Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

I am taking my child in to be evaluated for ADHD. Has anyone done this before? What should i expect? They said the evaluation is done over two appointments. Do i get to stay with my child? Just curious how this works.
Thanks

Message edited 1/8/2020 10:43:24 AM.

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist

Yes my son sees a Developmental Pediatrician. First 2 visits were just assessments and a lot of questions and also gave me a questionnaire for my son's teacher to fill out. She gave him official diagnoses. Now we see her every few months because he is on meds.

Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist

Thanks for responding. I am wondering what the usual assessments involve. I answered sooo many questions in a 35 page packet and the teacher already filled out all the paperwork. Do they ask me all the questions, ask the child, or both? Do i stay with my child the entire time? Thanks

Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist

I think it depends on the age....we had our daughter assessed twice. Once at 3/4 and I stayed with her. Again when she was 7 and she went in alone.

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist

Thanks Karen. Do you remember what they do with the child?

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist

Message edited 1/3/2020 10:56:48 AM.

Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist

Bumping this up -- does anyone else have any insight?

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

My son has dyslexia and was evaluated privately when he was 7 in second grade. It was over two visits for him, and one for my husband and myself without our son. Both times my son went into the testing room alone with the test administrator. It took a few hours for the test so bring something to read or do while you are in the waiting room. At one point the administrator came out of the testing room to confirm my son's age. He was born at that hospital so I told her she could review his birth records. My son tested in the highly gifted range for his IQ, but could not read in second grade. Once he received his official diagnosis of dyslexia we were able to get the services he needed for success. He is now a high honor role student in middle school.

Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

We see a developmental pediatrician for the management of my son's ADHD meds. He is also on the autism specturm. He was first evaluated at 2, I stayed with him the entire time. He was again evaluated at 4 and I stayed with him. We conduct testing at the office quite frequently and I always stay with him, but stay silent.
I've never had to go for 2 visits for his evals. But we have been followed for problems since birth, so all of his history is well documented. Bring samples of his school work. behavior reports, if he has a BIP, brimg a copy, if there is an IEP, bring that.
The more info they have in advance, the better equipped they will be to diagnose. Once everything has been reviewed Dr will go over everything with you. I always bring someone with me because it is a lot of questions and I like to have someone else to watch my son as well as answer questions that I may forget the answer to. For example, can people understand when your child speaks? For me, yes because I speak to him every day. For someone who sees him every 2 weeks, not at all. Things we take for granted an outsider will see differently. And it helps the Dr get a good overall picture of the child. Having that extra set of hands and ears is always helpful.

Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

Thank you both -- this is so helpful!

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

The first test is an IQ test. The tests differ by age. The second test my son had was the Woodcock–Johnson IV test. You should not prepare the child for the tests at all beyond telling them they have a doctor appointment and are going to be asked a bunch of questions. If you prep them beyond that then the test is invalid. In fact, the schools are very strict on how frequent a Child can be tested. it has to be a few years between testing for validity. basically, they test for memory, comprehension, mathematical ability, reading nonessential words, reading, listening to passages and answering questions, sequences. For example, my son can hear 16 different two and three digit numbers out of sequence and put the, all into number order, ascending, descending, they will have a child read a passage and answer questions about what they read. The instructor will read passages and then the child is also able to answer questions. They have to make shapes out of blocks, they have to look at pictures and say what belong or does not belong. But do not prep your child for this test at all. That will impact their results, so I am giving this info to you because you asked, but don’t share it with your kid to influence them in any way.

Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

Interesting. I guess I wasnt expecting him to be tested on his intelligence, but his ability to focus, process, and sit still! So overwhelming!

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

While they are administering the tests the person conducting the tests also evaluates the child for their ability to sit still, listen, maintain eye contact, respond, comprehend the question, etc. the report for my son was nearly thirty pages long. It goes into all of the kinds of things you are concerned about. They use the tests to really delve into the child. It is quite comprehensive.

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

Oh, no, I did not mean it that way, and I am sorry you took it that way. The report basically say this is what we tested, and this is how we tested your child. This was the result of what we tested. Each item tested is a long paragraph. It will say something like this is within the expected standard deviation, or how many deviations difference. It can also say your kid is 7.9 ie. seven years nine months old, and tested as 8.2, or 21.0, or 3.4 . That is what the average age of those other kids who also took the test at the same age of your kid and others at different ages and then can say this is what is expected. I tried to look at it as this is the baseline, and we can only go up from here. So there were some areas where a child will excel, others where they are average, and others where they might need improvement. Even those kids who excel, don’t do it evenly in every subject. But please, don’t look at your child differently because they are still the same person, results or not.

Hugs

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

Your child may or may not undergo a full psychological/educational evaluation. It depends on the type of professional you are seeing and how in depth they are going. ADHD evaluations can include observations, interviews, behavioral screenings, psychoeducational evaluation, neurological and neuropsychological evaluations.

You will need to give informed consent to any formal testing, so you will know exactly what they are doing.

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

How did the appt go? I'll be taking my LO soon.

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

Who do you schedule initial appointment with?

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

I am bumping this again

Who do you go to?
I was ref to Dr. Gutman at Northwell in Manhassett and cannot see us until October

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?

When i called Northwell they asked if my child had an IEP or an existing issue and I said no -- they then told me i could see a behavioral psychologist for the testing the following month. If he found that my child had ADHD they would have to refer me to the Developmental Ped to write prescriptions. That DR has a 6 month wait.

Re: Behavioral Pediatrician / Psychologist -- Has anyone been to one?