Neuropsych exams: changes from year to year?

[Anonymous]

DS8 had a neuropsych done almost two years ago. Psychiatrist thinks he should be evaluated again, so we will be getting on the waitlist at Children’s. Right now he has a dx of ADHD combined, but I think we may be looking at ASD.

I’m wondering what changes in results you have seen from year to year? Have you seen progress on certain challenges? Have new issues emerged? Have IQ scores remained consistent? I’ve always wondered if the first was off on certain aspects like processing speed.

He’s now on meds for ADHD, so I assume he would do exam medicated this time around?

Curious what people have seen year to year.

[Anonymous]

We get them done about every 3 years.

[Anonymous]

My son had one in first grade and one in 9th. Thing I thing made it helpful is that skills and expectations are different as they get older and so the analysis is more in Depth and helpful.

Big change that we had was the addition of mental health diagnoses.

[Anonymous]

Every three years is the norm. They are very expensive so question why so soon.

[Anonymous]

We did every three years ish when things were going well, we did one early when there was a new issue. His first eval in 2nd grade revealed only dyslexia and not how deep it was- public school. We had a private one done the next year that was much more detailed and they fleshed all the dyslexia issues and added dysgraphia. When he was up for re-eval in 5th grade, we had him tested privately again and saw some growth in dyslexia and ADHD was added to the mix- plus a watch for anxiety and OCD (which continue to be higher than normal for baseline levels but in the helping range and not causing problems). We did one in 8th grade for the re-eval and again in 11th grade.

You need one around 8th grade for accommodations for ACT and College Board tests and you need one before they go to college that based on adult versions of the tests- so they have to be at least 16.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks. We will be on a year-long waitlist so by the time we get an appt, it will be close to three years probably. I think the psychiatrist is suggesting because of potential for ASD.

He was a little young for the first one, so I am wondering if we will see differences in various aspects of the IQ score (like processing speed)? Has anyone seen variations in that year to year?

TIA!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks. We will be on a year-long waitlist so by the time we get an appt, it will be close to three years probably. I think the psychiatrist is suggesting because of potential for ASD.

He was a little young for the first one, so I am wondering if we will see differences in various aspects of the IQ score (like processing speed)? Has anyone seen variations in that year to year?

TIA!

The IQ stuff didn't change for my child very much over time; the ADHD is still there but is less significant (from severe to mild - thanks to medication and maturity); the academic achievement stuff changed most. My child has always been strongest in reading / language and that was the case as he got older, but his math skills improved as he got older.

Like others on this thread, we picked up more diagnoses along the way -- most significantly adding anxiety to the mix, which is pretty typical.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

We've also done every three years. The first one diagnosed ASD and ADHD; the second one was with ADHD meds and after three years of intervention, so it was helpful to see what issues remained after medicating and what still remained. Also, academic expectations had changed between 1st grade and 4th grade and it was useful to see the ways in which she had been able to keep up and even excel and the ways in which the ASD was causing more academic gaps between her and her peers. All of this was vital as we began thinking about middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've also done every three years. The first one diagnosed ASD and ADHD; the second one was with ADHD meds and after three years of intervention, so it was helpful to see what issues remained after medicating and what still remained. Also, academic expectations had changed between 1st grade and 4th grade and it was useful to see the ways in which she had been able to keep up and even excel and the ways in which the ASD was causing more academic gaps between her and her peers. All of this was vital as we began thinking about middle school.

PP, was the ADOS included in the neuropsych?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've also done every three years. The first one diagnosed ASD and ADHD; the second one was with ADHD meds and after three years of intervention, so it was helpful to see what issues remained after medicating and what still remained. Also, academic expectations had changed between 1st grade and 4th grade and it was useful to see the ways in which she had been able to keep up and even excel and the ways in which the ASD was causing more academic gaps between her and her peers. All of this was vital as we began thinking about middle school.

PP, was the ADOS included in the neuropsych?

We didn't get a specific ADOS score, but the evaluator chose the components of the ADOS that he thought would be most relevant to our child. Given that the ADOS is not great with girls, that was fine with me.

[Anonymous]

We had a psyched eval and ADOS at 4 and neuropsychs at 7 and 10. DS got a ASD/Asperger's dx at 4 and we were told to watch out for ADHD. At 7, the neuropsych confirmed the ASD and added ADHD, combined type. At 10, the ASD and ADHD were confirmed but no significant changes.

All of the testing was done without any medication so all the testers did not think the WISC reflected DS's true ability even though he scores very high including overall IQ, processing speed and working memory (he tops out the testing on this and some of the subtests like verbal comprehension even not on medication). But DS has impulse control issues, an inability to sit still, and rushes through stuff he wants to get over with when not on ADHD medication.

I suppose when DS is tested at 13, we will try it while on medication - there is no question that ADHD medication helps him, we just don't like the side effects.

But the main reason we have DS get neuropsych testing every three yrs is to understand what supports are needed at school and for choosing a school that will be a good fit and able to support him. We want DS to like and enjoy school and not get anxiety/depression which is very often comorbid with ASD and/or ADHD.