Private ed psych for ados

[Stressedtothehilt]

Hi all after being told by camhs that dd will have to wait until she's 5 for assessment I've looked into private options that are near us and have found this bloke www.includingyou.co.uk/about-us it says he's an Ed Pysch but that he's trained to administer the Ados. Can they do this and would it be worth it do you think? Has anyone ever seen a private ed Pysch before and what were the prices like? Thanks

[LightAFire]

He sounds good on paper, but if at all possible personal recommendations are good? He sounds fine to me though. Private prices usually about £500 - not been personally involved in one but have professionally. I gather they can vary - but the reports I have had have been really useful to me (as a teacher). A proper diagnosis is always a great start to knowing how to support a child.

The one downside I can think of is I have heard some schools are less keen on accepting private Ed Psych reports - and also that some just don't appear to read them! Oh and also they may say she is "too young" to be sure, but I've never been sure I agree with that - so many parents do know when there is something.

Hope that is of some use!

[Stressedtothehilt]

That's great thanks so much think ill see what his prices are like and go from.there

[LightAFire]

No problem - good luck!

[ilikemysleep]

Hi
I am an ed psych and I can administer the ADOS too, but I still can't diagnose autism. It is useful to know how to administer because we work as part of a multi-agency diagnostic team in my area, but it still has to be a medically trained person who gives the diagnosis. So he may be able to ADOS but shouldn't say 'your child has autism'. If it is that sentence that you want to know yes or no for, you need to see a psychiatrist or doctor or sometimes a clinical psychologist who is being supervised by a doctor. An educational psychologist is best used when you want to have your child's educational needs clarified, rather than when you want to know whether your child has a particular condition. So it depends on what you want from the involvement as to whether it would be money well spent.

[ilikemysleep]

BTW I am not sure how he did a doctorate in a year, you might want to investigate that. I think he may be counting his unqualified experience in LEA employ from 2007-2009, which is...disingenuous if so. The doctorate is a 3 year course, the final two years of which you work for an LA but you aren't a fully qualified ed psych. There used to be a 1 year course but that only led to a masters degree. If he has only been qualified since 2009 that is not very experienced.

[CyrstalStar]

Im noy sure either and I'm going through a similar situation Stessedtothehilt. I have had my child assessed by a clinical physchologist privately. She did a fully comprehensive test, observed my ds at school, spent 10 hrs in total with my ds over 3 weeks. I had also given her a list of my concerns. But what I actually wanted to say is that I too am looking for someone to do the ados test for my ds whilst waiting on the list for nhs. I have been told that the ados is not a diagnosis it is an assessment to see if your child is fitting enough of the criteria to fit a diagnosis..confused! Our physchologist strongly agrees that ds has as ASD and will
Fill the criteria of the ADOS but cannot be 100% certain which is why she is suggesting we have the ADOS. We are using a man called dirk flower..iI will send you the link incase you want to see
As I guess you are keeping your options as open as possible.

[CyrstalStar]

www.flowerassociates.co.uk/dirk-flower/4534911300

Also he comes to you.
See what you think.

Have also heard that Dr Daphne Keen is a good person to see.
DK has about a 6mth waiting list right now as she only sees one private appointment a week. you can find lots of good recommendations on her on this site.
How old is your child.

[LightAFire]

Ilike can I just check - would that include things like dyslexia? I'm interested because (as a teacher) often had Ed Psych reports which "identify" certain conditions, and now I'm wondering if the diagnosis should have come from elsewhere.

[CyrstalStar]

Ilike..I'm guessing I need to find a physiatrist or Dr then as I would like to know definate yes or no to ASD. Thanks

[Stressedtothehilt]

That's great thanks for all the info guys and what to watch out for. We did have an app with DK scheduled for last July but we cancelled as were promised an ados on nhs which never ended up happening!! Kicking myself for not going to that app now! But we are a long way from London and I would have to use public transport as I'm not a confident driver :( there's not many good places to go in the south west I've found. Will check out dirk though thanks very much

[Stressedtothehilt]

Sorry she's 3.8

[Handywoman]

LightAFire wrt your question about Dyslexia, yes this is one of the learning disabilities an Ed Psych can diagnose because it is a recognisable cognitive profile demonstrated from psychometric tests, as opposed to a medical diagnosis. So an Ed Psych is indeed the right person for this.

[ilikemysleep]

lightafire dyslexia is an 'educational' condition defined by a child's performance in reading and spelling and is therefore ok to be 'diagnosed' by an ed psych. Likewise learning difficulties etc. However we cannot 'diagnose' conditions which are 'psychiatric' and are defined in the DSM IV (about to change to DSM V) or the ICD-10. This would include conditions such as depression, conduct disorder, ADHD, autism etc. We can say 'behaviours consistent with an autism spectrum condition', for example, but would have to refer on to have that confirmed. In practice, I know if a child is autistic with a high degree of accuracy (as I am an experienced specialist) but have to have a medically trained person to confirm that before it is 'official'.

[LightAFire]

handy and ilike that's really very useful to know thank you. Tricky I guess since I understand many of these conditions can massively overlap?! ie an autistic child may also have dyslexia etc?

Also thinking - so if there is a child with a diagnosed visual impairment who is struggling at school, would an Ed Psych be the best person to say which sort of help he needs, or would it be best to get a report from his medical team? (My friend is agonising over this and from this thread I am now wondering which would be best!) His concentration isn't great, but I suspect this is partly due to visual fatigue, and his school believe he is "coping", but we think he may need visual aids such as magnifiers. There could however be other issues since he also presents with symptoms similar to dyslexia - but again this may be as a result of the eye condition. Perplexed!!

[LightAFire]

and stressed, hope it all works out ok for you!

[Stressedtothehilt]

Thank.you light!

[ilikemysleep]

Lightafire does he have a VI service involved? If so they would be best placed to comment alongside an ed psych. Some EP teams (such as ours) have a VI specialist as well, it might be worth contacting the local team and asking. The medical team would also be able to comment but may not give a lot of detail about educational implications (or they might,m if specifically asked). The EP would almost certainly be liaising with VI service and medical team before making recommendations in any case.

[LightAFire]

ilike He does have a VI service yes but the woman who deals with the educational aspects has been off sick since January. There is no LEA Ed Psych involved - the school aren't keen plus obviously there is a long wait.

My friend's been considering paying for a private Ed Psych who has VI experience too, and I wasn't sure whether to advise her to go for that or not! The impact is mainly on his education since he copes very well, but it seems to his mum (and me) that he is not reaching his potential at all. The school had him down as "doing as well as can be expected" for a couple of years and have only just accepted that he is actually quite bright, so I don't know where next is best for him. Any advice would be very gratefully accepted!!