Neuropsychologal evaluation

[Arttillygirl]

My son is sleeping in class, looking at porn, making rap music, and wants to date a girl who acts very "whoreish". They are both virgins so far I think. He hates his Christian school and has made some enemies. We have decided to try a junior college/charter school next year if he brings his grades up so he is trying harder.
(My only fear there is the lack of accountiblility for an ADHD kid who is already falling through the cracks in an extremely structured environment) so suggestions there would help also.

My son's psychiatrist suggested a neuropsychological evaluation along with providgil for sleeping problems. The therapist charges $2100 for the evaluation. It will be $1k out of pocket and then weekly visits will run about $85. So we are talking about a substantial chunk of change. The therepist is $80 every 3 weeks and the providial is $80 a month, zoloft is $15. We are happy to pay if it is all necessary but wasted about $2k last year on a counselor who did absolutely nothing.

The therapist also offered to just start weekly counseling.

Has anyone an opinion on how necessary all these tests, etc. have on a diagnosis? We already know he's ADHD and I am hesitant to be plunking down that kind of money. He has no more suicidal clues as he did before with his music or (he had one episode of) "cutting".

 

[bzymomto4]

My son developed sleep problems - sleeping up to 18 hours a day, even when he was awake, he wasn't alert. He had a sleep study which should obstructive and central sleep apnea. He had a andoidectomy / tonsillectomy. On his repeat study it was improved, but not perfect unfortunatly. We tried cpap but when cpap corrected for his obstructive apnea, he has an increase in central apnea. The correction he got from the surgery was enough to wake him up to normal sleeping hours, but not enough to improve his mood.

 

[flutterbee]

A neuropsychologist does not do therapy, to my knowledge, just testing. The testing for my daughter was priceless. We got more answers from that - along with therapeutic recommendations - than we did with years of tdocs.

Why is your son's psychiatrist suggesting it? What does he think might be going on? A neuropsychologist is going to determine things that a psychiatrist and therapist cannot. A neurospych evaluation usually consists of 6-12 hours of testing.

Others can provide you with more information as to what types of testing a neuropsychologist performs.

 

[totoro]

Our Nuero-psychiatric I think did offer some different counseling for various issues... they were expensive. We did not do that because we have a great therapist.
But yes he did 10-12 hours of initial testing, and he tried to do it fairly quickly within a couple of weeks, so as not to drag it out....
He had K come in 3 days in a row for some serious one on one...
He was also understanding if it was too much for her.
He then wrote up a full report with suggestions, and a full evaluation. with his suggested diagnosis's... not and actual diagnosis.

We met and talked about it and he gave us a full report.
He also sent us about 6 or so reports to answer prior to coming in. like the Vineland Adaptive, ABC, a bunch more...
He did the WIPSI, the a bunch of Cognitive, IQ etc....

 

[susiestar]

From what I have seen here and in "live" parent groups, a neuropsychologist evaluation is invaluable. If your son is already falling through the cracks at a very structured school, then it sounds like something else may be going on.

If you are very very very very sure that ADHD is the ONLY thing you are dealing with, then I would skip it. As I am STILL not sure what my difficult child is going through, and we have had LOTS of testing, then I would go for it.

A GOOD neuropsychologist should give a LOT of testing, not just an hour or two. And, as others have said, a lot of things to fill out before the first meeting. If your son has had testing at school for an IEP, or anywhere else, make sure the neuropsychologist's office has copies of these. It may mean he runs fewer or different tests, depending on when they were done. It can also give him an idea of development, and where he is going.

The therapist recently offered weekly counselling, seems like something is going on. Did the therapist give a reason why? Will the provigil help with ADHD symptoms? Is your son sleeping at night? Would a night time sleep medication be useful? I don't konw much about provigil, but it seems to be related to stimulants. Wouldn't ritalin or adderal or a long-acting version of one of them do the same thing for a reasonable cost? I am just curious. I always ask questions about the whys of medications.

It really seems like there is something going on with your son, and it seems like a good investment to spend the $$$ for the evaluation, in my humble opinion.

Whatever you decide, hugs to all of you.

Susie