Neuropsych Evaluation

[ZJsmom]

Have any of your kids had neuropsych evals? If so, what is involved? Are there PANDAS-knowledgable neuropsychologists? My son is 13, and hasn't spoken a word in 10 months. We've seen many specialists, and have several possible diagnoses. This is the most recent test that has been suggested. Thanks for your help.

[MomWithOCDSon]

We were referred by a psychiatrist to a neuropsych testing group, but after an initial consult, the very capable and honorable neuropsych conducting the evaluation told us that he thought we had adequate and accurate information at our disposal and that, at this time, anyway, his services would be somewhat redundant. Don't you love it when you encounter someone with such integrity and compassion who puts your child's best interests 100% above his own wallet?!

 

Anyway, if you haven't yet had the advantage of testing that can discern and document the impact of your DS's neurological condition upon his processing, his interaction with the world, etc., then this testing might be very useful to you and to others working with your DS: teachers, therapists, even you and the rest of your family.

 

The testing will likely involve at least 2 or 3 sessions: an initial evaluation for your DS's history, medical diagnoses, etc., and then another 1 or 2 sessions for the testing itself, depending upon his tolerance level and attention span. In our case, insurance wouldn't cover it, though, and the testing can be very expensive. The neuropsych we were referred to had heard of PANDAS and didn't wave it off, but then again I doubt that he had an extensive knowledge of it (so few psych-types do).

 

I'm sorry, but I can't remember your DS's particular story, but if he hasn't spoken for 10 months, do his doctors see this as selective mutism or some other neurological impact? The thing is, few if any of these professionals tend to view these sorts of "processing disorders" for which they test as transitory things, so I think it's important that you consider a) what the prognosis for your DS's condition overall appears to be and 2) what use will these test results be put to? If they result in some "label" for your DS, again, my experience would be that there won't be any notes attached to that label identifying the condition as "associated with PANDAS" or in any other way transitory or associated with exacerbation and absent outside of exacerbation. So your DS, particularly in the school environment, could wind up being assigned a more permanent "label." While that might be helpful for him in terms of being accommodated and assisted now, you'll just want to keep in mind that you might have to throw your weight around to get said label "lifted" as your DS hopefully recovers and improves.

 

All the best to you!

[Kiera]

They are "trying" to do neuro-pschy testing on my ds 9 right now. I say "trying" as I believe he's never really returned to baseline after subsequent pandas flares and has become very oppositional with school work, rages, sensory, meltdowns etc. I didn't persue it in the past as I thought insurance wouldn't pay, and we were spending our resources elsewhere, so when he got preapproval, I decided to go with it. Well, they said it could take up to 6hrs! I told them they would be lucky to get 1hr, in his present condition! So, he kicked and screamed, and hid under the table, and kicked and screamed some more, got a little bit of testing done in between tantrums. Went home after 2hrs of same and have to return this week for more, and possibly a few more sessions. Don't know how accurate the results will be as they're done under duress, but Dr said he'll take that into account in evaluation. Not looking forward to next session, I'll keep you posted!

[airial95]

Dr. M - one of the PANDAS docs seen by many on the boards is a neuropsych. She sees our son. They did the series of tests - but for our son they didn't do them all in one shot like Keira's situation. It was done seperately over several weeks - at about 2 hours a piece. I remember there being at least 2-3 that were ordered by the neuropsych - including an OT eval. We were going through his initial IEP process and placement at the same time so there were also a series of assessments done for that, and honestly, at this point I can't remember which was which!!!

 

Our son was only 2-3 years old when he had his evals done, so I'm sure the tests and assessments they did for him were a bit different than what they would do for a 13 year old.