Neuropsych eval, worth it?
 

Those of you who've had the neuropsych eval, is it worth it? My son is scheduled to start his tomorrow and I'm having second thoughts.

I believe it will help direct his "accomodations" for school if/when he can go back. I also believe it will help with our case against school district to recover all these medical bills. I also believe it can help us help him.

It's a huge expense of time, money, and his mental status. Any comments?

hello worried mom
 

So sorry your child is having trouble. If I were in the same situation I would go for the evaluation. I do hope that who ever does the evaluation is a good and compassionate person. I guess I would want to do all I could toward my child getting better, and getting assistance from the school. I know about medical expenses. It cost all I had, but I would do it again, because my outcome for my medical problem has gotten better. It was worth it for better health. I wish you all the best for your situation, and a good outcome and recovery. Glad you found Neuro talk, and I hope alot of others respond to you. ginnie

A NeuroPsych Assessment (NPA) can be very worthwhile, especially if done by a competent NeuroPsychologist (NP). Some NP's have some biases against concussion causing prolonged symptoms. But, an NPA will give you good information about his capabilities.

At his age, understanding those capabilities is important, especially if he is preparing to go to college. Developing a plan for college entrance exams will be paramount.

I was totally unprepared for my SAT's and especially the PSAT that is used for Merit Scholarships.

Go ahead and support him in his efforts tomorrow. Expect that he may be exhausted after them.

My best to you.

I find it very helpful to talk to someone like a NP who completely understands and validates your son's worries and problems which I found helped in my case anyways. Before I went back to school, they gave me strategies to help with any questions I had and certain things to try to help with my symptoms and a school liason was involved as well to meet with the school and propose accomodation's I would need to have in order to attend school. Having a professional tell my school that this is something that needs to be payed attention to helped a lot! Now my teachers are more lenient and accomodating because they know now the struggle it is to have a tbi :) Hope your son feels better soon!

So I took him to meet her and do the intake eval. She took like 20 pages of notes on top of the 25 pages I had to fill out ahead of time. She wants to do the full evaluation BUT wants to wait until at least 6 months, bc she seems to think that is the magic get-better point.

The soonest they can do the tests after that is another 2 months. We get to wait four months for all this to happen. ugh!

Also saw Sports Doc today, said well he seems to be doing some better (clinically) but let's wait another month before we do anything different.

Let the waiting begin! (or continue)

Good Luck!
 

Neuropsych evaluation is very worth while in my opinion. I had to wait 10 months to get mine after concussion because they thought everything would get better. My NP told me most healing is done within the first year and they wanted to test me closer to that 1 year mark.

Once the evaluation is done, not much changes. The only differences I experienced were scholastic accomodations and a better understanding about what is going on. Which in turn helped me move forward. It is a lengthy process, but just having those words on paper and an explanation helps to decifer where to start.

From my experience, i know that the evaluation is extremely draining and frustrating. You literaly go through all the emotions. All you can do for your son is be there for him and give him encouraging words. My mum was right there by my side whether I wanted it or not and shes always said it was one of the toughest things shes ever had to do/see, but without her encouragement and understanding I wouldnt have gotten through it alone.

I've seen what my mum has had to go through and I am very sorry you are having to experience it as well. I cant even imagine what it would be like to be in your situation and it takes a strong person to be able to do it.

Good luck with everything!