If your child sees or has been seen by Dr. Stephen Camarata...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
At 8 years old not speaking to peers is slightly problematic. He won't be 8 forever and at 13, 16, 21--what a dismal future.

I agree kids need help but how can you say for sure that he won't outgrow the issue with age(13, 16, 21) even without any help?

Because meanwhile the other kids' skills are advancing, while his aren't. As kids get older it gets much harder to catch up.

I think it's not a race , who talks/communicates more wins! Kids should have good enough communication to succeed in life, not like they should be in 80-90 percentile!

Language is a huge issue as they get older. Our child gets marked down, which isn't fair, because he cannot articulate what he has learned even though he knows it. It sounds like yours is struggling more than mine, so just understand that it only gets harder the older they get, especially when things like reading levels are judged by the kids reading out loud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A "neuropsych" is not actually an objective thing. It's a set of exams that your child may or may not need. What IS true is that an 8 year old with continued social and language struggles ought to get a full ASD eval (which includes the ADOS and a team of clinicians) at a place like KKI or Children's. I'm skeptical about the solo/for-profit practices that would charge you $5000 for a "neuropsych exam" uncovered by insurance. Go to the ASD clinic at a major children's hospital and take it from there. (Also, the value of seeking out a practitioner several states away because you think they have some sort of magic diagnostic powers is questionable to me. Developmental orders are fairly common; it's not like some kind of rare cancer where it might make sense to travel to see the ONE specialist across the country.)

This.

The purpose is to get help for this kid. At 8 years old not speaking to peers is slightly problematic. He won't be 8 forever and at 13, 16, 21--what a dismal future. It could be autism, it could be anxiety, it could be OCD, it could be a language disorder...it just makes sense to get updated diagnoses if there as well as age appropriate strategies through a neuropsych.

Some people seek that group to avoid hearing the ASD diagnosis. Truth is, if it is ASD and not just apraxia or MERLD, it's not going away. I'd rather hear the truth and initiate appropriate interventions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A "neuropsych" is not actually an objective thing. It's a set of exams that your child may or may not need. What IS true is that an 8 year old with continued social and language struggles ought to get a full ASD eval (which includes the ADOS and a team of clinicians) at a place like KKI or Children's. I'm skeptical about the solo/for-profit practices that would charge you $5000 for a "neuropsych exam" uncovered by insurance. Go to the ASD clinic at a major children's hospital and take it from there. (Also, the value of seeking out a practitioner several states away because you think they have some sort of magic diagnostic powers is questionable to me. Developmental orders are fairly common; it's not like some kind of rare cancer where it might make sense to travel to see the ONE specialist across the country.)

This.

The purpose is to get help for this kid. At 8 years old not speaking to peers is slightly problematic. He won't be 8 forever and at 13, 16, 21--what a dismal future. It could be autism, it could be anxiety, it could be OCD, it could be a language disorder...it just makes sense to get updated diagnoses if there as well as age appropriate strategies through a neuropsych.

Some people seek that group to avoid hearing the ASD diagnosis. Truth is, if it is ASD and not just apraxia or MERLD, it's not going away. I'd rather hear the truth and initiate appropriate interventions.

No one is seeking to avoid ASD. Most people I know are seeking the diagnosis so they can get therapies paid for. Most of us want accurate diagnosis and ASD has become a catch-all diagnosis when the don't know what is truly wrong or how to fix it. Merld generally doesn't go away but kids learn to cope and adapt but most will continue to struggle with langauge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For services , you get a the ASD diagnosis(even though if the child have just language delay) from Local Pediatrician to satisfy insurance requirements. For differential diagnosis see Dr.Camrata(to satisfy ourselves).

So have your local pediatrician help you commit insurance fraud while you tell everyone your kid isn't actually autistic, he just looks that way, and don't bother with any real testing, just go to this guy in Tennesee, he will tell you what you want to hear.

I know plenty of people who went to him and didn't hear what they wanted to hear. i.e., their children were diagnosed with autism. And Camarata does real testing -- it matched with school testing and with psychologist testing. And we didn't provide him with the other earlier test results. The difference was for us that he spent 3 hours with us, answering our questions, telling us what the test results meant and giving us ideas about how to approach the future. His wife was very helpful for the school angle.


We saw him a long time ago, so may be the difference. I agree they've gotten very busy. For us, getting the reports was often slow.

But I also know of people who do what the PP said: get an autism diagnosis to cover therapies, and see Camarata for the differential diagnosis.

He spent 3-4 hours with us too and was helpful in person. He doesn't tell you what you want to hear but he didn't have much to say as we were with a great therapist, great school situation and child was doing ok. Agree you go for the differential diagnosis and a more specific one. Calling something autism doesn't clearly say where it is or where the highest needs are. There is such a huge range with these kids. He's look at far more than just autism and language disorders. He's also looking gat learning and other disabilities. Personally, I wouldn't bother going as you don't get a good report and support long term.

He's basically doing a neuropsych. A neuropsych gives you the same information. It doesn't just say you have autism and that's the end of it. It covers learning disabilities and gives you a detailed profiles of your child's strengths and weaknesses. I have nothing against Dr. Camarata. He has a good reputation. He is an expert in language disorders, so if you think that's what you are dealing with and the local people can't figure it out, then he may be worth the trip. The problem is with a particular PP who now and in many other threads downplays the reality of autism, and makes Dr. Camarata into some kind of god. I doubt Dr. Camarata would agree with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A "neuropsych" is not actually an objective thing. It's a set of exams that your child may or may not need. What IS true is that an 8 year old with continued social and language struggles ought to get a full ASD eval (which includes the ADOS and a team of clinicians) at a place like KKI or Children's. I'm skeptical about the solo/for-profit practices that would charge you $5000 for a "neuropsych exam" uncovered by insurance. Go to the ASD clinic at a major children's hospital and take it from there. (Also, the value of seeking out a practitioner several states away because you think they have some sort of magic diagnostic powers is questionable to me. Developmental orders are fairly common; it's not like some kind of rare cancer where it might make sense to travel to see the ONE specialist across the country.)

This.

The purpose is to get help for this kid. At 8 years old not speaking to peers is slightly problematic. He won't be 8 forever and at 13, 16, 21--what a dismal future. It could be autism, it could be anxiety, it could be OCD, it could be a language disorder...it just makes sense to get updated diagnoses if there as well as age appropriate strategies through a neuropsych.

Some people seek that group to avoid hearing the ASD diagnosis. Truth is, if it is ASD and not just apraxia or MERLD, it's not going away. I'd rather hear the truth and initiate appropriate interventions.

No one is seeking to avoid ASD. Most people I know are seeking the diagnosis so they can get therapies paid for. Most of us want accurate diagnosis and ASD has become a catch-all diagnosis when the don't know what is truly wrong or how to fix it. Merld generally doesn't go away but kids learn to cope and adapt but most will continue to struggle with langauge.

PP here. Yes, some do want to avoid it. I know two sets of parents from my school system who initially (during kindergarten) did not want the diagnosis in their sons' school records. From Vanderbilt, they were given diagnoses of MERLD and apraxia. As high school students, they now have the AU eligibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For services , you get a the ASD diagnosis(even though if the child have just language delay) from Local Pediatrician to satisfy insurance requirements. For differential diagnosis see Dr.Camrata(to satisfy ourselves).

So have your local pediatrician help you commit insurance fraud while you tell everyone your kid isn't actually autistic, he just looks that way, and don't bother with any real testing, just go to this guy in Tennesee, he will tell you what you want to hear.

I know plenty of people who went to him and didn't hear what they wanted to hear. i.e., their children were diagnosed with autism. And Camarata does real testing -- it matched with school testing and with psychologist testing. And we didn't provide him with the other earlier test results. The difference was for us that he spent 3 hours with us, answering our questions, telling us what the test results meant and giving us ideas about how to approach the future. His wife was very helpful for the school angle.


We saw him a long time ago, so may be the difference. I agree they've gotten very busy. For us, getting the reports was often slow.

But I also know of people who do what the PP said: get an autism diagnosis to cover therapies, and see Camarata for the differential diagnosis.

He spent 3-4 hours with us too and was helpful in person. He doesn't tell you what you want to hear but he didn't have much to say as we were with a great therapist, great school situation and child was doing ok. Agree you go for the differential diagnosis and a more specific one. Calling something autism doesn't clearly say where it is or where the highest needs are. There is such a huge range with these kids. He's look at far more than just autism and language disorders. He's also looking gat learning and other disabilities. Personally, I wouldn't bother going as you don't get a good report and support long term.

He's basically doing a neuropsych. A neuropsych gives you the same information. It doesn't just say you have autism and that's the end of it. It covers learning disabilities and gives you a detailed profiles of your child's strengths and weaknesses. I have nothing against Dr. Camarata. He has a good reputation. He is an expert in language disorders, so if you think that's what you are dealing with and the local people can't figure it out, then he may be worth the trip. The problem is with a particular PP who now and in many other threads downplays the reality of autism, and makes Dr. Camarata into some kind of god. I doubt Dr. Camarata would agree with that.

^^ Oh and when we had a neuropsych, the Dr. spent over an hour with us before seeing our kid, 2 hours going over the report afterwards and was available by email after that,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For services , you get a the ASD diagnosis(even though if the child have just language delay) from Local Pediatrician to satisfy insurance requirements. For differential diagnosis see Dr.Camrata(to satisfy ourselves).

So have your local pediatrician help you commit insurance fraud while you tell everyone your kid isn't actually autistic, he just looks that way, and don't bother with any real testing, just go to this guy in Tennesee, he will tell you what you want to hear.

I know plenty of people who went to him and didn't hear what they wanted to hear. i.e., their children were diagnosed with autism. And Camarata does real testing -- it matched with school testing and with psychologist testing. And we didn't provide him with the other earlier test results. The difference was for us that he spent 3 hours with us, answering our questions, telling us what the test results meant and giving us ideas about how to approach the future. His wife was very helpful for the school angle.


We saw him a long time ago, so may be the difference. I agree they've gotten very busy. For us, getting the reports was often slow.

But I also know of people who do what the PP said: get an autism diagnosis to cover therapies, and see Camarata for the differential diagnosis.

He spent 3-4 hours with us too and was helpful in person. He doesn't tell you what you want to hear but he didn't have much to say as we were with a great therapist, great school situation and child was doing ok. Agree you go for the differential diagnosis and a more specific one. Calling something autism doesn't clearly say where it is or where the highest needs are. There is such a huge range with these kids. He's look at far more than just autism and language disorders. He's also looking gat learning and other disabilities. Personally, I wouldn't bother going as you don't get a good report and support long term.

He's basically doing a neuropsych. A neuropsych gives you the same information. It doesn't just say you have autism and that's the end of it. It covers learning disabilities and gives you a detailed profiles of your child's strengths and weaknesses. I have nothing against Dr. Camarata. He has a good reputation. He is an expert in language disorders, so if you think that's what you are dealing with and the local people can't figure it out, then he may be worth the trip. The problem is with a particular PP who now and in many other threads downplays the reality of autism, and makes Dr. Camarata into some kind of god. I doubt Dr. Camarata would agree with that.

Agree. He is great in-person and really gets kids to respond and test but to me it is worthless if you don't get a good report. The trip was cheaper than a full neuropsych. and our developmental ped told us to wait a few years and would not offer more testing or a second opinion which is why we went. But, at this point, they've been twice and child is still really struggling. I don't think it fully sounds MERLD at this point and think it is MERLD and/or something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A "neuropsych" is not actually an objective thing. It's a set of exams that your child may or may not need. What IS true is that an 8 year old with continued social and language struggles ought to get a full ASD eval (which includes the ADOS and a team of clinicians) at a place like KKI or Children's. I'm skeptical about the solo/for-profit practices that would charge you $5000 for a "neuropsych exam" uncovered by insurance. Go to the ASD clinic at a major children's hospital and take it from there. (Also, the value of seeking out a practitioner several states away because you think they have some sort of magic diagnostic powers is questionable to me. Developmental orders are fairly common; it's not like some kind of rare cancer where it might make sense to travel to see the ONE specialist across the country.)

This.

The purpose is to get help for this kid. At 8 years old not speaking to peers is slightly problematic. He won't be 8 forever and at 13, 16, 21--what a dismal future. It could be autism, it could be anxiety, it could be OCD, it could be a language disorder...it just makes sense to get updated diagnoses if there as well as age appropriate strategies through a neuropsych.

Some people seek that group to avoid hearing the ASD diagnosis. Truth is, if it is ASD and not just apraxia or MERLD, it's not going away. I'd rather hear the truth and initiate appropriate interventions.

No one is seeking to avoid ASD. Most people I know are seeking the diagnosis so they can get therapies paid for. Most of us want accurate diagnosis and ASD has become a catch-all diagnosis when the don't know what is truly wrong or how to fix it. Merld generally doesn't go away but kids learn to cope and adapt but most will continue to struggle with langauge.

PP here. Yes, some do want to avoid it. I know two sets of parents from my school system who initially (during kindergarten) did not want the diagnosis in their sons' school records. From Vanderbilt, they were given diagnoses of MERLD and apraxia. As high school students, they now have the AU eligibility.

Some do, but not all. We wanted an accurate diagnosis and make sure we were on the right track and doing everything we could to support our child. We went as it was cheaper than paying out of pocket and we wanted to make a trip of it. I'm assuming our insurance paid as we never got a bill so we just paid hotel, flight and meals so for us it was far cheaper. MERLD and ASD look similar when kids are little. None should really be getting a permanent diagnosis till 6/7 when it teases out and far easier to tell. Apraxia looks very different than MERLD but its become a catch-all too and while a real, and very difficult disorder, its often misdiagnosed early on (or from what i have seen). For some reason parents keep running around pushing other parents into PROMPT when its good for Apraxia but not good for MERLD and ASD as they are very different.

[Anonymous]

MERLD is for preschoolers and hasn't been in the DSM since 2013. Even if this kid goes back to Dr. C, he's not going to get a MELD diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A "neuropsych" is not actually an objective thing. It's a set of exams that your child may or may not need. What IS true is that an 8 year old with continued social and language struggles ought to get a full ASD eval (which includes the ADOS and a team of clinicians) at a place like KKI or Children's. I'm skeptical about the solo/for-profit practices that would charge you $5000 for a "neuropsych exam" uncovered by insurance. Go to the ASD clinic at a major children's hospital and take it from there. (Also, the value of seeking out a practitioner several states away because you think they have some sort of magic diagnostic powers is questionable to me. Developmental orders are fairly common; it's not like some kind of rare cancer where it might make sense to travel to see the ONE specialist across the country.)

This.

The purpose is to get help for this kid. At 8 years old not speaking to peers is slightly problematic. He won't be 8 forever and at 13, 16, 21--what a dismal future. It could be autism, it could be anxiety, it could be OCD, it could be a language disorder...it just makes sense to get updated diagnoses if there as well as age appropriate strategies through a neuropsych.

Some people seek that group to avoid hearing the ASD diagnosis. Truth is, if it is ASD and not just apraxia or MERLD, it's not going away. I'd rather hear the truth and initiate appropriate interventions.

No one is seeking to avoid ASD. Most people I know are seeking the diagnosis so they can get therapies paid for. Most of us want accurate diagnosis and ASD has become a catch-all diagnosis when the don't know what is truly wrong or how to fix it. Merld generally doesn't go away but kids learn to cope and adapt but most will continue to struggle with langauge.

PP here. Yes, some do want to avoid it. I know two sets of parents from my school system who initially (during kindergarten) did not want the diagnosis in their sons' school records. From Vanderbilt, they were given diagnoses of MERLD and apraxia. As high school students, they now have the AU eligibility.

Some do, but not all. We wanted an accurate diagnosis and make sure we were on the right track and doing everything we could to support our child. We went as it was cheaper than paying out of pocket and we wanted to make a trip of it. I'm assuming our insurance paid as we never got a bill so we just paid hotel, flight and meals so for us it was far cheaper. MERLD and ASD look similar when kids are little. None should really be getting a permanent diagnosis till 6/7 when it teases out and far easier to tell. Apraxia looks very different than MERLD but its become a catch-all too and while a real, and very difficult disorder, its often misdiagnosed early on (or from what i have seen). For some reason parents keep running around pushing other parents into PROMPT when its good for Apraxia but not good for MERLD and ASD as they are very different.

When cal certain diagnoses "catch all" you sound very condescending and insulting to parents of kids who actually have them. There are no "catch alls." There can be a misdiagnosis, but competent professionals do not throw your kid into some category when they don't know what is going on. If a professional can't reasonably explain why your kid has or does not have a certain disorder, it's time to go somewhere else. But let us drop this notion of "catch alls." There is no such thing. You either have a disorder or you don't. The diagnosis is either correct or incorrect. That's all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For services , you get a the ASD diagnosis(even though if the child have just language delay) from Local Pediatrician to satisfy insurance requirements. For differential diagnosis see Dr.Camrata(to satisfy ourselves).

So have your local pediatrician help you commit insurance fraud while you tell everyone your kid isn't actually autistic, he just looks that way, and don't bother with any real testing, just go to this guy in Tennesee, he will tell you what you want to hear.

I know plenty of people who went to him and didn't hear what they wanted to hear. i.e., their children were diagnosed with autism. And Camarata does real testing -- it matched with school testing and with psychologist testing. And we didn't provide him with the other earlier test results. The difference was for us that he spent 3 hours with us, answering our questions, telling us what the test results meant and giving us ideas about how to approach the future. His wife was very helpful for the school angle.


We saw him a long time ago, so may be the difference. I agree they've gotten very busy. For us, getting the reports was often slow.

But I also know of people who do what the PP said: get an autism diagnosis to cover therapies, and see Camarata for the differential diagnosis.

He spent 3-4 hours with us too and was helpful in person. He doesn't tell you what you want to hear but he didn't have much to say as we were with a great therapist, great school situation and child was doing ok. Agree you go for the differential diagnosis and a more specific one. Calling something autism doesn't clearly say where it is or where the highest needs are. There is such a huge range with these kids. He's look at far more than just autism and language disorders. He's also looking gat learning and other disabilities. Personally, I wouldn't bother going as you don't get a good report and support long term.

He's basically doing a neuropsych. A neuropsych gives you the same information. It doesn't just say you have autism and that's the end of it. It covers learning disabilities and gives you a detailed profiles of your child's strengths and weaknesses. I have nothing against Dr. Camarata. He has a good reputation. He is an expert in language disorders, so if you think that's what you are dealing with and the local people can't figure it out, then he may be worth the trip. The problem is with a particular PP who now and in many other threads downplays the reality of autism, and makes Dr. Camarata into some kind of god. I doubt Dr. Camarata would agree with that.

I think that he would agree with that. When we saw him he made disparaging comments about autistic and cognitively delayed children and then said ' but you don't have one of those!!' Only we DO have one of those. Am I supposed to feel bad about that? Am I supposed to feel shame? That seemed to be what he was saying. It was juvenile and very unprofessional.

If a clinic can't do a full workup of a child to tease out what is going on - and for this you really need to provide follow up evaluations if things aren't going well and they do not do this - then you should provide NO evaluations. And they certainly shouldn't be ruling things out that they clearly don't understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
At 8 years old not speaking to peers is slightly problematic. He won't be 8 forever and at 13, 16, 21--what a dismal future.

I agree kids need help but how can you say for sure that he won't outgrow the issue with age(13, 16, 21) even without any help?

Because meanwhile the other kids' skills are advancing, while his aren't. As kids get older it gets much harder to catch up.

I think it's not a race , who talks/communicates more wins! Kids should have good enough communication to succeed in life, not like they should be in 80-90 percentile!

Language is a huge issue as they get older. Our child gets marked down, which isn't fair, because he cannot articulate what he has learned even though he knows it. It sounds like yours is struggling more than mine, so just understand that it only gets harder the older they get, especially when things like reading levels are judged by the kids reading out loud.

This can be addressed in your IEP goals. There are ways kids can show knowledge

[Anonymous]

If the therapy that they prescribe for your child isn't going well and you have questions they just ghost you.
I don't know of any other clinics that do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the therapy that they prescribe for your child isn't going well and you have questions they just ghost you.
I don't know of any other clinics that do that.

They were hard to get ahold of but did not ghost us. Camarata phone conferences into two IEP s, Mary helped us several times with the school district. Their language disorder expertise is hard to come by elswhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the therapy that they prescribe for your child isn't going well and you have questions they just ghost you.
I don't know of any other clinics that do that.

They were hard to get ahold of but did not ghost us. Camarata phone conferences into two IEP s, Mary helped us several times with the school district. Their language disorder expertise is hard to come by elswhere.

How long ago was this? There are lots of great clinicians in this area.