Neuro-psychiatric? How often?

[totoro]

K had her 1st and only Neuro-psychiatric evaluation 2.5 years ago.
She has grown and changed so much in this short time. Her abilities have changed drastically. She is now in *real* School and she is going to be most likely evaluation'ed at her School next year.

husband and I have been talking about getting her Neuro-psychiatric redone.
How often have some of you gotten them.
If you could have them done how often would you?
She was just in K when she had her first one done.

We really see a lot of differences in her and now she is almost 8 and I think an updated one for her new School would be wise.
What do you all think?
Our insurance would cover most of it.

Also what are you feelings on doing them medicated vs. unmedicated.

I would think unmedicated is the way to go personally.
Her first one was unmedicated. She was medicated when her last School evaled her and that was a huge joke!!!
Plus the School was a huge joke!

One reason we are thinking about this is because she is only on Seroquel, which is easy to titrate up and down on. So before we put her on a long term MS or anything that takes a long time to Titrate, I think this might be a good time to do this.

Hmmm
Always something!!! Shari's post made me think of this. K's GAF score was a 35 and I think a 55 at her highest...

 

[smallworld]

We were told that neuropsychologist testing is good for about 3 years. If you don't do it before the school evaluation, the school will do its own testing (since yours is old at this point), and it won't be as comprehensive as a private neuropsychologist evaluation.

Because my kids were on medications that couldn't be titrated up or down easily (mood stabilizers or antidepressants), they were tested on medication. In spite of being medicated, the neuropsychologist still saw depression in J and anxiety in M so having the medications on board didn't seem to matter that much. J was also taking a stimulant for his last neuropsychologist evaluation so the neuropsychologist told us to bring him off the stimulant, and he would give it to J halfway through the testing to see if the medication affected his attention.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[totoro]

Thanks SM~
I think having an up to date one prior to K entering 2nd grade would be good.
Her School is really weird in a good way. I would have never ever thought we would have found this School, so she is basically in a *special needs* class. but mixed with easy child kids.
Her Teacher is the one with an Autistic Son.
The Principal has a Doctorate and specialized in mental health and working with disabilities.
She has a goal of helping all of the kids but in particular the *special* kids. So she places the kids with issues, IEP or not in specific classes. K is in Ms. T's class for a reason.
There are about 5 or 6 other kids with issues in this class.
So next in the next couple of months the Nurse, Principle, Teacher's and whoever else is involved with each child, for K it would be the social Skills teacher. Get together and discuss each child and decide how and where to place each child!
They will separate some of the kids due to issues.
They then also make some descisions regarding who might be in need of 504's or IEP's. Or possible extra help.

I don't know how this works or if it works, but needless to say I am very excited!
When husband was talking to the nurse yesterday about all of this and just the fact that she is involved, got him so excited!
She is and was quite clear and aware that K has issues. She loves K and has stated she will be involved and help her.
She also said that she very rarely sees parents as caring and involved as us!!! Made me feel very good. This School seems too good to be true!
Here is another story that my friend whose kid is a bit worse than K told me. THe Principal physically helped got him into the car and held him while the Mom drove them home and had someone else drive and follow in her car, (the 1/1 aide) and drove home with my friend! My friend could not physically restrain him herself and get him home safely.

So K's handwriting has gotten worse, her speech is a bit worse. I think a new Nuero-psychiatric evaluation can't hurt. Pre-Kindergarten and 2nd grade is a huge difference I think?
Un-medicated would be my vote!

 

[Nancy423]

Pre-Kindergarten and 2nd grade is a huge difference I think?
Un-medicated would be my vote!

In our house is was a HUGE difference. difficult child is evaluation'd/tested by the school every 3 years. But if you're noticing new things or seeing other things "resolve" it would be good to have her reassessed anyway. And I agree, unmedicated if possible! Maybe bring her back in aftewards to see if the medications make a difference too.

Sounds like you have a fantastic team at the school. They really go out of their way to make the classrooms run as smoothly as possible don't they?