Testing

JLady

A ship lost in the night
We've had questionairres filled out by people. We've been to pshycologists, a child psychiatrist, the school counselors, an outside counselor all since November of 2008.

Original diagnosis was ADHD with ODD. WRONG and I knew it. Now we have Mood Disorder, ADHD, and Aspergers Syndrome. I meet with the school tomorrow morning in order to decide where to go from here. I contacted the school board after getting the Aspergers diagnosis to find out what programs are available. This meeting is suppose to be to push forward with getting approval for Special Education services.

The outside counselor that my son is working with seems to be the only person that he has connected with. He talks to him and not to the other doctors we have seen. The child psychiatrist is the one who made the diagnosis. I suppose the criteria was all the questions we answered and the way my son acted around her.

Last night the counselor suggested that I push forward with the school and ask them to do their own testing as sort of a second opinion. He said they will talk with the people that really know my son. He agrees of many of the symptoms of Aspergers but isn't convinced that my son isn't just way behind in development. Isn't that part of aspergers as well? What is the accronym? AS?

The counselor also said that the program the school offers could do my son a world of good. That I really want to check it out before making such a big change for him.

My question is..... How much testing, what kind of testing, and what do I need to know to make sound decisions for my son? He keeps saying he doesn't want to talk about his "bad behaviour".

It's so difficult to know what to do.

Jlady
 

DaisyFace

Love me...Love me not
Hi JLady--

I have to wonder....if you have already been through very thorough testing with a child psychiatrist...what more can the school possibly need? I cannot imagine that the school's testing would be anywhere near as thorough.

Sorry you are having to dealwith this aggravation...

--DaisyF
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Some tests cannot be conducted within a year of originally being done. The results would be statistically invalid.

If you've shared the test results with the school, their staff psychologist (or whomever would be handling this) should know what tests they can or cannot conduct. When I had difficult child 2's neuropsychologist evaluation last Spring, I coordinated the testing between the school and the private practitioner so that there was no overlap or duplication. The private neuropsychologist did end up doing a much more comprehensive evaluation, but the school also wanted to have their role in the process so that's why they did their own testing. I'll be doing the same thing with my difficult child 1 in a few weeks.

I would reassure your difficult child that the testing is not meant to focus on his "bad" behavior, but to help the school figure out what is the best way he learns things so they can make school a more enjoyable place for him to go to every day. He is NOT a "bad" kid. He is a GOOD kid who just needs help making better choices for his behavior so that it doesn't interfere with his learning. He, you and his teaching team can help his situation by making sure he takes his medication, gets enough rest, and has the right environment at school to ensure a successful experience. He needs to know that everyone wants him to be successful and feel good about himself. And that's the whole reason for putting him through these sessions -- so that things can be better.

He's sort of like a building kit that doesn't come with instructions or tools to put it together, and up until now, you had no idea what you were building (is it a house? a boat? a rocket?) or whether to use a screwdriver, a hammer, a saw, or some combination of all three. Everything you are doing is an attempt to figure how to help him "build" himself so that he eventually ends up with something that makes him happy and that doesn't frustrate him or otherwise create roadblocks on the way there.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking that nobody knows what's wrong with your son. Psychiatrists don't usually do testing. I would go to a neuropsychologist and not fiddle around with the school district (that probably knows less than the psychiatrist). The school districts tend to just not diagnosis. right and I personally don't trust them. He won't improve by getting every diagnosis. in the book thrown at him--to me that sort of says "we don't know so we'll make sure we say he has EVERYTHING." If he has social delays, I'd really be looking hard at Aspergers and see a neuropsychologist who is best equipped to diagnose those sorts of things (and everything else too). They do 6-10 hours of testing and have no outside agendas, like the school districts do. School districts want to hold back on supports to save $$$. You need somebody who has nothing to do with the district. JMO from long, hard work at this ;)
 

JLady

A ship lost in the night
You are all so informative! I wish you could go with me to the school tomorrow. I'm so nervous. I have no idea what I'm talking about and I just want him to have the correct diagnosis. I don't want what he doesn't need but I want him to get what he needs. My head is spinning!

I'm begining to wonder if there really are any answers.

Jlady
 

jal

Member
JLady,

Just my experience. My difficult child was diagnosis'd at 4 ADHD, then BiPolar (BP). Went to another psychiatrist that said ADHD not BiPolar (BP). Went to our 3rd pd he said BiPolar (BP) and ADHD. We went with-that diagnosis. I had a neuropsychologist done on my son at the age of 4 (on my own, not by SD, covered by ins hence the crud we got). Come to find out no REAL testing was done. No scores on it, it just agreed with-mood disorder. I just found out it was a crock of you know what. The latest psychiatrist who is an expert in Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) told me no neuropsychologist worth their salt would have signed this report. No one else told us that. Before difficult child started kindergarten the SD had a small team do a visual observation of him while at daycare. They came back and said he was fine and didn't need services (they were there for 40 min). Well, when he finally got to school they saw he had issues and we developed the IEP. Then when he went back for 1st grade they could not provide him everything that he really needed so they gave us out of district placement under OHI (other health impairment). Now our psychiatrist was still claiming BiPolar (BP), we were saying no, so we sought out 2 new psychiatrists that agree on the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) Aspergers.

Our SD has never done formal testing on difficult child. One of the new psychiatrists wants WISC-IV, BRIEF and NEPSY done. I requested it at IEP monday and it was granted. I, at this time, figure let them pay for it as he has all the services he needs already in place.

I agree with-MWM if you are looking for a diagnosis then I would get a private neuropsychologist.

I can't say this enough, you'll know if you need to make a program change for him. It is hard to admit to, and hard to do to take him away from those that he knows, but if the program will help him succeed that's where the decision has to be. For the success of your child. My husband and I cried the first time we saw the new program. difficult child has to travel 45-1hr to school on a major highway. He is in a separate wing of a mainstram school with kids who have issues. The issues range from Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), to Autism, Downsyndrome to ED and they are all in different classes. It stinks to take your kid away from what he knows....BUT in 3 1/2 months my childs writing has greatly improved, his math has exploded (they say they have never had a kid his age come in and blow through the math units like he is doing and this program has been around for 20 years), he is finally succeeding in the classroom and LOVES school. It was the best move we made for him. He is happier because he is succeeding and his self esteem has grown a lot.

I wish you a lot of strength and hope, because I have been right where you are and I know that it hurts.

I am sorry this is so long.
 
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