Speech therapist first?

[allie80]

I finally got the insurance information and made the "call." difficult child's first appointment is next Tuesday but it is with the speech therapist.
Do you know why he sees her first? Any info would be great as to what I might expect with all these appointments.

Thanks! I hope everyone is doing well!

 

[smallworld]

What kind of evaluation did you request?

 

[BusynMember]

What type of problems are you seeing?

 

[allie80]

Oh, sorry!
Behavioral problems - defiance and opposition - that's what I told the girl who answered. She told me the psychiatrists were not taking any new patients and I said, well he is three. I don't think he will talk to a psychiatrist...she put me on hold, came back and said, well...ok, we are taking new patients, let me get you an appointment, yadda yadda. She said before she sent him on to behavioral therapists, he would need a speech evaluation.

 

[SRL]

For a boy age 3, I think it's a really good idea to include a speech/language evaluation as part of a thorough assessment.

Here's a thread on what to expect:
http://www.conductdisorders.com/forum/showthread.php?t=337

 

[allie80]

Thank you SRL, I was looking for a list like that! I googled it and got all sorts of stuff that did not pertain in any way! LOL.

Thanks again for everything!

 

[SRL]

I never did find a list like that out there so we created our own.

in my opinion, a good basic thorough evaluation for a child this age will consist of speech, occupational therapy for motor skills and sensory processing issues, a hearing test by an audiologist and then some kind of lead diagnostician to evaluate the behavioral aspect and pull it all together. For these little ones parents overall here have had better success with developmental pediatricians and pediatric neuropsychologists. Psychiatrists and therapists certainly have their place but often parents report later that they didn't get the full picture that way. Push for as much as you can get up front.