Would a neuropsych exam be helpful for any child?
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Anonymous
| Wondering if it would be useful to get a neuropsych exam on my 12-year-old, just to find out his strengths and weaknesses, even though there are no glaring issues? I know it's expensive, but would rather discover any potential challenges sooner rather than later. Have folks found these exams very helpful in unexpected ways? |
Anonymous
| I’ve wondered about this as well. |
Anonymous
| It’s at least $500... |
Anonymous
| No. Why? No test can actually tell you a person's character. If your child has any important strengths and weaknesses, you'd know them by now. Generally a private neuropsych is going to run you in the thousands of dollars. |
Anonymous
You're pretty out of touch. It's at least $3,000 and probably more. |
Anonymous
| We had one done for DS in 9th grade because of school difficulties, ultimately diagnosed with ADHD. I did think that the time that I'd love to have the same done for DD, just because it give so much insight into learning style, strengths, weaknesses. For DS, in addition to the ADHD diagnosis, the most valuable outcome was that he really showed him how strong he is in math ability and from then on he decided to focus on that and major in a math-related field for college. That direction was really helpful. But, it was like $3K so no, not doing it for DD who doesn't *need* it. |
Anonymous
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We did a neurospych for our 8 year old, about whom we had concerns about adhd. The testing did not conclusively diagnose adhd and the knowledge it showed about his relative strengths and weaknesses we already knew. It provided no actionable, helpful information.
In contrast, our other child is autistic and the neurospychs we've done for that child have been very helpful, full of actionable information that has guided us and school. |
Anonymous
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No. We got a psychoeducational evaluation for one of our children when he was 14. That was because we knew he had ADHD and we suspected learning disabilities. Our younger child has ADHD but it is managed successfully and he performs at a high level.
The waitlists for good neuropsychs are several months to even a year plus long. You would be taking the space from kids and families who desperately need it. |
Anonymous
| It's some but just know, if they're looking for something, they will find something |
Anonymous
This isn't true. A neuropsych evaluation is composed of a number of tests that are not subjective, though some subjective tests are used to identify whether behaviors are consistent across different settings. Some kids are diagnosed using subjective evaluations however that is not a neuropsych eval. |
Anonymous
| NP here. The point of the Op's question is not about money. |
Anonymous
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Caveat that I've never gotten one, but cost aside, I would be afraid of over-reliance on the test that would cause me to limit my child even if unconsciously so. A test is never completely accurate, and is just a snapshot in time and affected by child's emotions and attitude when given. I would never want to, say, have low expectations of my child in geometry, just because his test showed that visual-spatial skills were not strong or whatever.
Like an IQ test, better not to know. |
Anonymous
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When you go for a neuropsych, the first appointment is where you describe your child's strengths and weaknesses as you see them and the areas of concern that you have. Based on that, the psychologist will identify which tests should be administered. There are some tests that are pretty much administered to every child (like the WISC) but other tests are selected depending on whether the psychologist believes the child might have a weakness in a particular arena. For example, my DS had a number of red flags for dyslexia so the psychologist included a number of tests to evaluate his phonological abilities. If your child is neurotypical, testing them for autism or dyslexia just doesn't make sense. Administering a test for ability to stay on task isn't going to uncover any helpful information if there are no concerns for ADHD.
If you're interested in better understanding your child's strengths and weaknesses, just do a WISC and a couple of aptitude tests. It will be a lot cheaper. |
Anonymous
I'm 12:48, who got our child a neurospych because of adhd concerns. Nothing concerning was found and he got no diagnosis. |
Anonymous
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Any child? Heck, now I want one for myself. It's really fascinating.
And it really makes me think that schools should be providing more in-depth assessments as part of teaching and learning. You want to avoid a slippery slope of testing kids and then shunting them to specific tracks that limit them, but just knowing what works and what kids are good at seems like it would be good for kids and teachers. |