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Developmental pedi or psychologist?

MainelyFoolishMainelyFoolish member
in Special Needs

My DD's preschool teacher has recommended (and I concur) that DD needs some OT to deal with sensory issues and some possible ADHD behaviors. 

I tried to get DD evaluated by my state's Child Development Services but since DD doesn't have any gross or fine motor delays, she doesn't qualify for services and they won't evaluate her. So that leaves me to get help for DD on my own through my health insurance.

DD's preschool teacher gave me the name of a developmental pediatrician who could do an evaluation of DD. A friend of mine who is an elementary school counselor gave me the name of a psychologist who does neuropsych evaluations. 

Should I pick the physician or the psychologist? Does it make a difference or should I go with the one who has the first available appointment? 

 

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Re: Developmental pedi or psychologist?

  • d.fd.f member

    We went through our local Children's hospital.  We first saw a Dev Pedi.  She referred us to a child's psych (OT, and SLP). The child psych is the one who did the more in depth evaluations and ultimately gave DS the PDD-NOS diagnosis  Follow ups are with the Dev Pedi.  

    DS 09/2008

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  • macchiattomacchiatto member
    At the clinic we went to, the devel pedi and a school psychologist did the eval jointly. I thought it was helpful to get input from both. For the issues you described if I was picking one I'd probably lean toward developmental pedi, because I'm guessing they might know more about the sensory issues than a psyc.
    fraternal twin boys born january 2009
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  • MainelyFoolishMainelyFoolish member
    image-auntie-:

    Has your school district refused to do a multifactored evaluation for all areas of suspected disability after you requested one in writing? If the preschool teacher can put her "educational" concerns in writing you could include that with your letter asking for the eval.

    In my state, Child Development Services handles everything up through age 5/kindergarten, not individual school districts. My DD isn't behind in school now (she knows all her colors, letters, etc.), so she doesn't have a disability that impacts her education <eyeroll> and they won't evaluate her. I've heard from a couple of sources (unofficially, of course) that CDS sucks.  

    It sounds like the developmental pediatrician is the way to go for now.

    Thanks for the input, everyone!

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  • ldpmldpm
    My daughter sees a dev ped. I ended up seeking a private eval have continued with private care as the original school district told me she would have to be academically failing before they would do a county eval. That was in 1st grade. I pulled her out to homeschool in the middle of 2nd grade. My daughter was dx'd with severe ADHD and I suspect an OT also unofficially confirmed SPD. The ped she sees does not agree with SPD, though not an accepted diagnosis. My daughter is not in 4th has begun struggling with the more intense school workload, so she may need to.be seen more frequently. Her biggest issue initially was social relationships, but she is a lot better with that now having social experiences in bursts rather than all day long every day.
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