What is least expensive route to getting diagnosis for college accommodations?

[susanah4]

And what kind of $$ am I looking at.  I doubt my insurance will help.  

[maize]

What kind of diagnosis are you expecting?

 

Learning disabilities may be diagnosed through public school evaluations. A medical diagnosis such as ADHD may be made by any primary care doctor.

[susanah4]

Not sure.  Mildly on the spectrum, ADD, anxiety, some auditory processing and sensory processing issues?  I don't know what qualifies for accommodations, but I do not believe she can survive college without some help.  I know she couldn't have made it through public school.  We have always homeschooled so no public school evals of any kind.  A diagnosis of Sensory Processing Disorder at 2 1/2, but to continue to receive services at 3 years old we had to leave her at the school.  Major separation anxiety put that to a halt.  No other kind of evaluations since.  She will be graduating in 2 years and is interested in going to college. 

Edited May 8, 2017 by susanah4

[Pawz4me]

First thing I would do is contact the insurance company to make sure they won't cover testing. May as well make sure before you start looking for other avenues. DS had a medical diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder and ASD by his psychiatrist, but she said in order to receive college accommodations he would need a psycho-educational evaluation by a psychologist. Which we got. The psychologist's report included recommended educational/classroom type accommodations, but we still needed a letter from the psychiatrist in order for him to get a private dorm room (which was by far the accommodation he needed and wanted the most!).

[maize]

Public schools are usually required to evaluate even if the student is not enrolled. That is one route to explore.

 

ASD, anxiety, and ADHD are all medical diagnoses and you may find that your insurance covers more than you expect. My children's neuropsych evaluations were all paid for primarily through insurance. If you contact a neuropsychologist who does such testing their office will know how to go about getting insurance pre-approval if needed.

Edited May 8, 2017 by maize

[Heathermomster]

Call the college disability office and discover their criteria for providing accommodations.  Using that info, call your insurance company and local testers to get a price.  Get referrals from your local dyslexia and autism schools.

 

A full NP psych in my area costs about $2k.  Testing will be different for ASD.  My insurance only covers the ADHD testing, so we use our medical savings account, which is tax-free, to cover costs.  I don't deal with issues related to Autism so have no idea how much that sort of testing costs or if insurance pays.

[PeterPan]

Although federal law (IDEA) requires the ps to identify students with disabilities, they aren't really asking the same question you are. You're asking what is actually happening (medical diagnosis) and they're asking what affects the dc's ability to access their education (educational diagnosis). So there will be numerous kids in the ps with ASD who do *not* have an IEP or 504, do not receive interventions, nothing. It's the scandal of the century when you really think about it. 

 

In your position, your best evals are likely to be private. You *might* have a ps that does a great job, but in general when ASD is on the table you need to go private. 

 

Cost will depend on how many hours the psych bills for and whether you go through a hospital psych or private. Hospital psychs bill at 2-3x what private do. So the cost is their billing rate X #hours.

 

This is something you're likely to only do one time, given her age. I would look for a psych you click with, someone who sounds like they'll be helpful to you. Some are really good with teens or adults. Some specialize in autism. Some are really good at career testing. So call around, ask for recs, take your time. In our area you could pay $1-3K+, and it really just depends on how long they're spending.

 

Fwiw, autism is a whole separate issue in some ways. You can quantify it with parent surveys (GARS, ADI-R, etc.), but it's also good to have a practitioner who just spends some TIME with the kid, seeing how they respond to things, getting to know them.

 

If you go to the ps for evals, they may or may not actually diagnose the autism. Even if they do, they are not required by law to write a 504 or IEP. Identifying the disability (the eval process) is their federal legal responsibility. Actually writing a 504 or IEP takes additional hours and some states require that, some don't. So even if they identify it, they might not create paper trail for you giving accommodations. You can talk with them and see.

Edited May 8, 2017 by OhElizabeth

[susanah4]

Thanks for all of the feedback.  That is a lot of info to wade through.  Does give me some starting points though.  :)

 

[AimeeM]

What kind of diagnosis are you expecting?

 

Learning disabilities may be diagnosed through public school evaluations. A medical diagnosis such as ADHD may be made by any primary care doctor.

Not always (can LDs be dx'd through public school evals). For example, our state doesn't recognize dyslexia as a special need, therefore their evals will not diagnose it. 

OP, around here the eval would be about $1000. Our insurance will cover the "medical" portion of the eval (adhd, for example), but not the "educational" portion (LDs).

 

ETA: Our insurance absolutely covered our neuropsych evals for our younger two (Autism, speech delays, language delays), because those were all considered to "ride" on the autism dx, and autism evals are covered.

Edited May 9, 2017 by AimeeM

[susanah4]

Not always (can LDs be dx'd through public school evals). For example, our state doesn't recognize dyslexia as a special need, therefore their evals will not diagnose it. 

OP, around here the eval would be about $1000. Our insurance will cover the "medical" portion of the eval (adhd, for example), but not the "educational" portion (LDs).

 

ETA: Our insurance absolutely covered our neuropsych evals for our younger two (Autism, speech delays, language delays), because those were all considered to "ride" on the autism dx, and autism evals are covered.

 

Did they have an autism diagnosis before the neuropsych evals?   Or will they cover if you are asking to check for things on the spectrum?  Do I ask pediatrician for a referral to get covered by insurance?

[Pawz4me]

Whether or not you need a referral depends on your insurance. We don't need referrals for anything as far as our insurance is concerned. Others do. Sometimes a referral from a primary care doctor is required by the specialist and sometimes even if it's not required it may speed the process up a bit.

[sweetpea3829]

Listen, if your insurance company will not pay for it, request an evaluation through your school district.

 

Then, dispute the results and request an Independent Educational Evaluation at their expense.  Assuming they do not fight it, they will pay for a private evaluation.  

 

Now here's the thing.  Sometimes, those private IEEs are not "as good as" ones you can get by paying for it on your own.  It depends on the school district and the evaluator.  

 

I did this in 2012 for my then almost 7 yr old and she received her official ADHD and dyscalculia diagnoses, along with some other co-morbid minor issues.  We just had her IESP review and I asked for a follow-up IEE to determine progress.  In discussing things with the IESP team, however, we decided that a full developmental evaluation was more appropriate.  And they will pay for it at their expense.  The downside is that there's a waiting list if we go through the school.  I don't mind, personally, as I'm not in any rush, and have a pretty good idea of her issues.  But waiting might not be an option for you.  

[AimeeM]

Did they have an autism diagnosis before the neuropsych evals?   Or will they cover if you are asking to check for things on the spectrum?  Do I ask pediatrician for a referral to get covered by insurance?

This depends entirely on your insurance. 

My boys did not have a dx prior to the evals -- that's what they were evaluated for. Our insurance doesn't require a referral, but some other insurances do. 

 

ETA: again insurance-specific, but our insurance covers everything related to suspected or diagnosed spectrum disorders.

Edited May 9, 2017 by AimeeM