Psychologist for Autism Diagnosis

miami85

Fri, Nov 22 2019, 11:25 am

I think the real question is asking the licensed psychologist or developmental pediatrician how he/she will go about making the diagnosis. Also be careful if the diagnosis is done "so you can get services"--it may or may not be the right decision in your child's case. Make sure that they are doing an ADOS-2 and not just a one-off interview and checking off DSM-V criteria. I had a child seen by a top developmental pediatrician at a well-known hospital in NY, and while I understand what he was trying to do by giving my child the diagnosis, I knew it wasn't right. I work in the field so I know the implications and methodologies.

amother

Denim

Fri, Nov 22 2019, 11:36 am

I’ve had many of my clients use Rebecca sofer. Problem is that you are going to her asking her for an autism evaluation and that’s what’s she’ll do. If you want to go to a psychologist for a true evaluation you should not be telling them what kind of evaluation you want, unless you want that eval for aba services or such.
She does not include adaptive or iq scores in her testing which is what is needed to apply for opwdd services and parents are so upset to hear that they spent $1000 for a psych eval by her and all that git was an autism diagnosis.

adyrose

Fri, Nov 22 2019, 11:40 am

My son is on the spectrum and I agree with making sure it’s done using ADOS-2. Ultimately you want the right diagnosis so you can get the right services. I am a Special Education Advocate & Consultant and have had to learn the confusing web of special education & IEP’s, if you need help getting him the services, feel free to PM. I would be happy to guide you. Good luck to you!

amother

Fri, Nov 22 2019, 11:44 am

I'm just starting to learn the terms, etc. The regular psychologist we are seeing for OCD recommended that we speak to Encore about getting him social counseling. Social counseling, I'm told, can only be gotten through ABA. He needs a diagnosis for this. She uses the ADOS method. Her price is actually $400 for a 1 hr evaluation vs the other psychologist's charge of $650 for a 1 hr evaluation plus 2 phone evaluations.

miami85

Fri, Nov 22 2019, 11:50 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

How old is the child? Can you look into a developmental pediatrician? If you go through a doctor it might be covered by insurance.

I'm not in NY anymore, but I work in this field. Please feel free to PM me.

Last edited by miami85 on Fri, Nov 22 2019, 11:52 am; edited 1 time in total

amother

Fri, Nov 22 2019, 12:05 pm

I'm so confused. What are the negative effects of having an autism diagnosis if he gets the help he needs? Won't a psychologist rule it out by doing the ADOS test (if he actually does not have ASD)?

My child is 6.5. We are currently seeing a psychologist for his OCD symptoms. I always knew he was language delayed and socially off, but it wasn't until this year where it became very noticeable. His tone is off. His sentences are choppy. Anyways, according to a basic test he did it showed that he is just under the border of being on the spectrum. He also termed him as having Social Pragmatic Communication Disorder.

As a btw, we are going to be doing further speech testing in a week to find out more where his language delays are coming from.

amother

Tangerine

Fri, Nov 22 2019, 12:15 pm

I highly recommend Dr. Melissa Nishawala from NYU child study center. She is brilliant and knowledgeable and has excellent track record with accurate diagnosis and constructive direction.

Autism diagnosis or any similar diagnosis is a huge deal. You don’t want someone to just give your kid a label.

Speaking from several personal experiences and mounds of research...

Wishing you lots of Hatzlacha

amother

Tangerine

Fri, Nov 22 2019, 12:21 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

The negative effects of over diagnosis is that the child can regress or slack off or adults / teachers can have too low of expectations.

People often use diagnosis as an excuse. Sometimes it is very necessary , to explain behavior etc. but sometimes it can be a cop out of reaching child’s full potential.

It does sound like your son is on the spectrum or at least has something very similar, psychological or neurological.

Just super important to find the right person to help you navigate. There are endless resources out there and with the right ones, you will not believe how much potential your son can reach.

miami85

Fri, Nov 22 2019, 12:23 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

The ADOS-2 is very useful, but it doesn't rule out other possibilities and while it is more objective than other measures, it is still based on the experiences of those doing the coding. I've felt differently than my colleagues in terms of coding.
Also is a "perseveration" a manifestation of autism? anxiety? stuttering? language impairment? Are they stand alone issues or are they part of a package?
There are many items where if its the child's first time experiencing that toy how do you classify "unusual interest" in the object.
There's a lot of room for subjectivity and any good clinician will tell you that the ADOS-2 is only 1 facet of an evaluation. I can tell you from both personal and professional experience it affects how other people will work with him/her.As much as we know about Autism, we are still figuring out what the "PDD-NOS" really is/are.

amother

Tangerine

Fri, Nov 22 2019, 12:25 pm

miami85 wrote:

This! Miami85, no one could have said this better. So well put

amother

Sienna

Fri, Nov 22 2019, 1:09 pm

I used Dr Soffer to get a diagnosis for ABA services as per the recommendation of my child’s school. She’s good for that. If you’re looking for more than a diagnosis, I don’t know. The year before, we had gone to the NYU Child Study Center, again on the school's recommendation. The school was NOT happy with the final report as they felt it didn’t give us the answers we were looking for. They were specifically looking for ADHD and in fact did not administer the test mentioned above. They (the school) would probably not advise others to go there but you can decide for yourself. It was also a lot of money.
Good luck!

miami85

Fri, Nov 22 2019, 1:40 pm

amother [ Tangerine ] wrote:

This. Also from working with children on the spectrum, if they are truly on the spectrum, then the ABA programming tends to work really well for them. If they aren't on the spectrum, then they tend to have more "opinions" and that can frustrate them b/c they don't WANT to do the programs and they don't make progress and can end up burning out. I tend to view autism having to do with how the brain is hard-wired for learning--the black and white, fact oriented learning etc.

amother

Plum

Fri, Nov 22 2019, 3:17 pm

Thanks for opening this question

I'm not the op, but I have a very similar question. My child is 3.5 though and Wana know if same goes for this age too? Therapists and drs have no idea what the underlying cause for his behavior and speech delay is coming from.
First they said it's apraxia, but his behavior doesn't match with normal.

Sorry op if u mind my question here leme know and I'll open separate thread.

Thanks in advance