Great Autism Dr./Hospital in Norhern Virginia? Please help me find one

[furrowed]

Hi everyone,

Anyone in the Northern Virginia area that can suggest a place to have my son evaluated for suspected Autism?

I have had my son evaluated twice, (even once at Kennedy Krieger) but can't say I have been really satisfied with the results. I'm definitely NOT hunting for a dx - believe me, I would hide from one if I could - but I just don't feel the evaluations have ever been thorough enough to my liking.

What I really want is more specific appraisal of my son's deficits and ways to help. (Other than just saying "Read Greenspan's Floortime book" or "Get some speech therapy")

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kme]

I live in NOVA and my son has had 3 full evals outside of school. One was with a developmental ped I would not recommend so I won't! One was at Kennedy Krieger, and one was Ashburn Psychological Services. APS was pretty good, they have a couple doctors who specialize in ASD there and they were the first to talk to me about SPD and recommend OT. They did not dx ASD, they diagnosed ADHD with sensory seeking as did KK (well, KK made it pretty clear SPD does not "exist" by itself but did note the sensory seeking behaviors). Not sure I agree with that assessment but I know my son is borderline.

A few other practices that have been recommended to me (but which I have no personal experience with) are Dr Frederici in McLean, Family Compass Group in Reston, and Behavioral Directions in Herndon. I have heard Dr. Frederici is excellent although his practice specializes in internationally adopted children. One acquaintance told me he was the first to dx Asperger's in her son who had previously been given an ADHD dx numerous times (like my son!) I live in Loudoun county so I am not familiar with practices closer into DC, not sure where you live.

I am going to be watching this thread to see if anyone else has any recommendations!!

[heatherdeg]

We live in NJ but our son was being eval's & followed at KK from 11mo to 3yo. He was also eval'd by DIR Support Services ( Greenspan's son's group--more for programming because they can't dx. but they definitely weighed in with an opinion). You CAN have Greenspeen himself eval but it will cost a fortune (I think $1200 or $1800). We had stellar insurance but he wasn"t covered (not a network doc). DIR-SS may not have been either. But we got on Greenspan's schedule at one point and canceled because someone thought DIR-SS did more comprehensive testing than Greenspan.

Both KK & DIR-SS gave us very detailed things to do with our son (or to advocate for the right therapies). Multiple pages--so I was pretty happy with both although I didn't love the testing group we aged into at KK when he turned 3. (We assumed they'd do some specific testing they didn't do and we didn't know ahead of time & it felt like a wasted trip, but then again--if I really wanted it done I should've asked/confirmed ahead of time).

Not sure if this helps. My son has since been eval'd in NJ and neither was as comprehensive as KK or DIR-SS. Granted, he's not nearly as severe as he was then--but they don't know that!

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

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[kme]

Ooops - I took out some of my negative/questioning comments.