If your child had a neuro-psych eval; did they actually see the psychologist?

[dbsam]

When your child had a neuro-psych eval did they actually see the psychologist?

I am so frustrated. We were hesitant to do the eval for several reasons, decided to go ahead and have been on the waiting list at Children’s Memorial and UOC since October. UOC had an available appt. first so we went with it. When choosing facilities I thought I asked all the important questions - I never even imagined I would spend all this money and the psychologist wouldn’t even meet my daughter! All the testing was done by his two inexperienced assistants(my assumption base upon the fact that they were ~22). I shared my concerns with the dr. and he assured me he was ‘running the show’ and that his analysis was accurate without him observing or meeting my daughter. I am not sure the results mean anything. He seemed to take things I told them and spit them back at me. (I wrote up a little narrative of things I thought might be important to their eval since they were only seeing her two afternoons.) Am I over-reacting? Is this the norm?

Also, when they informed me of the open appt I told them we were weaning my daughter off her Depakote. Since I felt her Depakote caused many of her ‘issues’ I suggested we be put back onto the waiting list and reschedule the eval when she was completely off the meds – they said we should do it now; that my concerns were not an issue. (I had this conversation w/one of the assistants and assumed she discussed it with the dr.) Well, the first day the one of the assistants interviewed me and I again mentioned my concern and she said…’It might be an issue, but we’ll test again in the fall after she’s off the meds’. I was livid and should have walked out but once again the dr assured me the tests are accurate and we would not need to re-do the tests - at this time I didn't realize he wasn't seeing my daughter at all or I w/h left.

Our insurance doesn’t cover this testing so it was thousands of $ out of our pocket for tests/results I so not even think are accurate.

I should add, the tests didn't stress out my daughter in any way. She thought they were fun since she played with playdough and legos. She wants to go back. If the tests stressed/upset her I would be even more irritated.

[chiefmir]

I'm so sorry! what a frustrating visit. First, though- for a neuroPSYCHOLOGICAL evaluation, there is no psychiatrist involved (I'm a neurpsychologist). I assume that is what you mean? Unfortunately it is common practice (particularly in big practices or academic settings) to have others do the testing (in my experience they are sometimes "techs" with training, are often gradu students or recent grads)... and then the doctor looks at the data and writes the report. they often meet between sessions (like over lunch) to discuss the data so far to plan the next session. we dont do this in ou r practice, but before I was licensed I did tons of testing (though I already had my doctorate, just no license) and my boss read/reviewed all data and the report.

as for the Depakote issue... we test kids in all phases of taking/weaning/switching meds. frankly, the population we see is so often medicated that it would be extremely rare for one of them to NOT be in the middle of (or shortly after) a medication adjustment/change. So, I wouldn't be SURE that DD will need to be redone- though it is a posibility... I wouldn't recommend it as the dr unless there were other changes in behavior/cognition that showed up later... or if she had been difficult to test in a way that reflected withdrawal (though I would have then stopped the eval).

anyway, sorry for your experience- I hope it ends up being unexpectedly helpful, though!

[dbsam]

chiefmir, Thank you for your reply. You are correct he is a psychologist within the pediatric psychiatry division. (It was 2:00am and I mistyped)

[kalynnsmom]

I'm sorry about your frustrations Two of my kids have had neuropsych evaluations and has always seen the neuropsych. My daughter's seen her twice (3 years and 6 years) and it's always been with the neuropsych.

[dbsam]

Originally Posted by kalynnsmom

I'm sorry about your frustrations Two of my kids have had neuropsych evaluations and has always seen the neuropsych. My daughter's seen her twice (3 years and 6 years) and it's always been with the neuropsych.

Thanks, I guess I know what to ask if one of my children needs one in the future. I am just sick about it all. I think it was a complete waste. He met with me for ten minutes and gave me his results - I think they were garbage. He said he will mail me something in writing. I'm curious to see if his written results will say much more.

My daughter saw a local psychologist when she was three - not a neuropsych eval. This doctor was great and observed my daughter in her class, went out to lunch with us to observe, met with me privately, and came to our home once. She then provided a detailed report. It was hundreds of dollars; not thousands. I'm not sure she is qualified to do a neuropsych eval, but our neurologist wanted to use a neuropsych from a large hospital. When I suggested smaller clinics she listed reasons we shouldn't use them.

[asch8]

we actually just did this. My son is almost 3 and he did see the actual neuropsyc doc. she really listoned to my concerns and did a great eval with my son who did not do to well to be honest scored much lower then we thought but we did get a dignoses out of it so hopefully we can start getting therapy for his problems. My eval was covered by my insurence it would have been a 50.00 dollar copay for the 4 visits(they do 4 2 hour visits with kids under 5) but he has secondary medicaid so they picked up everything my insurence did not