When to give in and medicate an explosive child?

amother

Sapphire

Fri, Jan 06 2017, 10:44 am

op here -

over the years we have tried almost everything.

various parenting classes for us ,various social workers for him, ot for sensory issues,language therapy - for verbal expression, music lessons, sports lessons, hired tutors to decreases his anxiety even though academically he is fine...

honestly .. this list could go on and on .... he is not 5 yrs old - he is almost 12 so we've been through it all.

I called my pediatrician to see if he could recommend a pediatric neuropsychologist or someone similar. He wasn't sure and said he will look in to it. He did tell me that my insurance would not cover this kind of evaluation with this kind of specialist. Does anyone have a pediatric neuropsychologist they would recommend? I guess I would have to pay but I'm hoping that it would be a one time thing. We would be open to suggestions in ny/nj or Philadelphia.

mha3484

Fri, Jan 06 2017, 10:48 am

We have a similar insurance issue and also since we started a med I need a dr to maintain it and follow him for any side effects. So when I decided I was not happy with the original neurologist we saw I made an appointment with a developmental pediatrician. That my insurance will cover. The waiting list was not too terrible either. She does a very through eval that has a lot of over lap with what a ed-psych evaluation will do. I dont know if that will help you or not.

myym

Fri, Jan 06 2017, 12:18 pm

You can see a pediatric psychiatrist. Dr Breuer is wonderful. He's helped my child alot. He is in Hewlett. $300 for the eval. 516-317-8549.
Call today. You have enough experience with your child to get the correct diagnosis. You do not need a $2000 eval to tell you what your son has. Trust yourself and get him the help he needs.

STMommy

Fri, Jan 06 2017, 12:45 pm

Hi Sapphire
A developmental pediatrician is not the best practitioner for ADHD, as it is not a developmental delay. You want either a psychiatrist or a neuropsychologist. The neuropsychologist will give you a more thorough evaluation involving testing. The process will be more expensive. The psychiatrist will likely not conduct any tests but use an interview and clinical approach. Both professionals can do a good job. The psychiatrist may be a better choice for you considering meds because then you could stay with that person for medication management.
If you PM me I will give you the list I share with parents on Long Island and in Manhattan.

amother

Sienna

Fri, Jan 06 2017, 12:57 pm

When I had my sons evaluated, I took them to a very expensive professional psychiatrist who didn't take insurance. I was willing to pay for the evaluation, because I really wanted to get an accurate diagnosis. It was a fortune! The thing is that when you use these medications, you need frequent monitoring by a Dr. At first I was paying her every few weeks for multiple appointments till we got the right dose. Her office was also over an hour from my house. She would allow some phone appointments, but I had to pay for those too! It is also complicated to use someone long distance, because the prescriptions are for controlled substances, and cannot be sent electonically or 'called into' the pharmacy. You need to pick up the actual prescription from the MD and hand deliver them to the pharmacy. As the Dr. was far away, I needed to have her mail them to me, which took exra time for the prescription to arrive. After a couple of months, I spoke to my pediatrician. He was willing to monitor and prescribe the medication for me, once we had undergone a full psychological evaluation. This was a huge help, as he takes my insurance, and is local! My sons need to get a mini checkup every 3 months and I would have never been able to unable to pay the private psychiatrist for long term.
Basically, it is important to go to an expert, but if you feel that you may go the medication route, try to find someone who takes your insurance, and is local - as you will need to be under their care for a long time.

5*Mom

Sat, Jan 07 2017, 1:07 pm

amother wrote:

hmmm..... now I am confused. Should I go to a pediatric neuropsychologist or a developmental pediatrician or a pediatric psychiatrist? If anyone can help me here that would be greatly appreciated.

From my experience, I would strongly recommend a ped neuropsychologist. A developmental pediatrician is not trained as extensively or in the same things. A psychiatrist is coming from one angle - psychiatry, and although your ds's issues might be psychiatric, they also might not be. A really good ped neuropsych has the most extensive training and will give you the broadest picture and a differential diagnosis that the other 2 can't provide.