Wheres Toto Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 My younger kids had their annual physicals today and just from his behavior during the exams, the pediatrician gave us a referral for a neuropsych evaluation. The suggested calling the school Child Study Team if we couldn't afford a child psychologist but I'm not sure if they will do anything here in NJ if they aren't enrolled in school. We're thinking gifted, adhd, atypical autism, sensory issues.... Any suggestions? Does anyone know if NJ will do evaluations for kids not enrolled in school? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 i thought special ed law was national? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokyomarie Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Schools do not typically do full neuropsych evaluations, but if cost is an issue, you can often get at least a portion of the testing done through the school. If ADHD and/or an autistic spectrum disorder is suspected, it is probably best to get your evaluation done privately, if you can, though. Federal law (IDEA 2004) requires schools to evaluate any any child, regardless of where the child is receiving his/her education- public, private, or homeschool. The process for a homeschooler generally begins by writing a letter requesting an evaluation (with a brief description of reasons for the need) and sending to the special education coordinator for the school district and/or intermediate school district (ISD). An ISD is a county wide organization that local districts report to. Look up the special ed portion of your local school district's website for contact information, etc. Schools are not necessarily required to provide services after evaluation to homeschoolers. The specifics vary by state. Wrightslaw is a good website to peruse to begin understanding special ed law. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 Thank you! That's very helpful. I think we may start with the schools then and see where that gets us first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 ADHD and autism are medical conditions, so if you go through a MD like a pediatric neurologist or a developmental pediatrician, your health insurance should cover the cost of the eval. Now you may wind up getting another referral to a neuropsych from that MD, but having the 2nd referral strengthens your case for having the insurance pick up at least part of the tab for the NP eval. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 (edited) Thank you! That's very helpful. I think we may start with the schools then and see where that gets us first. It is the law that they have to evaluate, but they may not do the testing you want them to, and they won't provide services unless the child is enrolled. In my district, I knew a family that requested an evaluation, but the school insisted the child had to be enrolled first. I think that family did not know the law, though, and didn't fight it. You could talk to your local school or school district office, or send a certified letter requesting an evaluation because that way they have to act. If they still balk, you could send them a copy of the NJ Homeschooling FAQ's from the NJ Dept. of Ed. website. If they balk again, you may consider having an attorney write a letter, but you would have to weigh the cost of that against putting the money directly into an evaluation. I like CrimsonWife's idea about pursuing the medical end and getting insurance to cover it. I would definitely consider a neurologist (or developmental pediatrician?) visit first, since that would be covered by medical insurance and it would save you from possibly having to deal with the school district. In NJ, public schools are not used to dealing with homeschoolers and may not be homeschool friendly. If you decide to go the neurologist/developmental pediatrician route, try to get personal recommendations first because there are some duds out there. Edited October 28, 2012 by NJKelli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceFairy Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 We may be headed for a neuropych eval over DDs sensory issues.... I had no idea insurance may not cover it. I hope they do..as it is, the eval would be 5 hours away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 We had DD evaled by the school first, and it wound up a big waste of time. They basically said they'd have just given her extra time for certain types of assignments and assessed her as being at grade level. Apparently they wouldn't offer real help unless she was 2 grade levels behind in some area. While it was reassuring that I am managing to teach her, it did not give me the kind of tools or information to teach her more effectively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 We may be headed for a neuropych eval over DDs sensory issues.... I had no idea insurance may not cover it. I hope they do..as it is, the eval would be 5 hours away. Insurance may or may not cover it depending on whether your plan has mental health benefits (because the NP is a PhD. psychologist rather than a M.D., it falls under mental health). The way mine works is that I would have to take the child in for a consultation and the NP would develop an assessment plan. Then the bean counters and I would go round and round about which specific tests will be covered and which I'd have to pay for out-of-pocket. I might have to go to the pediatric neurologist or the audiologist to get them to support the medical necessity of certain tests, yadda, yadda, yadda. Then finally after all that red tape, I'd take the child back for the actual testing. I haven't yet bothered because I'm currently fighting with my insurance over covering youngest DD's ABA and I only have so much patience for dealing with that, KWIM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Insurance may or may not cover it depending on whether your plan has mental health benefits (because the NP is a PhD. psychologist rather than a M.D., it falls under mental health). The way mine works is that I would have to take the child in for a consultation and the NP would develop an assessment plan. Then the bean counters and I would go round and round about which specific tests will be covered and which I'd have to pay for out-of-pocket. I might have to go to the pediatric neurologist or the audiologist to get them to support the medical necessity of certain tests, yadda, yadda, yadda. Then finally after all that red tape, I'd take the child back for the actual testing. I haven't yet bothered because I'm currently fighting with my insurance over covering youngest DD's ABA and I only have so much patience for dealing with that, KWIM? In our case, the neuropsych eval is only covered through the medical part of our insurance, not through the mental health part. Even our neuropsych didn't believe me about this, and we had to go back and forth about it, until she called and verified. Our neuropsych, though technically a psychologist, is in network for medical, but not for mental health. She deals with a lot of concussion cases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted October 29, 2012 Author Share Posted October 29, 2012 I believe one of the referrals the pediatrician gave us was to a developmental pediatrician. Unfortunately we have a high deductible plan and only well-visits are covered before hitting thousands of dollars. We are going to call our insurance and double check. I'm mildly concerned about going through the schools since my son was there for early intervention from 3 to 4. Part of that experience is what led us to decide to homeschool. Now that I think about it more, they didn't seem set-up to do more than the most basic testing. My son was declassified after a year because his speech had improved. They acknowledged that he had other "issues" but weren't really able to tell us what they might be or offer any testing options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 I believe one of the referrals the pediatrician gave us was to a developmental pediatrician. Unfortunately we have a high deductible plan and only well-visits are covered before hitting thousands of dollars. We are going to call our insurance and double check. I'm mildly concerned about going through the schools since my son was there for early intervention from 3 to 4. Part of that experience is what led us to decide to homeschool. Now that I think about it more, they didn't seem set-up to do more than the most basic testing. My son was declassified after a year because his speech had improved. They acknowledged that he had other "issues" but weren't really able to tell us what they might be or offer any testing options. I had a family member who was evaluated through the local ps, but she was not a hser. I think the result of the eval was unspecified learning disability. When I asked a friend who is a ps special ed teacher about it, she said that's usually how the kids she works with are labeled. You could try to find out if the kids in your school system are coming out of evals with more than that, because that alone is really unhelpful, IMO. We also have a pediatric neurologist locally who seems to give everyone the dx of "encephalopathy" and that doesn't help parents one bit to understand what's going on with their dc and take appropriate measures to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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