La Texican - to answer your questions about financing - It is hard to give an exact dollar amount because rates vary a lot and what insurance will cover varies a lot. Given the child has disabilities most likely if Howler has decent insurance she will be able to get IQ and acheivement testing done by someone local and get that covered. Without a question of medical diagnosis most insurance won't cover educational testing.

If she wants to go out of network and see an out of network gifted specialist it is going to depend a lot on her insurance whether she can get that reimbursed. Also, as you may know, it is now the case that many mental health specialists no longer accept insurance.

One option for Howler might be to get the testing done locally and then get it reviewed by a gifted specialist out of area. She'd need to make individual inquiries to find out about the costs for that.

I agree with the poster who suggested this is money well spent. Getting a good evaluation and therapy saved us a lot of heartache and hassle.