Re: Neuro Psych Evaluation

[Guest guest]

We found a wonderful woman to do the testing and she was worth every

penny. But she did amend the hours of testing to address the areas of

concern. I know some tests run for 10-12 hours and cost thousands. She

charged $600 for 2 sessions of 2 hours each, maybe 3. I can't remember.

The results were invaluable to us, not only in getting accommodations at

school, but in understanding how Meg's brain worked. This doctor was not

familiar with Lyme but worked with lots of brain injury patients and the

issues seem identical. She documented the slowed processing, short term

memory issues, and a lag in some other scores. The most valuable finding

was in word finding. Meg does ok with talking but she has a word finding

problem with writing only. If she is writing about a topic she is not

familiar with then her brain shuts down and she can't think at all. We

were able to get help to teach her ways to overcome this problem.

What she was best at was her letter writing to the school explaining

what was going on and ideas for accommodations at school. Wording in her

IEP was taken directly from this woman's report. I was against this

testing originally and could not believe how helpful it was in our case.

And we were fortunate that it was also covered by our insurance.

Good luck. If you would like anything else on this just let me know.

On 6/3/2010 8:05 AM, speckofpepper wrote:

>

> Hello to everyone. My child is currently undergoing treatment with an

> llmd. A recommendation for neuro psych testing has been made due to

> cognitive issues that have develeoped and worsened during treatment.

> She, IMO, will require in the least a 504 upon re-entry to school from

> the home schooling environment. I wish she would just be ok with me

> continuing to home school her, but is very opposed to it. My question

> is about the neuro psych evaluation. It is with a lyme literate

> evaluator but the expense is so high. I just thought that I would get

> some feedback if anyone has gone though the testing. Did it help you

> to acquire appropriate modifications in the school for your child? Did

> you think it was worth the time and expence? Email or response here

> would be so appreciated. sandsure @ bestmail.us

>

>

[Guest guest]

My 7yo had neuropsych testing with a Lyme literate neuropsychologist this past

January. It included about 12 hours of testing, a 23 page report including

recommended services and accomodations, and several hours of consultation with

us. The cost was $4000 and we got $1500 back from insurance. I definately feel

it was worth it, though of course I wish it were less expensive. It helped me

to understand how his brain is working, and validated concerns I was having.

The school has been difficult, insisting on doing their own testing, and

discrediting or downplaying significance of neuropsych test results. He already

had an IEP for speech issues and the school did not give us any new further

services, but did end up giving us many of the recommended accomodations. I

think part of the issue is that he is still only in 1st grade and this is

congenital lyme, so there is no baseline to point to in order to show the impact

the lyme. They just say that the test results show " strengths and weaknesses " ,

or that the areas he has trouble in are still " in development " . It has been a

frustrating battle, but without the neuropsych testing, I would have no basis to

fight for what he needs.

Dara

>

> Hello to everyone. My child is currently undergoing treatment with an llmd.

A recommendation for neuro psych testing has been made due to cognitive issues

that have develeoped and worsened during treatment. She, IMO, will require in

the least a 504 upon re-entry to school from the home schooling environment. I

wish she would just be ok with me continuing to home school her, but is very

opposed to it. My question is about the neuro psych evaluation. It is with a

lyme literate evaluator but the expense is so high. I just thought that I would

get some feedback if anyone has gone though the testing. Did it help you to

acquire appropriate modifications in the school for your child? Did you think

it was worth the time and expence? Email or response here would be so

appreciated. sandsure @ bestmail.us

>

[Guest guest]

I was considering taking my daughter down to NYC to have this done b/c I was

having some trouble getting certain help from the special ed preschool

therapy staff. She is only 5 but was diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum at 2

so she's been getting various services ever since. She was diagnosed with

congenital Lyme at this point too after becoming severely ill... my husband

and I both have it and realized right away. The Autism part was a suprise

though... At this point it's down to just speech/language for social skills

and communication but she is now in need of behavioral help.

I just had an IEP meeting for her summer and Fall (kindergarten) and

thankfully the CSE Chairperson listened to me and assigned her a Behavioral

Consultant for the Fall and told her preschool to do a FBA and behavioral

plan ASAP! I've asked for the FBA quite a few times and they didn't do it.

Basically, at the meeting they got scolded for not doing it! Har har! I

know, I'm bad. But I need to enjoy the few victories I DO get.

My daughter is now very high functioning and still being treated for Lyme

and it is in her records that she has congenital Lyme but I don't think

there is any mention of how this affects her cognitively. Right now it's

just her diagnosis of Aspergers (high functioning autism) which comes with

it's own constellation of symptoms and problems...

After reading what you wrote, I think we're going to wait on the testing and

see how she does elementary school. If she's not doing great or I'm not

getting the services for her that she needs then we'll go there.

On Sun, Jun 6, 2010 at 5:52 AM, darabeth2003 <dara.alewine@...>wrote:

>

>

> My 7yo had neuropsych testing with a Lyme literate neuropsychologist this

> past January. It included about 12 hours of testing, a 23 page report

> including recommended services and accomodations, and several hours of

> consultation with us. The cost was $4000 and we got $1500 back from

> insurance. I definately feel it was worth it, though of course I wish it

> were less expensive. It helped me to understand how his brain is working,

> and validated concerns I was having. The school has been difficult,

> insisting on doing their own testing, and discrediting or downplaying

> significance of neuropsych test results. He already had an IEP for speech

> issues and the school did not give us any new further services, but did end

> up giving us many of the recommended accomodations. I think part of the

> issue is that he is still only in 1st grade and this is congenital lyme, so

> there is no baseline to point to in order to show the impact the lyme. They

> just say that the test results show " strengths and weaknesses " , or that the

> areas he has trouble in are still " in development " . It has been a

> frustrating battle, but without the neuropsych testing, I would have no

> basis to fight for what he needs.

> Dara

>