Tried to go to a neuropsychologist...

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liz

Guest
I am butterfly31972 but I cannot seem to post under that name anymore so I had to do a new profile.

I tried to go to a neuropsychologist but they will not see me unless I:

A) have a referral of Traumatic Brain Injury
B) pay in cash ($1000'S UP TO $4000)

Here is my issue: They are saying that insurance does not cover neuropsychologist testing in my area so I have to be prepared to pay in cash. My husband has insurance through his work. We pay alot as everyone does for this coverage. It is so frustrating because they said the insurance will cover the testing on my son unless I have a referral from a pediatrician of traumatic brain injury. My son (who was adopted) was broken into 6 pieces at 2 months of age by someone--we assume bio-dad but don't really know who. He has always been just fine according to the developmental experts until he started Kindergarten. Then he could not read to save his life. We are paying for Kumon and that has helped him but he was not able to catch up in order to pass Kindergarten. He is repeating and now that I was wanting to take him to a neuropsychologist to have him evaluated they are saying I have to pay cash. UGH! According to the school, he looks to be ADD but they are not sure if that is what is going on. He seems to have a processing problem. So we are thinking Central Auditory Processing Disorder? This stinks!!!
I ran into this when I tried to make an appointment for my oldest who has ADHD.:(

What diagnosis can get me in to see a neuropsychologist with insurance coverage?
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Hi LizButterfly,
I hate it when folks give us the runaround.
Make an appointment with-your pediatrician. Take difficult child along with-you. Tell the pediatrician exactly what you have told us. Then let the pediatrician discuss it with-his staff. THEY should figure it out.
Arrrgh
 

SRL

Active Member
Hi Liz, I agree to make an appointment with your pediatrician. A doctor's letter can sometimes push insurance companies into extending covereage. Not always--at one time we had a policy that would only cover speech and occupational therapy if it was a result of an accident. It wouldn't cover it if it was developmental.

Do you have access to medical records from the period after he was harmed? x-rays, MRI's and a doctor's report may be helpful.

Good luck.
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
The School Board paid for the neuropsychologist tests for difficult child. I would talk to the school psychologist (or the special education department head) and find out if they can help you out. There was quite a wait for scheduling but it certainly was worth it. Our insurance didn't cover it either! Good luck. DDD
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
PS: They may say it isn't warranted. If so I would suggest taking the stance that you all have done everything you can do to assure that he has the opportunity to a full education and he is still behind. The damage of consistently being behind is peers would have a negative impact on his future and therefore it is most prudent to get the proper
tools (identifications) to assure he gets his guaranteed rights to the most appropriate education. DDD
 
C

comatheart

Guest
The pediatrician is one route but if your insurance doesn't cover it then read on...

We've gotten our school district to pay for our younger son's neuropsychologist testing. You have to request an IEE (Independent Education Evaluation) In your letter requesting an IEE, just state that you do not agree with any testing that they (school) have done and you want an IEE. By law, they have to allow an IEE, they have to pay for it and consider all the findings that come from the IEE. The Disctrict may balk at first, even argue that they don't have to pay for it but I assure you they do. I can help you find literature for you if they give you any problems. LMK
 

aeroeng

Mom of Three
If the problem is reading, he may have a learning disability like dyslexia. The definition of dyslexia is someone of normal or higher then normal IQ that has a difficult time learning to read in a traditional environment. Many school systems don't recognize the word dyslexia using something like learning disability with specific language disorder. What it is called is not as important as getting proper training, and the earlier the better. At age 5 you have already missed some key years. One very good source for information on reading issues is the international dyslexic association, "http://www.interdys.org/".

neuropsychologist testing is not necessarily used to diagnose reading issues. Although you still might have troubles with your insurance. By law the public schools are required to provide the testing for Learning Disability (LD) when parents request it. Thus insurance programs typically refuse to provide the testing because the school system must. With the "No child left behind" law the school testing requirements were relaxed. Schools now have the option to pre-screen and test only those that they deem require it, (or fit in their budget). Testing for reading issues also tends to cost between $1000 and $3000. I have heard of people getting tested for much less through teaching hospitals.

A few years back the National Reading Panel studied 50 years of research and determined the most effective ways to teach reading to Learning Disability (LD) kids. Phonemic Awareness came out on top. One book I highly recommend for young developing readers is: Phonemic Awareness: Playing with sounds to strengthen beginning reading skills" by Jo Fitzpatric and Catherine Yuh. (Designed for teachers, but mom can do it as well).

If it is determined that he is dyslexic or has a learning disability the proper training (In my opinion) is almost more important then the testing. It also gets expensive, and is rarely provided by the school systems. The IDA can give you a list of effective programs. PM me and I can give you more information.


Ps. Having had two dyslexics and one difficult child. If given the choice I would pick the dyslexic any day.
 
L

liz

Guest
Thank you everyone for your replies. This is the 1st week of school for them. Crazy!!!

Well, I need to talk to the pediatrician and see if they can get me a letter written. Also, my paperwork from way back when, that I received when we adopted them said that there was no evidence of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) (traumatic brain injury). So, I cannot go that route.
Also, bio mom and bio aunt have dyslexia and that may be the issue with him, but they are saying they cannot test for that until he is eight years old because kids do that naturally until that age.
:confused:

Really hoping we can get some answers this year. At least with his brother, his ADHD symptoms can be "fixed" with medications. With my youngest, it is more complicated. :(
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Sometimes the problem in dyslexia is that the eyes have not learned to track across the page from left to right. When we read, our eyes move in short, sharp steps from left to right. As the eye moves, we don't see. We only see when the eye stops moving. These rapid step movements are called saccades. Someone with dyslexia often can have their eye movements measured and their saccades are all over the page, not in a line as needed. Or the visual field when the eye is stationary, is too small. That would mean that the sequence of information reaching the brain is too narrow so the sequence of words makes no sense.

I have a writing exercise I developed myself when coaching dyslexic kids. The biggest expense, is you have to buy a special ball. Try to get one of those trick balls tat is really a clear plastic ball wrapped around another, weighted ball floating in water. The effect is that the ball is sliding across the table and not rolling. Most often, you buy them looking like eyeballs. So if you can, buy an eyeball ball. They should only be a dollar or two. But if you cant get an eyeball, get whatever you can, but make it distinctive. A fluro ping pong ball is good.

Next - have the child sit at the table. Have the child roll the ball from left hand to right, and keep their eyes on the ball. Let the right hand catch the ball and pass it back to the left, UNDER the table. Now repeat ten times. Do this exercise as many times in the day as the kid can stand. Tell the child that the aim of this exercise is to train the brain and the eye, to move in the right pattern to make reading easier. This kind of dyslexia is not merely inattention, it is poor brain tracking and it needs extra help. This help can work, and doesn't have to cost.

Anything you can do to make the eyes track in one direction and to concentrate, is good. repetition digs the brain pathways deeper, like water running down a mountainside. We are trying to tell the water how to run.

This is cheap and you can get the child to do it himself. Make a game of it. The funnier the ball, the more fun is the game.

Marg
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
I was going to make the same suggestion as aeroeng did...my son was thought to be this that and everything else. He has some mood issues, and may have a touch of aspie in him, but he HAS severe Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalcula, impaired working memory...the works.
Maybe you can look into some testing for that? It might be cheaper. Of course, our school missed it when they did their initial tests, but a good devped caught it right away.
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
Our insurance did not cover ours either. Our plan had changed and they covered her previous Neuro-psychiatric evaluation but not this one... The only reason we ended up paying ourselves, over $3000.00, was because she was top rated from New York and tested for absolutely everything and for over 16 hours. She was private. She still continues to keep in contact with us and has come to our school to our IEP meetings to make sure the School understands K's issues.
She talks to me any time I have questions and has an open door policy with K.

Sometimes these things outweigh a Schools choice or who insurance would cover as well. We are still paying it off but it was worth it.
 
Liz, what about a speech or occupational therapist? I remember gfg13 had some reading problems in 2nd and he worked with a speech therapist, she used a Lindamood Bell program.

Are the expectations of reading for KG reasonable? Is he just not ready to read? It just slays me how they push little kids to read. The schools made my son hate reading because he just wasn't ready. I couldn't belive the stuff they expected him to read in KG. He caught up though when he was ready. Now when he watches TV he leaves the closed-captioning on so he can read along.

Good luck. by the way many boys are late readers.
 
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