update on my evaluation search (so far)

[Guest guest]

I want to thank everyone who answered the other threads about my

search for someone to evaluate me as to whether or not for sure I

have Asperger's or HFA. I have read all the posts and appreciate

them. Sorry to start another thread, but I'm a bit overwhelmed time-

wise to go back and try to find everything and post there again

(sorry!)

The latest thing going on is that I heard back from my psychiatrist

(Dr. with a name of someone who did testing on adults, though he

got the name from other colleagues and wasn't sure about whether this

person tested for autism spectrum disorders or not. It was what he

had found as a possibility so far. So, I called the lady (a regular

psychologist) and asked her if she felt confident in diagnosing

autism spectrum disorders, and she said yes. I told her that the

reason I was concerned is that while I had been waiting for Dr. B to

get back to me, that a local autism advocacy group had told me that I

really needed to see a neuropsychologist rather than a psychologist,

but she said she didn't know why that would be. She said the neuros

do more memory testing than she did, but otherwise it was about the

same. She volunteered to give me the name of a neuropsychologist if I

preferred that, but I declined (I already had some names). I also

mentioned to her that I was doing this in advance of filing a

disability claim, and to her credit (showing she just isn't out for

$$), she mentioned that the Social Security Administration (SSA)

would actually send me to someone at their expense after I filed the

claim. I told her I wanted to be more in control of who I saw,

though, since I didn't trust the SSA to get it right. She said that

yes, you do have more control when you do it yourself. She also

mentioned that she used to do disability evaluations for the SSA

herself, and only stopped because the clients would not show for

appointments. Therefore this means that she at least has some clue

what the SSA is looking for in the report.

So I went ahead and made an appointment with her, but unfortunately

it looks like I'm about to rack up a good bit of my insurance

deductible seeing her when I could wait and let the government do

it " for free. " Seeing her would be the quickest. I have some time

issues involving a personal/family situation that would make waiting

to see a neurologist to get a referral then waiting to see the

neuropsychologist a bit of an issue, since in a few months I will

have a change of circumstances resulting in less opportunity to go

take the testing. I don't know if the neurology/neuropsychologist

approach would go through on my major medical versus behavioral

health, though. It could make the difference between a couple of $40

copays if it was major medical versus a $1000 deductible if it was

behavioral health, coming at a time when money has gotten a bit

tight. I really need to get this taken care of, though. I want it

done the right way, and I want to see the person of my choice. I just

hope I am choosing to do the right thing in seeing the person I can

see quickly (this regular psychologist) as opposed to the

neuropsychologist, who would take so long to see due to the neurology

referral needed first.

Please wish me luck. Any comments/observations are welcome.