Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No data is data. The evaluator does their best to give a provisional diagnosis based on observation of behavior and your and teacher's reports (BASC, BRIEF, etc.) Then you provide interventions and try again next year.

Here is where it is important for parents to actually understand what kind of service they are getting. Diagnosis of autism and ADHD are generally going to be *clinical* and based on observing the child and getting information from the parents and teachers. There is no test, like a blood test. For autism you do have the ADOS but that is basically a standardized type of observation that most good assessors should be able to get kids to do because it feels like play.

The full battery of IQ tests called a “neuropsych” is often not needed and overkill - and neglects the clinical assessment you actually do need for the kid. Unless you have a specific reason to think your child has cognitive issues (like an ID or a medical treatment that can have cognitive impacts or some types of epilepsy) it’s not crucial. And often doesn’t work for younger kids or kids with refusal (as OP found). The vast majority of kids with issues stemming from autism or adhd just don’t need every vector of their IQ tested. It certainly sheds zero light on the causes of emotional regulation issues.

If there is something specific that challenges your kid - fine motor, reading, etc - then get that specific thing tested. Hopefully with a shorter testing period and a good clinician your kid can get through it. If you want to know about autism or ADHD or anxiety go to a clinician who uses a clinical approach to diagnose.

This may be true in theory but it's very difficult to get accommodations or special education eligibility.

No. We qualified for an IEP with no neuropsych. Just the school testing.

Agree. The vast majority of students with IEPs have not had any outside testing, let alone neuropsych evals. For kids who have mild difficulties who are on the borderline of qualifying or not, a private eval can push the decision towards qualifying. Sometimes.

Yes but again a “private eval” does not mean 8 hours of cognitive testing by a neuropsychologist.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No data is data. The evaluator does their best to give a provisional diagnosis based on observation of behavior and your and teacher's reports (BASC, BRIEF, etc.) Then you provide interventions and try again next year.

Here is where it is important for parents to actually understand what kind of service they are getting. Diagnosis of autism and ADHD are generally going to be *clinical* and based on observing the child and getting information from the parents and teachers. There is no test, like a blood test. For autism you do have the ADOS but that is basically a standardized type of observation that most good assessors should be able to get kids to do because it feels like play.

The full battery of IQ tests called a “neuropsych” is often not needed and overkill - and neglects the clinical assessment you actually do need for the kid. Unless you have a specific reason to think your child has cognitive issues (like an ID or a medical treatment that can have cognitive impacts or some types of epilepsy) it’s not crucial. And often doesn’t work for younger kids or kids with refusal (as OP found). The vast majority of kids with issues stemming from autism or adhd just don’t need every vector of their IQ tested. It certainly sheds zero light on the causes of emotional regulation issues.

If there is something specific that challenges your kid - fine motor, reading, etc - then get that specific thing tested. Hopefully with a shorter testing period and a good clinician your kid can get through it. If you want to know about autism or ADHD or anxiety go to a clinician who uses a clinical approach to diagnose.

This may be true in theory but it's very difficult to get accommodations or special education eligibility.

No. We qualified for an IEP with no neuropsych. Just the school testing.

Agree. The vast majority of students with IEPs have not had any outside testing, let alone neuropsych evals. For kids who have mild difficulties who are on the borderline of qualifying or not, a private eval can push the decision towards qualifying. Sometimes.

Anonymous wrote:This happened with a close friend’s child. They dropped it but I know they later regretted not persisting or at least making more attempts. The evaluator should have some ideas but I’d look into multiple shorter visits and bribes.


The kid I know who did this is bright but also extremely sensitive and highly strung, not clear if asd 1 or not but many social difficulties. They are doing okay as an older teen but it’s been a hard road and the kid and parents could have benefited from early evaluation and intervention. Good luck!

You can evaluate a kid without doing the full battery of cognitive tests (ie “neuropsych.”) There’s a reason people say 7 can be too young for that kind of testing and now OP knows why.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No data is data. The evaluator does their best to give a provisional diagnosis based on observation of behavior and your and teacher's reports (BASC, BRIEF, etc.) Then you provide interventions and try again next year.

Here is where it is important for parents to actually understand what kind of service they are getting. Diagnosis of autism and ADHD are generally going to be *clinical* and based on observing the child and getting information from the parents and teachers. There is no test, like a blood test. For autism you do have the ADOS but that is basically a standardized type of observation that most good assessors should be able to get kids to do because it feels like play.

The full battery of IQ tests called a “neuropsych” is often not needed and overkill - and neglects the clinical assessment you actually do need for the kid. Unless you have a specific reason to think your child has cognitive issues (like an ID or a medical treatment that can have cognitive impacts or some types of epilepsy) it’s not crucial. And often doesn’t work for younger kids or kids with refusal (as OP found). The vast majority of kids with issues stemming from autism or adhd just don’t need every vector of their IQ tested. It certainly sheds zero light on the causes of emotional regulation issues.

If there is something specific that challenges your kid - fine motor, reading, etc - then get that specific thing tested. Hopefully with a shorter testing period and a good clinician your kid can get through it. If you want to know about autism or ADHD or anxiety go to a clinician who uses a clinical approach to diagnose.

This may be true in theory but it's very difficult to get accommodations or special education eligibility.

No. We qualified for an IEP with no neuropsych. Just the school testing.

This happened with a close friend’s child. They dropped it but I know they later regretted not persisting or at least making more attempts. The evaluator should have some ideas but I’d look into multiple shorter visits and bribes.


The kid I know who did this is bright but also extremely sensitive and highly strung, not clear if asd 1 or not but many social difficulties. They are doing okay as an older teen but it’s been a hard road and the kid and parents could have benefited from early evaluation and intervention. Good luck!

I disagree with the poster who said a neuropsych will not help identifying causes of emotional regulation issues. Ours was very helpful in showing the causes of frustration, school refusal, etc. - including very slow processing speed and deficits in visual spacial perception.

You may want to see if you can work with Donna Henderson. She does a great job talking about her methods of connecting with challenging kids in this podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-testing-psychologist-podcast/id1200313948?i=1000724147644

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No data is data. The evaluator does their best to give a provisional diagnosis based on observation of behavior and your and teacher's reports (BASC, BRIEF, etc.) Then you provide interventions and try again next year.

Here is where it is important for parents to actually understand what kind of service they are getting. Diagnosis of autism and ADHD are generally going to be *clinical* and based on observing the child and getting information from the parents and teachers. There is no test, like a blood test. For autism you do have the ADOS but that is basically a standardized type of observation that most good assessors should be able to get kids to do because it feels like play.

The full battery of IQ tests called a “neuropsych” is often not needed and overkill - and neglects the clinical assessment you actually do need for the kid. Unless you have a specific reason to think your child has cognitive issues (like an ID or a medical treatment that can have cognitive impacts or some types of epilepsy) it’s not crucial. And often doesn’t work for younger kids or kids with refusal (as OP found). The vast majority of kids with issues stemming from autism or adhd just don’t need every vector of their IQ tested. It certainly sheds zero light on the causes of emotional regulation issues.

If there is something specific that challenges your kid - fine motor, reading, etc - then get that specific thing tested. Hopefully with a shorter testing period and a good clinician your kid can get through it. If you want to know about autism or ADHD or anxiety go to a clinician who uses a clinical approach to diagnose.

This may be true in theory but it's very difficult to get accommodations or special education eligibility.

I hit submit before finishing up my message. This may be true in theory but it's very difficult to get accommodations or special education eligibility without all the testing. We went to the initial process with the school, they said DC wasn't eligible for an evaluation even though DC had numerous difficulties at school (academic, social, and emotional). That summer, we had DC tested, and provided the school with the report. The school indicated she now met the criteria for services but wouldn't do an IEP eligibility meeting until the school tested her. The school tested her and confirmed what the private testing showed. It was a long-drawn-out process that led to delays. My heart goes out to those families who cannot afford testing or have the ability to navigate the system. A lot of those children fall through the cracks.

OP, we were in a similar situation as you were. DC had to be on meds (primarily an SSRI) in her case and was then more able to cope with testing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No data is data. The evaluator does their best to give a provisional diagnosis based on observation of behavior and your and teacher's reports (BASC, BRIEF, etc.) Then you provide interventions and try again next year.

Here is where it is important for parents to actually understand what kind of service they are getting. Diagnosis of autism and ADHD are generally going to be *clinical* and based on observing the child and getting information from the parents and teachers. There is no test, like a blood test. For autism you do have the ADOS but that is basically a standardized type of observation that most good assessors should be able to get kids to do because it feels like play.

The full battery of IQ tests called a “neuropsych” is often not needed and overkill - and neglects the clinical assessment you actually do need for the kid. Unless you have a specific reason to think your child has cognitive issues (like an ID or a medical treatment that can have cognitive impacts or some types of epilepsy) it’s not crucial. And often doesn’t work for younger kids or kids with refusal (as OP found). The vast majority of kids with issues stemming from autism or adhd just don’t need every vector of their IQ tested. It certainly sheds zero light on the causes of emotional regulation issues.

If there is something specific that challenges your kid - fine motor, reading, etc - then get that specific thing tested. Hopefully with a shorter testing period and a good clinician your kid can get through it. If you want to know about autism or ADHD or anxiety go to a clinician who uses a clinical approach to diagnose.

This may be true in theory but it's very difficult to get accommodations or special education eligibility.

Anonymous wrote:No data is data. The evaluator does their best to give a provisional diagnosis based on observation of behavior and your and teacher's reports (BASC, BRIEF, etc.) Then you provide interventions and try again next year.

Here is where it is important for parents to actually understand what kind of service they are getting. Diagnosis of autism and ADHD are generally going to be *clinical* and based on observing the child and getting information from the parents and teachers. There is no test, like a blood test. For autism you do have the ADOS but that is basically a standardized type of observation that most good assessors should be able to get kids to do because it feels like play.

The full battery of IQ tests called a “neuropsych” is often not needed and overkill - and neglects the clinical assessment you actually do need for the kid. Unless you have a specific reason to think your child has cognitive issues (like an ID or a medical treatment that can have cognitive impacts or some types of epilepsy) it’s not crucial. And often doesn’t work for younger kids or kids with refusal (as OP found). The vast majority of kids with issues stemming from autism or adhd just don’t need every vector of their IQ tested. It certainly sheds zero light on the causes of emotional regulation issues.

If there is something specific that challenges your kid - fine motor, reading, etc - then get that specific thing tested. Hopefully with a shorter testing period and a good clinician your kid can get through it. If you want to know about autism or ADHD or anxiety go to a clinician who uses a clinical approach to diagnose.

No data is data. The evaluator does their best to give a provisional diagnosis based on observation of behavior and your and teacher's reports (BASC, BRIEF, etc.) Then you provide interventions and try again next year.

You don’t need a neuropsych and sounds like he won’t be able to anyway.

Did you use the word "test" with them? It's not a test, but an evaluation. Test makes kids think they can fail.

What was the consequence for refusing?
Did you try giving him an incentive?

I have a 7 year old who has struggled with emotional regulation basically forever. Amazing kid - smart, sweet, funny - but zero resilience and once they think they’ve “failed” they give up and refuse to try again, prompting a spiral of freak outs. Tried for a neuropsych recently and child refused to participate. Even the tester said she’d not witnessed this level of refusal or emotion in this context. Anyone have a kid who refused to do it?