How much is a psychoed report?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone: My son received a dx of ADHD from the NIH study in 2011 when he was 5 years old. When he went to public school in K, he did well b/c he had great teachers (I spoke to the principal and she would give me teachers good with "boys who need to move etc.". Now he is in the 3rd grade and having way more difficulty attending and being somewhat disruptive. I don't care about grades per se, but he is getting "I" grades in public school when he could definitely do better. I called the school counselor to try and get a 504 meeting so he could have formalized accommodations (this on the heels of the fact that his teachers called me in and said he was constantly fidgeting, moving, talking etc.). The school has had the NIH report since he started school. Now that I am asking for a 504, the school psychologist is saying that I need updated testing. How often do kids need to get re-tested to see if they have ADHD?

I am so confused-- I thought you would automatically get a 504 if you have a dx of ADHD (when I tried to get accomomdations in the fist grade, they said he was "doing too well." )So, do I now have to go out and get a private psychoed- or neuro report? I know people go to Stixrud and the cost is huge. I would love any input. I'm not asking for an IEP b/c I know he would not qualify. I would just like to ensure that he has some accommodations. I live with the kid-- I know he has attentional and executive functioning concerns. It's amazing he has done well in the past sans medication. Now we are at the point where we are considering medication, but of course that is a big step etc.

Thanks for any input. If testing is a necessity, of course I will pay. Do the public schools test and if so, are they remotely quality compared to private. I thought school psychologists can't dx with ADHD.... forgive me if I sound ignorant! I just wanted to check in with others who know more about this process as a parent than I do. Thank you in advance!

[Anonymous]

Ours was $3000 out of pocket. But we are not in a public school. If he's having more trouble, you might just try medication first. You might not need a 504 at all.

[Anonymous]

I got a quote of $2200.

[Anonymous]

Our public school gives psyched evals as part of their evaluation process. Email the principal and cc'd the sp Ed dept asking for an evaluation. This is done at no cost to parents.

To be current, the evaluation cannot be more than 3 yrs old. This is why there is a reevaluation every three yrs for IEPs.

If he is in 3rd grade, I would strongly recommend a full neuropsych eval rather than just a psyched especially since you already know he has ADHD.

[Anonymous]

OP here: Can you clarify.... what's the difference between a neuropsych and a psycho ed. Is it that the latter has more educational tests like the woodcock johnson? But public schools can't do a neuro report right?

[Anonymous]

Good explanation here https://tip.duke.edu/node/874

Schools can do either but often do not do as many subtests and some parents like to select the evaluator rather than rely on district staff.

[Anonymous]

I don't always trust the public testing, but you should request the updated testing to be done by the school district. That shouldn't be a problem because they are actually asking you for it so clearly it's needed. The reports are only good for 3 years. That makes a lot of sense since kids develop a lot in 3 years. Yes, hypothetically you can't outgrow ADHD, but it could be more than "just" that or it could be something else that looked like ADHD when he was younger. From what you write, it sounds like ADHD, but that's how it works.

It would certainly be worth to try the free testing first. Again, as I said, request it in writing so the time clock starts when that happens.

I'm not sure why you say no IEP. If his problems are causing him to get lower grades than he "should" get based on his actual potential, then that is by definition a problem that could be addressed by an IEP. It's possible that 504 accommodations could do the trick, but he might need some pull-out or push-in 1:1, redirection, etc. to bring him up to grade level. A "1" is not grade level.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of your comments. I guess I don't think he would need an IEP bc he doesn't have a language disorder, dyslexia or non-verbal learning disability. He hasn't been tested, but there's no concern for this. But maybe I just don't know much about public school options....I think I would like to try to free testing first. Thx for suggesting putting it in writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for all of your comments. I guess I don't think he would need an IEP bc he doesn't have a language disorder, dyslexia or non-verbal learning disability. He hasn't been tested, but there's no concern for this. But maybe I just don't know much about public school options....I think I would like to try to free testing first. Thx for suggesting putting it in writing.

Sounds like a good plan.

Best of luck OP

[Anonymous]

Diagnosis must be current, less than a year old. You need to update it. Never trust the school's testing, because their "psychologists" are not PhDs and don't have the resources to evaluate children properly.

My son was given an IEP upon entering K based on his ADHD diagnosis. The school has been extremely helpful, which is the exception for an MCPS school! Usually parents have to fight every step of the way.

1. You get an updated diagnosis. We paid Stixrud $3,200 for a full neuropsychological evaluation when my son was 10 (parent interview, 8 hours of testing, feedback interview to explain the results). However I do not recommend such a long-drawn out process for a younger child. When he was 5, we got an ADHD diagnosis with a few hours of testing done by a reputable developmental pediatrician. $700. It is essential to re-evaluate every few years, because children change.

2. You contact the school to ask for an IEP meeting. You obtain the IEP on the strengths of the recommendations the psych or dev. ped. makes in his report. You ask for X, Y, Z services at school.

3. At the start of every school year, you send the IEP as well as a readable digest of accommodations to the new teacher, because they either are not made acquainted with their students' IEPs by the school admin, or they don't read them... but anyway they need to be aware of his needs, so you have to do it.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Good ones should be done over a period of 3 days (not that the test runs that long but so the child is fresh every day) and run at least $3K, most not covered by insurance (at least in our case).