Does every child that visits a neurologist get a diagnosis?

[Anonymous]

I ask this more in just opinion based than needing help for myself.

My son displayed some autism signs at a young age, but seemed to outgrow them and now it’s looking like he might have adhd/ocd. We have done testing and we are finally happy and thriving. But almost every mom i talk to that has a 2 year old that goes there receives a diagnosis just by spending 5 mins with them, some do not get brain scans to determine. I’m wondering how common it is to not receive a diagnosis?

[Anonymous]

Neurologists do not diagnose autism.

Developmental pediatricians and neuropsychologist do. Also, autism is not diagnosed through brain scans.

[Anonymous]

Not a neurologist, no - do you mean a neruopsyhcologist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I ask this more in just opinion based than needing help for myself.

My son displayed some autism signs at a young age, but seemed to outgrow them and now it’s looking like he might have adhd/ocd. We have done testing and we are finally happy and thriving. But almost every mom i talk to that has a 2 year old that goes there receives a diagnosis just by spending 5 mins with them, some do not get brain scans to determine. I’m wondering how common it is to not receive a diagnosis?

Is this really a thing?

[Anonymous]

My kid did get diagnosed with ADHD by a psychologist and I do "joke" that anyone who walks in would get a diagnosis, but at the same time, it's a self selective group going in. You wouldn't be there in the first place unless you had concerns.

GL.

[Anonymous]

Neuropsychologists do the testing and diagnosis. Proper testing should take at least three visits and cost at least $3K. "One hour" diagnosis does not exist or should not. Neurologists don't diagnosis ADHD or LDS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid did get diagnosed with ADHD by a psychologist and I do "joke" that anyone who walks in would get a diagnosis, but at the same time, it's a self selective group going in. You wouldn't be there in the first place unless you had concerns.

GL.

This is what I was saying. My son himself is fine where we are with a psychologist. But wondering if we self selected by walking in to Neuropsychologist (was unclear the correct name as I have not been) would we receive a diagnosis. The mom who went for her child used Neurologist term and several other moms who have kids with autism or LD I have met.

By brain scan or mri whichever is a better term I meant, that autism displays on a scan of the brain on how it functions differently than NT. Same with addictions, ADHD. One mom I know had her kid diagnosed with autism with a speech delay and 5 mins. There were no more visits. Not that he doesn’t have delays or another Ld but how under those circumstances is that diagnosis correct? So again does every kid who walks in get this diagnosis? I guess it’s seems that perhaps some can be incorrectly by self selecting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Neuropsychologists do the testing and diagnosis. Proper testing should take at least three visits and cost at least $3K. "One hour" diagnosis does not exist or should not. Neurologists don't diagnosis ADHD or LDS.

I guess this isn’t the norm but one mom did have this happen to her. Perhaps she’s exaggerating or didn’t tell me everything. But she said it was 5 mins and how where they sure?

[Anonymous]

ASD isn't diagnosed using brain scans though scientists use brain scans in studying ASD have identified differences from NT brains. IMHO ASD should be identified using comprehensive testing in all but the most obvious cases, but I know that there are times where this doesn't happen. In our case, professionals who didn't do comprehensive testing said DS doesn't have ASD (and turns out that he does).

It is pretty common for ADHD to be diagnosed very quickly. I don't know that you need multiday testing for ADHD unless you suspect something else is going on, but I'm not comfortable with the 5 minute diagnosis of ADHD. That said, it's pretty obvious in some kids. It's also worth noting that while they may spend 5 minutes with the kid, they're also gathering data from the parents and educators. If the teacher says the kid crawls around on the floor all. the. time., frequently runs out of time to finish in class assignments that every one else finishes, and needs to have instructions repeated because he spaces out, chances are high the kid has ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Most people don't go to a specialist based on a single incident. By the time people are going to specialists, they've usually tried working through things on their own, they've talked to their pediatricians, they've talked to teachers, they've had evaluations done by ChildFind, they've tried every avenue that ought to help a typical child and not seen real progress. So by the time people are taking their children to a specialist for evaluation, it seems reasonable that the likelihood of there being something to diagnose would be rather high.

[Anonymous]

No. Many children with complex conditions have to visit a lot of experts to tease out a diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ASD isn't diagnosed using brain scans though scientists use brain scans in studying ASD have identified differences from NT brains. IMHO ASD should be identified using comprehensive testing in all but the most obvious cases, but I know that there are times where this doesn't happen. In our case, professionals who didn't do comprehensive testing said DS doesn't have ASD (and turns out that he does).

It is pretty common for ADHD to be diagnosed very quickly. I don't know that you need multiday testing for ADHD unless you suspect something else is going on, but I'm not comfortable with the 5 minute diagnosis of ADHD. That said, it's pretty obvious in some kids. It's also worth noting that while they may spend 5 minutes with the kid, they're also gathering data from the parents and educators. If the teacher says the kid crawls around on the floor all. the. time., frequently runs out of time to finish in class assignments that every one else finishes, and needs to have instructions repeated because he spaces out, chances are high the kid has ADHD.

This makes sense and answers my question. I see how this can happens now and why it seems everyone is getting a quick diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Developmental ped, yes, neurologist, no.

[Anonymous]

DD went for a Neurologists for an ADHD so in my case yes..

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t the neurologist have to code something for insurance? That’s different than having a full evaluation and using the diagnostic conclusion to guide your interventions.