Our son is 10 years old. He is strong-willed and has ADHD. We turned down the special education district’s offer to re-test him last spring, because we were going to be finalizing his adoption and didn’t think that the testing would be accurate with all stress he was under. We also are concerned that the testing through the Sp. Ed. district would not be done in his best interest. His IEP just says LD, nothing specific. I work in the school system and have seen that it is to the district’s benefit to leave the diagnosis as broad as possible. Our other concern with having them do the re-testing is that when they tested him at 6 the tester said his IQ as less than 80, which all his teachers and counselors disagree with.
How do we find someone in private practice to test him?
We live in rural S. Illinois. We just don’t have access to the facilities that a urban area would have.
Re: re testing
Try calling your medical insurance company to ask about a neuro-psych evaluation. They may be able to refer you to a clinic. (Whether or not they will cover the cost of the evaluation is a different question. What I have seen recently is that, if the evaluation results in an actual medical diagnosis, insurance will cover the cost.
Nancy
http://www.wrightslaw.com has a Yellow Pages for Kids section that lists professionals and agencies for each state. You might check there to get you started. I would also check with your states Learning Disabilities Association.