Developmental testing--feel like we wasted a lot of $...

Re: Developmental testing--feel like we wasted a lot of $...

• lite-bright member

  September 2012

  When we had DD1's autism testing, it was with people she'd never met before and has never seen since. I think that's how a lot of testing goes, frankly.

  I was there for parts (speech eval and district eval) and DH took her for others, but there was no question of whether she knew or liked the people who did the actual testing/interactions. That was irrelevant. If she couldn't do the skills with someone unfamiliar and a typical child could put that aside and do as asked, as auntie said, then that reflected a deficit.

  The first couple of times I talked to our Floortime/SLP therapist, she came off as very brusque and rubbed me the wrong way. She loves kids, but she can also be tough. She's now my absolute favorite person to work with because I know she's always looking for the next challenge for DD1.  

  I get that it sucks. I'm sorry you lost your ABA -- that's a real blow. Our insurance didn't cover DD1's testing at all and so we were out more than $1K. So we will not do additional testing until she's three years out from the originals, or six-ish.  

  I think your testing will still be useful as a reference point, though, and to give additional insight on areas to work on -- which is the point, after all. And I think you and DH are absolutely right that it's less expensive to finish this round than to start another uncovered round. 

  
  
  DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010

  Report0 Reply
• Loading the player...
• st.augbride member

  September 2012

  Thanks for the feedback. My concern is that it seems clear that this woman isn't merely just not warm and fuzzy, but that her personality seemed to stem more from a lack of comfort in the circumstances which to me made her seem quite green. I just got this sense that she wasn't super comfortable herself. Ds has met new people before (like when the developmental ped did his assessment), but he had a manner in dealing with ds that worked and got ds to open up. Dh even asked this woman a question about part of the test and she couldn't really answer him... Something was off. Obviously I'm not viewing this as a "test to get him into Harvard", but I also don't like the thought of throwing away $650. If I realized from the start that I'd end up paying out of pocket, I would have done my research and found a place that other parents recommended for this. However, b/c we were under coverage at the time, I just went with the person our therapist works with. What I wanted was an accurate portrayal of where his strengths and limitations are so we can better target his therapies to address that.

  My hope is that the test is robust against a less experienced and less stellar test administrator.

  

  Report0 Reply
• st.augbride member

  September 2012

  lite-bright:

  When we had DD1's autism testing, it was with people she'd never met before and has never seen since. I think that's how a lot of testing goes, frankly.

  I was there for parts (speech eval and district eval) and DH took her for others, but there was no question of whether she knew or liked the people who did the actual testing/interactions. That was irrelevant. If she couldn't do the skills with someone unfamiliar and a typical child could put that aside and do as asked, as auntie said, then that reflected a deficit.

  The first couple of times I talked to our Floortime/SLP therapist, she came off as very brusque and rubbed me the wrong way. She loves kids, but she can also be tough. She's now my absolute favorite person to work with because I know she's always looking for the next challenge for DD1.  

  I get that it sucks. I'm sorry you lost your ABA -- that's a real blow. Our insurance didn't cover DD1's testing at all and so we were out more than $1K. So we will not do additional testing until she's three years out from the originals, or six-ish.  

  I think your testing will still be useful as a reference point, though, and to give additional insight on areas to work on -- which is the point, after all. And I think you and DH are absolutely right that it's less expensive to finish this round than to start another uncovered round. 

  This was the same with our speech therapist. At first neither dh or I were fans of her personality, but it was clear that she knew what she was doing and now we love her as we understand her approach better. With this psychologist, it's not just her personality, but the seeming lack of quality behind her approach in conducting the test.

  

  Report0 Reply
• st.augbride member

  September 2012

  -auntie-:

  st.augbride:

  Thanks for the feedback. My concern is that it seems clear that this woman isn't merely just not warm and fuzzy, but that her personality seemed to stem more from a lack of comfort in the circumstances which to me made her seem quite green. I just got this sense that she wasn't super comfortable herself. Ds has met new people before (like when the developmental ped did his assessment), but he had a manner in dealing with ds that worked and got ds to open up. Dh even asked this woman a question about part of the test and she couldn't really answer him... Something was off. Obviously I'm not viewing this as a "test to get him into Harvard", but I also don't like the thought of throwing away $650. If I realized from the start that I'd end up paying out of pocket, I would have done my research and found a place that other parents recommended for this. However, b/c we were under coverage at the time, I just went with the person our therapist works with. What I wanted was an accurate portrayal of where his strengths and limitations are so we can better target his therapies to address that.

  My hope is that the test is robust against a less experienced and less stellar test administrator.

  Good people generally surround themselves with other good people. If this is who your therapist works with, assuming your therapist is private/independent, the psychologist is most likely a competent one.

  Many of these sorts of scales have very strict protocols around adminsistration- most are meant to be completed in a block of time without breaks. There has to be a lapse between taking the same test. There are rules about maintaining the "secrecy" around many tests. The tester is meant to remain entirely neutral during administration; they are not to encourage, make comfortable, redirect or offer feedback to the person taking the test.

  Perhaps your DH asked a question that interupted the flow of the testing or approached confidentiality of the test. Or perhaps he asked something she felt may have skewed your son's response to the test. Do you know what test was being done?

  Whatever he can "produce" will be accurate for this circumstance. This is a snapshot of where he was in a point in time, tested by someone who didn't support him in his efforts. I suspect there will be parts of this with which you aren't going to agree. And you will likely hold the psych's personality responsible for your son not doing as well as you felt was possible. But if you can use this to bolster your argument to get better services, it's really a win. It's sounds to me like you already feel you wasted the $650. Have you asked the therapist about this person?

  This was my thinking at first, but after my interactions with her and being less impressed, I looked a little deeper and there are some important differences in their degrees and credentials (the therapist's degree is much more rigorous). I do believe that the results will be accurate for the circumstances, but probably not the best snapshot of where he truly is at in terms of what he's capable of (and hence not worth the high cost). I know that even for me as a kid, I was very particular about how I acted around certain people at that age. I would think that a lot of his behavior was very typical for a toddler (getting excited and also a little shy at the same time around someone new; wanting to show off toys he barely touches anymore). I almost wonder if it would have been better at their office rather than at home where he knew how to run away and go find something more fun. All the other testing he had was in an office elsewhere, so that is a difference. Not sure.

  I appreciate the reassurance that this hopefully wasn't a complete waste. I know from our experience as SN parents and my own experience as an academic researcher that the quality of the results is highly dependent on the experience and quality of the lead individual/researcher/therapist/administrator. So I am sure that if we had an impossible to obtain but true measure of his abilities, controlling for perfect circumstances, then we would see at least some deviations that are attributable to this woman. But nothing I can do about that now.

  I guess for me, the bottom line is that no matter what I know ds is doing great. As a parent, I get a strong sense of where his issues are and so I will just try to target those. When I get the results, I will interpret them carefully and try to weed out what makes sense and what likely was an artifact of the situation.

  

  Report0 Reply