Neuropsych for 8yo?

[Anonymous]

OP, it is telling to me that your child received supports from 4-7 and now at 8 you still have concerns. That signals to me that while those supports were helpful that they didn't identify the underlying issues. For us, we had supports in place that we were going to stop because DC was doing so well. Then we got the autism diagnosis and that helped us understand why we need to keep up the services indefinitely. Even though they happened to be the right services (based on a combination of luck and good recommendations). If you don't know what is driving the issues it can be hard to know what your kid really needs.

[Anonymous]

Op here. It seems like a neuropsych could be valuable, but with the right evaluator (which we can’t really gaurentee given we’d go through our insurance). I think that’s what makes this tricky. And knowing some people get the wrong diagnosis.

And I wouldn’t say we’re really struggling (generally happy) but do have some struggles/differences, still.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A neuropsych won’t get you the information you want. I would start with therapy (for you as a parent to handle difficult behaviors) and go from there.

What? OP I’d ignore this comment because it is baseless. You can spend a lot of time and money on therapy and not really get anywhere. If you don’t know what you are dealing with/have the right therapist for what you need.

Absolutely untrue. The waste of time and money is on the expensive testing that isn’t actually necessary for a diagnosis or treatment. Good therapists are absolutely able to treat without a diagnosis - and good psychologists and psychiatrists in fact are quite cognizant of the fact that the diagnostic label can be of limited value in many cases. Plus the information gained in therapy is likely much better to diagnose something like anxiety or autism than a one-day batter of cognitive tests. Many many psychiatric symptoms in kids and adults are cross-diagnostic, particularly the ones OP describes.

If OP said her kid was having learning difficulties that might be a different story but she didn’t say that.

OP someone had a bad neuropsych experience and has an axe to grind. They do much more than test for learning disabilities.

I’m a different poster and we spent more than a year with a good therapist thinking we were treating in anxiety when in fact, it was anxiety and ADHD only hyperactive/impulsive which is somewhat rare, and a processing speed issue that was masked. It manifested in ways that are not typical of what most of the people think of for ADHD and our child is gifted so we had no academic issues. I am telling you it’s not always straightforward. Therapy does very little for ADHD and we needed a different course of action, a.k.a. meds. if your child is complex or you think many things can be a play, do yourself a favor and bite the bullet and get a nueropysch or at least other educational testing outside of a school testing so you know what you are dealing with.

I know more stories of people fumbling around with therapy and other things like OT, etc. only to eventually get to the point where they did a neuropsych and change their entire treatment plan based upon it. For some it was DBT, specialized tutoring, and for several, it therapy in combination with meds. (We happen to have a lot of family and friends with kids who have all sorts of combinations of dyslexia, ADHD, and anxiety.)

Nobody needs a “full neuropsych” to diagnose ADHD - in fact there is no cognitive test that diagnoses ADHD. You’re just wrong about this.

Oh, this is completely wrong. The processing speed and working memory portions of the WISC and WAIS are used as part of the battery of ADHD assessments. And there are other assessments included in many neuropsych batteries relevant to the diagnosis of ADHD, including the TOMAL and TOVA.

Thank you!!! ADHD can be really different depending on the kid. We have two and unfortunately with our first it was complicated and other things at play. Second was more straightforward w/ symptoms and we did not do a neuropsych.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. It seems like a neuropsych could be valuable, but with the right evaluator (which we can’t really gaurentee given we’d go through our insurance). I think that’s what makes this tricky. And knowing some people get the wrong diagnosis.

And I wouldn’t say we’re really struggling (generally happy) but do have some struggles/differences, still.

Straight talk: Chances are in a year or two you’ll wish you had based on your original post. That’s my guess. And if insurance is covering it, just do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. It seems like a neuropsych could be valuable, but with the right evaluator (which we can’t really gaurentee given we’d go through our insurance). I think that’s what makes this tricky. And knowing some people get the wrong diagnosis.

And I wouldn’t say we’re really struggling (generally happy) but do have some struggles/differences, still.

Straight talk: Chances are in a year or two you’ll wish you had based on your original post. That’s my guess. And if insurance is covering it, just do it.

Please stop giving blind advice to just do neuropsychological testing. I came here before we did ours and regretted it because we went unprepared. If you had a good experience, explain why it went well, so that OP can prepare properly before they do it if they decide to go forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. It seems like a neuropsych could be valuable, but with the right evaluator (which we can’t really gaurentee given we’d go through our insurance). I think that’s what makes this tricky. And knowing some people get the wrong diagnosis.

And I wouldn’t say we’re really struggling (generally happy) but do have some struggles/differences, still.

Straight talk: Chances are in a year or two you’ll wish you had based on your original post. That’s my guess. And if insurance is covering it, just do it.

Please stop giving blind advice to just do neuropsychological testing. I came here before we did ours and regretted it because we went unprepared. If you had a good experience, explain why it went well, so that OP can prepare properly before they do it if they decide to go forward.

I cannot see a single downside to private neuropsych if insurance is paying for it. I guess the worst possible outcome is feeling like you wasted 6 hours of your life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. It seems like a neuropsych could be valuable, but with the right evaluator (which we can’t really gaurentee given we’d go through our insurance). I think that’s what makes this tricky. And knowing some people get the wrong diagnosis.

And I wouldn’t say we’re really struggling (generally happy) but do have some struggles/differences, still.

Straight talk: Chances are in a year or two you’ll wish you had based on your original post. That’s my guess. And if insurance is covering it, just do it.

Please stop giving blind advice to just do neuropsychological testing. I came here before we did ours and regretted it because we went unprepared. If you had a good experience, explain why it went well, so that OP can prepare properly before they do it if they decide to go forward.

I cannot see a single downside to private neuropsych if insurance is paying for it. I guess the worst possible outcome is feeling like you wasted 6 hours of your life.

Seriously? Are you a parent?

You cannot see a single downside of a potentially poorly done neuropsych that gives wrong conclusions or a wrong diagnosis?

If anyone is going to do a neuropsych, whether they pay out of pocket or through insurance, they need to do their homework before going in. You are advertising it as something that you just sign up for and it magically gives you all the answers you were looking for. And that you can just ignore results if they don’t make sense. If you use insurance, and end up with a wrong diagnosis, that information will get recorded in the medical files.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. It seems like a neuropsych could be valuable, but with the right evaluator (which we can’t really gaurentee given we’d go through our insurance). I think that’s what makes this tricky. And knowing some people get the wrong diagnosis.

And I wouldn’t say we’re really struggling (generally happy) but do have some struggles/differences, still.

Straight talk: Chances are in a year or two you’ll wish you had based on your original post. That’s my guess. And if insurance is covering it, just do it.

Please stop giving blind advice to just do neuropsychological testing. I came here before we did ours and regretted it because we went unprepared. If you had a good experience, explain why it went well, so that OP can prepare properly before they do it if they decide to go forward.

I cannot see a single downside to private neuropsych if insurance is paying for it. I guess the worst possible outcome is feeling like you wasted 6 hours of your life.

Seriously? Are you a parent?

You cannot see a single downside of a potentially poorly done neuropsych that gives wrong conclusions or a wrong diagnosis?

If anyone is going to do a neuropsych, whether they pay out of pocket or through insurance, they need to do their homework before going in. You are advertising it as something that you just sign up for and it magically gives you all the answers you were looking for. And that you can just ignore results if they don’t make sense. If you use insurance, and end up with a wrong diagnosis, that information will get recorded in the medical files.

Yes, you can ignore the results if they don’t make sense. You don’t have to share the results with anyone, including the school, if you don’t want to. No medical interventions are recommended, just try-and-see environmental tweaks.

It would be one thing if you were making medication decisions on the basis of an eval, but you aren’t. The closest thing is taking the results to a psychiatrist and having them consider the results in deciding how to medicate your child.

The alternative is no battery of tests whatsoever. An absence of information in that area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. It seems like a neuropsych could be valuable, but with the right evaluator (which we can’t really gaurentee given we’d go through our insurance). I think that’s what makes this tricky. And knowing some people get the wrong diagnosis.

And I wouldn’t say we’re really struggling (generally happy) but do have some struggles/differences, still.

Straight talk: Chances are in a year or two you’ll wish you had based on your original post. That’s my guess. And if insurance is covering it, just do it.

Please stop giving blind advice to just do neuropsychological testing. I came here before we did ours and regretted it because we went unprepared. If you had a good experience, explain why it went well, so that OP can prepare properly before they do it if they decide to go forward.

I cannot see a single downside to private neuropsych if insurance is paying for it. I guess the worst possible outcome is feeling like you wasted 6 hours of your life.

Seriously? Are you a parent?

You cannot see a single downside of a potentially poorly done neuropsych that gives wrong conclusions or a wrong diagnosis?

If anyone is going to do a neuropsych, whether they pay out of pocket or through insurance, they need to do their homework before going in. You are advertising it as something that you just sign up for and it magically gives you all the answers you were looking for. And that you can just ignore results if they don’t make sense. If you use insurance, and end up with a wrong diagnosis, that information will get recorded in the medical files.

What does this even mean? When has an insurance company having a particular diagnostic code harmed anyone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. It seems like a neuropsych could be valuable, but with the right evaluator (which we can’t really gaurentee given we’d go through our insurance). I think that’s what makes this tricky. And knowing some people get the wrong diagnosis.

And I wouldn’t say we’re really struggling (generally happy) but do have some struggles/differences, still.

Straight talk: Chances are in a year or two you’ll wish you had based on your original post. That’s my guess. And if insurance is covering it, just do it.

Please stop giving blind advice to just do neuropsychological testing. I came here before we did ours and regretted it because we went unprepared. If you had a good experience, explain why it went well, so that OP can prepare properly before they do it if they decide to go forward.

I cannot see a single downside to private neuropsych if insurance is paying for it. I guess the worst possible outcome is feeling like you wasted 6 hours of your life.

Seriously? Are you a parent?

You cannot see a single downside of a potentially poorly done neuropsych that gives wrong conclusions or a wrong diagnosis?

If anyone is going to do a neuropsych, whether they pay out of pocket or through insurance, they need to do their homework before going in. You are advertising it as something that you just sign up for and it magically gives you all the answers you were looking for. And that you can just ignore results if they don’t make sense. If you use insurance, and end up with a wrong diagnosis, that information will get recorded in the medical files.

What does this even mean? When has an insurance company having a particular diagnostic code harmed anyone?

Before the Affordable Care Act, it could be life or death.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. It seems like a neuropsych could be valuable, but with the right evaluator (which we can’t really gaurentee given we’d go through our insurance). I think that’s what makes this tricky. And knowing some people get the wrong diagnosis.

And I wouldn’t say we’re really struggling (generally happy) but do have some struggles/differences, still.

Straight talk: Chances are in a year or two you’ll wish you had based on your original post. That’s my guess. And if insurance is covering it, just do it.

Please stop giving blind advice to just do neuropsychological testing. I came here before we did ours and regretted it because we went unprepared. If you had a good experience, explain why it went well, so that OP can prepare properly before they do it if they decide to go forward.

I cannot see a single downside to private neuropsych if insurance is paying for it. I guess the worst possible outcome is feeling like you wasted 6 hours of your life.

Seriously? Are you a parent?

You cannot see a single downside of a potentially poorly done neuropsych that gives wrong conclusions or a wrong diagnosis?

If anyone is going to do a neuropsych, whether they pay out of pocket or through insurance, they need to do their homework before going in. You are advertising it as something that you just sign up for and it magically gives you all the answers you were looking for. And that you can just ignore results if they don’t make sense. If you use insurance, and end up with a wrong diagnosis, that information will get recorded in the medical files.

What does this even mean? When has an insurance company having a particular diagnostic code harmed anyone?

Before the Affordable Care Act, it could be life or death.

And for the last 16+ years, it’s meant nothing…

[Anonymous]

PP whose dc had a neuropysch. The insurance company doesn't get the dx or a copy of the neuropysch. They pay the claim for the service-they don't read it and put it in the 'files'.

[Anonymous]

The real issues with incorrect diagnoses from a neuropsych could be:
1. Causing the child to receive ineffective treatment
2. It may be difficult to repeat the testing too soon due to practice effects
3. The time and energy spent including time off work and school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The real issues with incorrect diagnoses from a neuropsych could be:
1. Causing the child to receive ineffective treatment
2. It may be difficult to repeat the testing too soon due to practice effects
3. The time and energy spent including time off work and school

Are you more or less likely to get an incorrect diagnosis if you have a neuropsych eval as opposed to not having one? Seems like more information will always aid in proper diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The real issues with incorrect diagnoses from a neuropsych could be:
1. Causing the child to receive ineffective treatment
2. It may be difficult to repeat the testing too soon due to practice effects
3. The time and energy spent including time off work and school

Are you more or less likely to get an incorrect diagnosis if you have a neuropsych eval as opposed to not having one? Seems like more information will always aid in proper diagnosis.

Eventually sure. The extent to which harm occurs depends on different factors. For example focusing on compliance instead of skill building for an autistic kid can make things worse.