After the NHS dx...

[salondon]

Is there any point in seeing a private paediatrician/neurologist after The NHS give you a diagnosis? Or is the money better spent on therapy.

My only unanswered question is the IQ. Can I just want into a 'center' and get her iq tested? Or do I need a doctor to refer us?

Hi salondon,
imho the money is better spent on therapy. I was told if ds1 had a language delay/disorder the verbal part of the iq test would be fairly meaningless anyway. if you are preparing for statement/tribunal etc, you might look in to getting a private Ed Psych report, and from what I remember they can test iq (verbal and non verbal) so that might be a better way to go, killing 2 birds with one stone?

Personally I would focus time and money on any necessary therapy. I guess it depends on whether knowing the IQ is particularly beneficial?

Depending on whether you query her IQ or the school does I'd spend my money on therapy or an ed pysch. I think I'd only go down the ed pysch route if my reason for wanting to know IQ was to secure a preferred school placement. DS is smarter than I originally thought now his language skills have improved via therapy iyswim. His IQ hasn't changed, merely his ability to demonstrate it .

However there's nothing wrong with writing a polite note to the NHS diagnostic team asking if they got any indication as to your child's general iq level when they did their assessment before spending any money at all. They may well have a clear idea, but just didn't feel the need to include it in your report. Diagnosis is often such a shock that you won't be the first Mum to have had the odd question once it's had time to sink in.

Personally I can't imagine a standard IQ test would be able to give an accurate picture of ds. I'm like bochead in that as ds's language skills progress it becomes much more obvious to see what he "knows".

My moto with him is "if he gives you the wrong answer then you haven't asked the right question"

I think an educational psychologist can do testing which can give an indicative/approximate measure of IQ.
My DD was referred to ed psych by paed when she was 3.4 and she had testing done at 3.9. . The results were interesting and I posted here and got some great advice on options. I subsequntly spoke to the ed psych who told me that DD had scored so poorly in one of the sub sets that it wasn't reflective of the profile and that the overall score couldn't be taken as conclusively indictative of her cognative ability.
I'm not sure how old your DD is, but it does seem it can be difficult to guage IQ in young DCs with developmental issues
All the best to your DD and you