ADD/ADHD evaluation

[Anonymous]

Hello All,

I am looking for options--actually information to where to start ADD/ADHD evaluation process for my 6 1/2 years old daughter. I am completely new to this process, so any suggestions/recommendations would be a great help.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Stixrud group

[Anonymous]

Why do you want the evaluation? No seriously you want to reflect on this. Answers might be: you want a diagnosis so you can get an IEP and line up other interventions; you want to better understand and connect with your child because what you are trying now doesn't work; you want a meds Rx; you are trying to find the right school for your child. Think about your answer because it affects how many tests you want from your neuropsych eval, how long you can wait (such as on a wait list), and what you need the final report to say.

[Anonymous]

I started by researching which providers accept our insurance and narrowed it down from there. There was a 4 month wait for the initial appointment, but after that there weren’t lengthy waits for the following two appointments. Once we received the diagnosis we were advised to find both a therapist for behavioral therapy and a psychiatrist if we wanted to medicate.

[Anonymous]

You have several options.

1. You can request an evaluation through your school.

2. You can request an evaluation by your pediatrician. Your timing for that isn't great. The eval by your doctor will include a questionnaire completed by you, your child's other parent and your child's teacher. Since its summer you likely won't be able to get the teacher eval done. Also you probably don't want it done during the first few weeks of the next school year because it requires that the teacher know your child.

3. You can get a neuropsych eval. They are costly and often not covered by insurance. Also, in my experience I did t find that I got that much information until my son was older. Most of what we got was confirmation of what we knew and I certainly didn't need to pay $3500 for that.

[Anonymous]

05/30/2018 19:40--Op here, you want to better understand and connect with your child because what you are trying now doesn't work--This is my answer.
So far, We haven't done any evaluation to understand my daughter's hyper/inattentiveness/ADHD issues (as she is hyper and unable to concentrate on anything). Honestly speaking i do not know the whole evaluation process and is she in need of RX yet; but so far nothing is working for us to teach new things and control her hyper.

[Anonymous]

05/31/2018 10:01---Op here, Thanks for the response. I would like to choose Option 3 but would like to visit where insurance can be covered. How a psychologist evaluation is different from Neuropsychologist and also with school-- can you please explain and any recommendations for the Neuropsych evaluation.

[Anonymous]

It would be helpful to know where you live, what school district, and whether you are able to pay out-of-pocket and/or drive distance for evaluation and treatment.

[Anonymous]

05/31/2018 11:49--Op here. I am in Herndon, Fairfax County. I am OK to pay out-of-pocket and would like to drive with in 30 miles of Herndon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:05/31/2018 10:01---Op here, Thanks for the response. I would like to choose Option 3 but would like to visit where insurance can be covered. How a psychologist evaluation is different from Neuropsychologist and also with school-- can you please explain and any recommendations for the Neuropsych evaluation.

A psychologist will give you a "quick and dirty" diagnosis - basically a few visits with you and your child and perhaps some questionnaires. Few child psychologists take insurance. If you are considering medication, you can see a psychiatrist instead, but few of them will take insurance either.

Schools doa limited set of tests for educational impact, often including ADHD questionnairrs and observation of your child in the classroom. This often, bit not always catches ADHD, and if you get an incompetent school psychologist, you are out of luck.

Neuropsych testing is an extensive battery of psychological and educational testing that is most likely to catch ADHD as well as many other comorbid disorders and learning disabilities and give you profile of strengths and weaknesses. This is what costs $3500. Children's National Hospital is the nearest place that takes insurance. You would either go into DC or I think they have a NOVA office. The wait list is months long.

Ifmyour kid's symptoms are severe, I recommend getting on the waitlist for neuropsych ans see a psychiatrist in the meantime, you will probably need to medicate. If it's mild, see a psychologist and take it from there. They may recommend a neuropsych anyway, but in the meantime you can start treatment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:05/31/2018 11:49--Op here. I am in Herndon, Fairfax County. I am OK to pay out-of-pocket and would like to drive with in 30 miles of Herndon.

We had a good experience having our child assessed at INOVA Keller Center.

https://www.inova.org/healthcare-services/inova-kellar-center/index.jsp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:05/31/2018 11:49--Op here. I am in Herndon, Fairfax County. I am OK to pay out-of-pocket and would like to drive with in 30 miles of Herndon.

Mindwell is well respected and you can get in faster than at Children's. They.don't take insurance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:05/31/2018 11:49--Op here. I am in Herndon, Fairfax County. I am OK to pay out-of-pocket and would like to drive with in 30 miles of Herndon.

We had a good experience having our child assessed at INOVA Keller Center.

https://www.inova.org/healthcare-services/inova-kellar-center/index.jsp

And to follow up, Inova did take our insurance.

[Anonymous]

5/31/18 10:01 here. If you go through the school, you will get psychoeducational testing. Neuropsych testing includes the psychoeducational testing and goes further. The following is what was included in my son's:

? Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) ? Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, Third Edition (KTEA-3)
? Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, Third Edition (WIAT-III)—Essay Composition subtest
? Test of Variables of Attention, Visual Continuous Performance Test (TOVA)
? Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning, 2nd Edition (WRAML-2) – Story Memory
subtest
? Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT)
? Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) – Verbal Fluency and Color Word
Interference subtests ? Conners Comprehensive Behavior Rating Scale, Parent and Teacher Forms (CBRS)
2
? Rorschach Inkblot Test ? Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory—(MACI)
? Review of Records (provided by the family)
? Clinical Interview with mother
? Clinical Interview with patient
? Behavioral Observations


For my other son, I only had the psychoeducational testing provided by the school. It was more than adequate for his needs. As I said, the first neuropsych I did on my son, I didn't feel like it was worth it. He was seven. the information I got wasn't anything more than observations we had already made and the recommendations weren't anything more than common sense. There wasn't anything that we hadn't already included in the IEP, which we had gotten without the neuropsych.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:05/31/2018 11:49--Op here. I am in Herndon, Fairfax County. I am OK to pay out-of-pocket and would like to drive with in 30 miles of Herndon.

We used Family Compass in Reston. Seemed like a very thorough neuropych. Don’t recall if they took insurance. As another PP points out, what you want might be done with a school eval.