Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Benefits of getting a neuropsych eval?

Good news: EEG results were "completely normal"

Bad news: DD was sent home from school today with yet another "stabbing headache". Pediatrician thinks she is developing migraines. Not surprising since DH and I both suffer horribly from them. Our biggest trigger is fluorescent lighting, followed closely by food additives. DH said his headache went through the roof when he entered her classroom today so is guessing fluorescent lights may be contributing.

So now we have fine motor deficits, ld's, anxiety (apparently under control until the headaches started a few weeks ago), possible seizure disorder and apparent migraines. We will get the neuropsych results on Friday. At this point I don't know what to expect...

{big sigh}

((sigh))

Well, Pemberley. At least she has totally devoted parents to see her through and keep looking for the right answer.

No matter what it is, you'll all hang in there together and try. There is great value in that, actually.

DeeDee

I had a migraines as a kid. Brutal -Ii feel for y all! Now 30 years later have discovered I have had Celiac all along and had no idea. She's fortunate to have parents who can actively pursue not only solutions but answers that may help her live unhindered as an adult by some of the challenges cropping up now.

I'm so sorry about your dd's migraine - I hope she's feeling much better today. So many of the teachers at our oldest dd's elementary school keep the fluorescent lights in their classrooms turned completely off due to the large number of kids who are bothered by the lights, as well as being bothered by them themselves.

I'm glad that your dd's EEG was normal, but also totally understand that a "normal" EEG just means no answers which can be so frustrating!

Let us know what you learn from the neuropsych -

polarbear

Thanks everyone. She had another headache at school today but was able to go to the nurse for Tylenol so she didn't seem to be in bad shape when she got home. I also asked the teacher to move her desk so has light from the window behind her to diffuse the fluorescents. Our pediatrician also mentioned that orange juice can be a migraine trigger for some people so we are removing that from her diet. We're already pretty careful about other possible triggers so we'll see if that helps. Now sort of dreading the conversation with the Neuropsych tomorrow. It just seems like this poor little girl is getting a higher and higher hill to climb every time I find out something new. It just doesn't make any sense...

Good Luck!

Spoke with the neuropsych and read his report. Basically he is confirming the really, REALLY unusual numbers from the school psych and pointing out major visuo-spatial issues. Visuo-spatial analysis, constructional integration, memory, etc are all deficient. Verbal memory, attention - especially visual - and sequential motor organization and speed were all deficient. Also �suggestion of slight right, visual hemiinattention.� On the positive side we have oral language and Executive Function. He seems to think the seizure disorder is only a remote possibility but is glad we are seeing the neurologist soon.

I have forwarded the report to my school but have no idea what else to do. He wants us to revisit her IEP to make sure that all her visuo-spatial deficits are being addressed but quite frankly I have no idea what that means. They said she is too young to diagnose dyslexia so I don't really come out of this with any good buzz-words to use. Or do I? Can somebody please help to explain?

DH and I are back to feeling really, really guilty about her gene pool...

Hi Pemb--

If you're still not sure what is needed, go back to the neuropsych and ask: based on these deficits, exactly what do we need to DO?

Ask that the neuropsych's written report contain specific recommendations both for in-school therapies and accommodations, and for therapies that could be provided outside of school.

Keep asking until you know clearly what he thinks is needed. Sometimes experts don't do this unless you ask again...

DeeDee

p.s. don't fret more than needed. Keep looking forward. You're doing so well by her.

I agree with everything DeeDee said - the neuropsych should be able to give you specific recommendations re what you can do as next steps at school and outside of school to help your dd. I've had two of my kids go through neuropsych evals (my 2e ds has had two now), and each of those times I've had a follow-up appointment in person where we discuss the report, and then I've made an additional follow-up appointment for 1 - 1.5 hours one week or so later so I can discuss everything with the neuropsych again after I've had time to let everything the neuropscyh told me at the first report-review meeting sink in and I've thought about it a bit.

It also helps to remember that sometimes neuropsychs can forget parents are at a very beginning/low-level of knowledge/experience point in understanding what their options etc are - so be sure to stop the neuropsych and ask questions any time something's not perfectly clear. For example, our neuropsych is a very good pscyh and she really knows her business, and makes good recommendations. But she also talks fast, tries to fit a lot into an hour long appointment, and has other folks with appointments sandwiched in between so she goes through things relatively quickly. It was easiest for me at first to just try really hard to take notes on what seemed the most important to me and let something slide if I didn't totally understand. This is a very specific for instance which has nothing to do with your dd, but illustrates what I'm getting at - my 2e ds struggles with written expression. At his first neuropsych eval in 2nd grade, the np recommended to us that when we were looking at schools to "be sure they don't put him into the multi-sensory program because he doesn't need that". *She* new that what she was saying was don't let them put him into the program in SPED that is specifically for dyslexic children who are struggling with learning how to read because your son can read just fine, but we parents were sitting there thinking we were focusing on written expression (which we were) and didn't even realize that we could request an IEP eligibility review for our ds, knew nothing about the district SPED program, had never heard of multi-sensory anything before that point, etc. The np was giving us valuable, valid advice, but we didn't have the background knowledge or experience to fully understand what she was talking about.

One thing that really helped us at that point was to talk to our local parents' advocate group. If you don't know of one, you might be able to find one either through the yellow pages at wrightslaw.org or by calling your school district's SPED department. Even though we called our advocate's group specifically because we had questions about obtaining a 504 (initially) and later about the IEP eligibilty process, we found that the advocates also knew and/or had suggestions for how to proceed with accommodations etc for different types of disabilities. They (in our case) were also parents of special needs kids, some high IQ kids, and it was helpful sometimes just to talk for a few minutes on the phone with another person parenting a high-needs child.

Parenting a 2e child is a process. A long process. None of us will have the answers for our children overnight. Know that you're doing all the best things you can do - and that with time, the answers will come (and more questions too!).

Again, as DeeDee said - keep looking forward. You *are* doing so very very well for your dd!

polarbear