gaslight them.

I didn’t say it wasn’t real …

So you're not the poster that said "developmental issues are not hidden and if they are, they are not actually developmental issues."? Sorry it's hard to keep track of which AH I am responding to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about Kennedy Krieger?

Haven't used her but Dr. Alison Mostow at KKI was recommended to us.

.

“may benefit from” is more professionally accurate than “requires.”

I disagree. It's far more generic. A very big proportion of children "may benefit" from smaller classroom sizes and individualized instruction. But for children with certain profiles it may be the difference between staying on grade level or not, having meltdowns or not, ruined self esteem or not, school refusal down the line or not.

For "may benefit from" I can read a book on general topics about ASD children, listen to podcasts, chat on a forum like this one. Expecting clarity on what supports and settings your child needs is not outlandish. Providing this clarity is not unprofessional.

You yourself said that your child is broadly on level in kindergarten - maybe your child doesn't "require" very specific interventions in order to function at school. "May benefit" might fit. You seem to be generalizing your child's evaluation to an entire practice.

I have two child who have been tested for different conditions - one with significant needs and one with mild ADHD. For the first, I have had evaluations say that he needs very specific supports in order to function. For the second, I had many "may benefit" type of recommendations, which absolutely fit. Recommendations are individualized to your child. It sounds like you wanted strongly worded recommendations to convince the school. An evaluation is a reflection of what the professional thinks based on their assessment - not on what the parent wants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stixrud. Yes. They really got our kid and wrote so beautifully about the challenges of living with autism that several other people (counselors, school staff) saved portions to quote in other contexts to help neurotypical folks understand similar challenges in kids of this profile.

Which specialist did you work with at Stixrud?

Megan Doyle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school did a good one. Otherwise, anyone who takes your insurance. They are standardized, normed tests.

I strongly disagree, unless you get a rec for someone good who takes your insurance. This is the kind of thing where you want to feel like you've left no stone unturned, and fund it accordingly, even if it means being in some debt. This diagnosis will determine what kind of accommodations your child gets for the next several years as well as what medications, if any, a doctor will recommend. I would go with someone random to take out my child's tonsils, but not for this.

We worked with Dr. Elliott Blumenstein in Silver Spring. He was a total delight--easy to be with, open to questions, my son loved him, and he really opened our eyes. I can't say enough good things about him.

Most kids don’t need to leave “no stone unturned” because the issues just are not that complex. FWIW we got very similar results between Childrens, KKI and the school - these are normed instruments after all. And the diagnosis does NOT determine the accommodations! That’s totally backwards. Most people don’t have reams of $$ and in most cases are better served to save their money for therapies/tutoring. With the exception perhaps of learning disorders, developmental conditions severe enough to need testing are obvious and do not need to be “teased out.” If they are that “subtle” then the therapy approach is probably going to be pretty general.

tl;dr - developmental issues are not hidden and if they are, they are not actually developmental issues.

I find this take a little bizarre. What is a "general therapy approach"? That sounds like a money pit. Do you think kids with lower support needs don't deserve supports specific to their challenges? Or do you just think our kids are over diagnosed? Tell that to the many people whose teenage girls get a late diagnosis of autism when they are already experiencing severe mental health challenges due to the lack of supports that boys with similar issues are able to get much earlier.

It matters if social challenges are caused by anxiety or if the root is autism, and it's not that easy to tell especially since anxiety typically comes along with autism. We as parents absolutely needed that teased out in order to continue our child's supports after she had showed significant improvement.

I actually don't think there is any perceptible difference between social challenges in young children caused by anxiety vs autism.

I also don't think girls diagnosed in adolescence with autism have a neurodevelopmental condition that has much in common with that seen in three year old boys diagnosed with autism. I think there are a lot of different disabilities we have chosen to call autism, for some reason.

Almost all the little boys I know who were diagnosed with autism in toddlerhood and preschool have significant mental health issues as teens, so the supports they got throughout childhood didn't seem to prevent that aspect of autism. Unfortunately.

I am not saying everyone doesn't deserve support.

Experts in the field would strongly disagree with you on most of what you said. A kid with anxiety but not autism will perform differently on the ADOS than a kid with autism even if the kid with autism doesn't conform with your stereotypes about autistic kids. This is not an unstudied topic. You are not an authority on this so stop pontificating on the diagnoses of kids you've never met.

DP. Right so this whole thing of needing to shell out $7k to get an expert to “tease out” autism v anxiety is uneccesary. You can to to KKI or Childrens and have someone with the exact same training administer the exadt same normed test; but covered by insurance. Then you can take your $7k and spend it on something like an enriching SN camp or tutors instead.

1. Some people have insurance that will reimburse out of network costs at a certain percentage. We did and it was either wait indefinitely for a provider that takes insurance or get our kid tested within a few months and importantly, before kindergarten. Every situation is different.
2. You can rail online all you want about how stupid you think the notion of 'teasing out" autism is to you. I personally am glad I followed the advice of a wonderful therapist to seek an evaluator with expertise in autism in girls and my child is benefiting. It's weird as hell that my child getting the support she needs is so hilarious to you.
3. You seem to think administering and interpreting the tests is really easy. Sounds like you should break into the field. You could make a fortune!

Let me be very clear: I think private providers are taking money from families without money to spare to provide a service with little utility that they could get for FREE on a short-term basis from their county/school, or covered by insurance on a longer term basis.

And when the school never flags anything and doesn’t offer any services or testing because your child is on grade level but you know that your child’s development is atypical? You can cast wide ranging aspersions on systems you think aren’t working efficiently but for those of us without options in the school system this testing provided essential answers: late diagnosed autism (age 11 in a girl) + dyslexia and dysgraphia.

Lots was missed during the pandemic homeschooling. Anymore to get services at MCPS you need to be failing or having massive behavioral problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about Kennedy Krieger?

Haven't used her but Dr. Alison Mostow at KKI was recommended to us.

.

“may benefit from” is more professionally accurate than “requires.”

I disagree. It's far more generic. A very big proportion of children "may benefit" from smaller classroom sizes and individualized instruction. But for children with certain profiles it may be the difference between staying on grade level or not, having meltdowns or not, ruined self esteem or not, school refusal down the line or not.

For "may benefit from" I can read a book on general topics about ASD children, listen to podcasts, chat on a forum like this one. Expecting clarity on what supports and settings your child needs is not outlandish. Providing this clarity is not unprofessional.

You yourself said that your child is broadly on level in kindergarten - maybe your child doesn't "require" very specific interventions in order to function at school. "May benefit" might fit. You seem to be generalizing your child's evaluation to an entire practice.

I have two child who have been tested for different conditions - one with significant needs and one with mild ADHD. For the first, I have had evaluations say that he needs very specific supports in order to function. For the second, I had many "may benefit" type of recommendations, which absolutely fit. Recommendations are individualized to your child. It sounds like you wanted strongly worded recommendations to convince the school. An evaluation is a reflection of what the professional thinks based on their assessment - not on what the parent wants.

I am speaking about my specific experience with evaluation and my perception of it, answering directly the topic question. I also put my child's diagnosis up front, it's a complex profile with some strengths and some distinct weaknesses, he's been in 20+ hours of early interventions weekly since age 2.5. IEP is a completely moot point for us, because he'll be going to a specialized private school, but for people who go to KKI because it takes insurance and who have to put their child in a public school due to not being able to afford private - they need to know that they may not receive what they need for IEP advocacy. Maybe some do, I don't know. In my experience, the formulation of needed supports sounded too soft. YMMV.