Any recommendations out there for neuropsych (or other) testers in the greater Boston area?

The backstory:
I just came from a meeting with the principal at my DS12's school, a follow up he requested to yesterday's IEP meeting. DS's disability listed on his IEP is sensory processing. The principal suggested we might want to look into a possible Asperger's/ASD diagnosis (for multiple well meaning reasons, ranging from appropriate protections in his IEP to DS then having further understanding of why he is how he is - whether that is now or down the line when he's really ready).

I'm not 100% sure I agree, but there are definitely asperger-y characteristics there. But I have also read that it isn't terribly unusual for highly gifted kids to be mis-diagnosed as ASD/aspergers. So if we're going to pursue testing, I'd want to make sure the tester was familiar with both.

DS will be getting some testing in the school setting as well. I'll be posting separately for advice on what tests I should seek (still want to rule out things like dysgraphia too), but any that a typical psycho-ed tester can give that might help tease out whether his aspergers-ish characteristics are truly aspergers or just poor social skills?

Boston Children's has a well-regarded autism center. I would start there, and make sure that the person who evaluates him knows that he is gifted as well. I wish we had done this when my DD was little, instead of waiting until she was almost a teenager to be diagnosed.

A good question to ask is, "of the kids you test, how many end up without an autism/Asperger diagnosis?"

People on the board from the Boston area used to speak highly of Amy Yermish but I haven't seen her mentioned lately.

http://www.davincilearning.org/

I think some people in the schools see Aspergers everywhere they look. And it is often misdiagnosed which makes it worse because if other kids in the school have a diagnoses and your child seems similar, the people in the school will think your child should have the same diagnosis. We had teachers fill out checklists from last year, DS was in a normal mainstream class,and they rated him a lot more impaired (not necessarily for autism, just in general) than the teacher this year who teaches kids who are all highly gifted and therefore doesn't see DS as standing out in any way. A lot of the other kids seem similar to him. So what the other teachers saw as an abnormality was most likely DS responding the way a 2e kid would to not having appropriate supports and material. There's so much bias from all involved when it comes to this that it becomes very difficult. Bottom line is that my son just doesn't fit some of the diagnostic criteria or fit any sort of pattern that you would normally see with autism. Lots of kids have social skills issues, but to many people social skills issues = autism and they don't see other possibilities. I think this actually does do a disservice to kids if the diagnosis or assumptions are wrong, for instance my son was put in a social skills group where half of what they talked about was "weird behavior" and what that means on a cognitive level, when in DS's case any weird behavior that he exhibited came mostly from executive functioning issues. He has a lot of features that you would commonly see in kids who have damage to their cerebellum (if your child displays any motor issues as well google "cerebellar syndrome"). That's completely different than autism! Anyway, I have no idea about neuropsychs in your area but just wanted to reply to the other thoughts in your post. Hopefully it helps. I think you are on the right track being very careful who you choose.

The May Institute in MA is also highly regarded in the field of ASD. In addition to their special ed schools and ABA treatment services, they also do evaluations and consultations.

https://www.mayinstitute.org/autism...s-services/screening-and-assessment.html