what kind of eval?

[slogan]

I met with the public schools today to see what services they could offer my son. Academically he is not behind, but he does require more one on one teaching than he should. I don't really think they will be able to address the social/communication issues he's having.

 

Our ped referred us to a development pediatrician, but I'm wondering if I could have him more informally evaluated before we go that route. I'm just not convinced he needs to see the developmental ped yet.

 

Could I just have a play therapist or OT give us their opinion first or will they just want him to be evaluated by the developmental ped first?

[Jennifer-72]

Well, if you suspect he has some social/communication issues, I would seek out an SLP evaluation.

[dbmamaz]

I went through one therapist talking to my son for a few months and saying 'its not adhd, call if you need anything', and another who did some evaluation and said "its not adhd, read this book about sensory integration', another who did a medium evaluation and said "adhd and aspergers' and then a much longer evaluation who gave a much longer list of issues and then and then and then . ..

 

IMO, things like play therapy are good for anxiety or for getting over trauma and abuse, but they are not very helpful for the kinds of issues you are talking about. a thorough evaluation will include all sorts of tests which will show what his strengths and weaknesses are, to help figure out what kind of support he will need

 

aside from possible meds, which should always be a last resort, the therapists and the evaluators cant 'fix' him - they can only neatly catagorize the ways he differs from the norm. this wont really help him work independently, necessarily, but might explain why he cannot do so?

 

anyways, esp if you can get it covered by insurance, i really dont think there is any negative to come from the evals. Its private medical information, so its not like its out on the internet or something, and even when it didnt help, i found seeing it there, in black and white, a confirmation of what we were struggling with - idk, just kind of reassuring. for me, their suggestions were mostly unhelpful ( we did end up with meds, not for adhd tho). but others have had better experiences

[PeterPan]

Our OT uses the exact same spectrum screening forms our ped and SLP (all in different cities, in different parts of the state) use. OT's can't diagnose stuff outside their province. Ours said things she suspected, but it was all couched (screen, refer you to, blah blah). If your ped saw reason to go to the developmental ped, you should do it. The wait is long, and although we haven't done it (my kids aren't on the spectrum), apparently he'll connect you (if he's good) with other resources. Or do a neuropsych. Did your ped say dev. ped for a reason? He saw more medical stuff for the dev. ped to sort out? For instance, I've read stories of dev. peds catching verbal apraxia that others were missing. So there may be more your ped is suspecting.

 

The waits on some of these people are long, dev. peds especially. You might as well get on the list and cancel if you take care of it via other options. Just a thought. ;)

[slogan]

 

The waits on some of these people are long, dev. peds especially. You might as well get on the list and cancel if you take care of it via other options. Just a thought. ;)

 

That's what I was thinking! I'm overwhelmed by the cost. I know this is not a time to be cheap but I don't want to waste time and money if there's not really much they can do. I was a little thrown back by the referral to the dev. ped. I expected something a little less drastic.