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I know kids go for neuropsych evaluations to determine if they have ASD, and I know one who ended up with a diagnosis of OCD after such an evaluation. What else can a neuropsych diagnose? Also, what's the difference between an eval from a neuropsych and one from a developmental pediatrician?

Neuropsych (psychologist) can dx anything in the realm of the DSM (list of disorders related to mental health issues, disorders of cognition, ASDs, and learning disabilities). They rely heavily on a customized battery of standardized tests they administer. They will also conduct a thorough interview to asses dx level of functioning, significant history, and issues of concern. They will make up an evaluative report with results and recommendations.

A developmental ped is an MD who had a thorough understanding of both the DSM and the broader range of medical diagnoses, especially those effective a child developmentally and/or behaviorally. Their eval will usually consist of a thorough medical exam (possibly even bloodwork or genetic testing), review of medical history/records, a thorough patient/parent interview and possibly parent/teacher behavioral surveys. They would not usually perform standardized testing, but would refer a patient to a neuropsych if they saw a need to investigate a specific issue further.

There is no need for a neuropsych eval to determine things like depression, behavior disorders, mood issues, anxiety problems, and typical ADHD. However it can be invaluable to help untangle confounding or cocurrent problems such as ADHD vs. ASDs vs. expressive language delay (for example).

I should add that my DS who has an ASD saw both a dev ped and a neuropsych for his diagnosis. The team approach was especially useful for us.

DeeDee

Thanks for your replies.

Who would diagnose CAPD? What about SID?

Agreed that it's not necessary to have a neuropsych evaluation to diagnose any of these conditions, but we've found with two of our kids (both of whom have had extreme anxiety, one of whom was clinically depressed at one point in time) that a neuropsych evaluation teased out hidden challenges each child was dealing with. With both children, we had professionals ready and willing to treat/medicate the overlying anxiety/depression, but for each child the real issue that needed help was the underlying 2e diagnoses which weren't recognized by their pediatricians/counselors etc. Once we were aware of the 2e diagnoses (dysgraphia, expressive language disorder, associative memory challenge, etc) and remediated/accommodated for those, the anxiety/depression lessened significantly - to the degree treatment wasn't needed. Both kids have personalities that will probably always be prone to anxiety, but if we'd only looked at and treated the anxiety we would have missed a very important piece of the puzzle.

Please know I'm not suggesting anxiety/etc only exists as an outcome of underlying LD, but for a young child who's struggling in school and also showing signs of anxiety/etc, I would recommend a neuropsych eval.

Keet, I think CAPD is usually diagnosed by an audiologist who specializes or works with people who have CAPD. FWIW, we thought our middle dd might have CAPD at one point in time, but a neuropsych eval revealed she had an entirely different challenge (visual). It can be very tricky trying to understand what's up with young children simply because so many symptoms overlap between challenges. SID is usually diagnosed by an occupational therapist. It's not something you'd need a neuropsych eval to see - if you're seeing symptoms of SID, you can ask for a referral for an OT eval from your ped.

polarbear

Where I live and work, there is one person who can diagnose CAPD in the whole state school system. She basically said, "You know what? Whether or not CAPD actually exists is hugely controversial. These are the recommendations for students who have CAPD. Why don't you just try them, and skip the test?" The recommendations were very similar to what you would use for hearing impaired students, things like "avoid background noise".

I agree that trying recommendations if there is suspected CAPD is a good idea, because they can't hurt and they might help, whether or not it's CAPD. OTOH, I think it's important to test for a number of reasons. What if it's not CAPD but something else? It's not easy as a parent or teacher to sift through symptoms and know for sure what's up, but a neuropsych eval can point to very specific areas to look into as well as rule out challenges. If a child does have a challenge such as CAPD, they may have a teacher who is willing to give them accommodations without a diagnosis/testing/etc one year, but the next year end up with a teacher who doesn't believe the child has a challenge and won't accommodate. That's where having a diagnosis really helps, not with an individual teacher but with setting up a 504 plan and a record of accommodations that can follow a child through school. Although I don't have a child with CAPD, I have children with LDs and the other positive aspect to having an official diagnosis is understanding of why they are struggling (for parents and children).

polarbear

My son is on a wait list to be assessed for CAPD (through an audiologist at our local hospital). For us that particular diagnosis would answer SO many questions as well as qualify him for funding for an FM system (the teacher has a microphone and he wears earphones so he can hear her more clearly). Without the diagnosis I'd have to pay for this equipment myself. So while I agree that following recommendations for a diagnosis and skipping the test can sometimes work, other times a signature on a piece of paper from a diagnosing professional can sure help with $$$

My son is hearing impaired and also has CAPD. I've posted on this before. It is definitely a real diagnosis.
Some examples- in the classroom, the teacher said "who likes ice cream??!!" All of the kids jumped up and down and screamed, "I do, I do." Not my son - he was sitting in the front row with his excellent hearing aid on and working and the FM system working. It was like he didn't even "hear" her. But he had to have heard her due to all of the technology streaming into his brain at the time. It's like being deaf but you aren't really deaf.

How would you know if it's CAPD and not ADD?