A neuropsychologist is certified and trained in both neurology and psychiatry while a psychiatrist is not. If you want to try to find a cause, I'd go with a neuropsychologist, if you want talk therapy and medications, a psychiatric is better.
A neuropsychologist is not a medical doctor. NOT an MD. NOT someone trained in neurology and psychiatry. They are PhD psychologists with additional training in neurology and how behavior and the brain are connected. They generally do not do therapy. They can not prescribe medications though they can refer for a medication evaluation if they think it is helpful just like any psychologist can.
A neuropsychiatrist is an MD and is trained in neurology and psychiatry. Their emphasis is on working with people who have neurological problems that cause behavior and psychiatric conditions. They do prescribe medications if needed. Just like many psychiatrists, they may not do the talk therapy part of things.
A neurologist, specifically an elileptologist, is the MD doctor who can best look at seizures. They are MD neurologists who focus seizures in their practice. This is the kind of doctor that was a break-through for us.
Q uses our beloved pediatrician (who has developed a specialty in working with behavior disordered kids inc Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), ADHD, BiPolar etc..in thier clinic) as the main filter to make sure anyone else we go to does not contradict a plan from another doctor's plan. He is also the backup if there is an emergency with medications or whatever if the specialist in charge is not available for some reason. He directly communicates with our neurologist monthly at least and they have attended conferences together and they are not even in the same cities....over 45 minutes apart...but they are just that good.
Our neurologist is our main support for his issues. Though we now have added her friend who is a psychiatrist because she has more expertise in the types of medications that the pediatrician and neurologist have chosen. She is really the one that I communicate with the most. She totally gets it and knows who to send us to when needed for other information. She really listens to Q and values my input on EVERYTHING. Well worth the effort to look for someone like that if you can find them. (in whatever field, just I mean the values she has) Both our neurologist and psychiatrist have kids with special needs....
I dont know what is available where you life. If you were here I would suggest the epileptologist and neuropsychologist. That is just MHO.
I agree neurppsychs (neuropsychologists) do the best overall testing but when the testing for language and motor only involve subtests of bigger tests....it can only be considered a screen and or and indication if more testing could be helpful. You would be surprised at small number of questions that they use to determine if language is a problem or not. Sometimes they will use a full language testing protocol and then you can get a better picture. Just make sure you know if they are talking about subtests or full tests.... It does not rule out motor, sensory or language problems. I have received neuropsyc evaluations that suggested no language or communication issues when the in depth testing I had done (usually along with knowing the child for a long time which of course is always a super important piece that is really under valued) showed there was definite problems. It is really important to use common sense. No matter how good a person is in testing, nothing replaces how well you know your child. The fact is that any testing like the standardized IQ tests, language tests, etc. reflect how the person does on that day...there are times when kids really are having a health issue that makes the results not as valid or reliable. Other times a child may be able to perform well under those ideal testing conditions but they dont do well in the real world. THAT is why the parent/caregiver/teacher forms and the history forms are so very very important.
If any doctor says they are not comfortable with a second or third opinion...they should be fired. That is pure arrogance and not helpful to you or your child. doctors should WANT more information and WANT to get to the bottom of things.
