We're in the middle of an evaluation with Dr. Black at CAAT. We went to him because we have social cognition concerns, but he is being incredibly thoughtful and thorough when deciding whether to diagnose him with autism. I would believe that most people who see him end up being diagnosed with autism, because that's the population of people who go to him, but it does not seem preordained or a diagnosis mill.

It would be unethical for any health professional - which includes psychologists and neuropsychologists - to provide an assessment and NOT diagnose a patient who met the qualifications for diagnosis.

Also, Stixrud isn’t an autism diagnosis mill. I’ve read many assessments from them, the vast majority of which have not been autism - lots of dyslexia, dyscalculia, adhd, other SLD, NVLD, ADHD, language processing disorders, post-TBI, etc.

I regularly see crappy public school IEP team “assessments” which form the basis of crappy IEPs or 504s, then at Stixrud (or frankly any other private practice), the testing is in depth and *honest*. I can’t believe some of the tricks I’ve seen public school Psychologists engage in to pull the wool over a parent’s eyes in order to convince them that their kid doesn’t have a “diagnosis” and therefore doesn’t qualify or has a “diagnosis” that doesn’t require special instruction and thus will only give a 504.

When my son read his own Stixrud report in high school, he said it described him perfectly. Beyond the diagnosis, he was able to match test results with his own struggles and strengths. It was priceless.

I don't think anyone does the testing unless they think something is up.

We had a great experience with Mindwell and I appreciated the tests results being explained and the recommendations. I knew there was LDs but I am not quite sure I was prepared for the detail. It was al to to absorb but I found them very helpful

I think Stixrud has a reputation for diagnosing everyone who walks in the door with autism because they are able to look beyond the stereotypical "flaps and doesn't make eye contact and talks about nothing but dinosaurs and has no friends" presentation. I'm not a diagnostician but I have a lot of experience with higher functioning autism and I have not been surprised by any of the autism diagnoses I've seen come out of there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teen would like to be tested for learning disabilities and adhd, etc, but they already have an IEP and 504 with extra time on tests, etc. for another medical issue. I am not searching for a diagnosis, we are just looking to understand what if any challenges they have. I've read about Stixrud, for example, being a diagnosis machine - that's not at all what we're looking for. Any recommendations?

If your teen seems to be having issues, I think you need to ask yourself what is hangup about receiving a diagnosis? Why does that make you so uncomfortable? And then reckon with it. Your kid will need you to do that.

+1

Hard agree on this sentiment. Between the title of your post and the mention that the current accomodations are bc of a medical issue, you seem biased against this. I urge you to deal with those feelings. I raised the possibility I had ADHD with my parents decades ago and they did nothing about it because they couldn’t accept that their “smart kid” could have a learning disability.

Anonymous wrote:My teen would like to be tested for learning disabilities and adhd, etc, but they already have an IEP and 504 with extra time on tests, etc. for another medical issue. I am not searching for a diagnosis, we are just looking to understand what if any challenges they have. I've read about Stixrud, for example, being a diagnosis machine - that's not at all what we're looking for. Any recommendations?

If your teen seems to be having issues, I think you need to ask yourself what is hangup about receiving a diagnosis? Why does that make you so uncomfortable? And then reckon with it. Your kid will need you to do that.

Anonymous wrote:My teen would like to be tested for learning disabilities and adhd, etc, but they already have an IEP and 504 with extra time on tests, etc. for another medical issue. I am not searching for a diagnosis, we are just looking to understand what if any challenges they have. I've read about Stixrud, for example, being a diagnosis machine - that's not at all what we're looking for. Any recommendations?

Who is telling you that? I'm in a related field and I refer to Stixrud all the time. Have never heard this or had reason to think it.