Any experiences with developmental peds?

[JTsMom]

I'm planning on choosing one and making an appt. for Jason in the next few days. Can anyone tell me what to expect, or anything to look for in particular?

Also, I heard today that most do not accept insurance, and that an initial eval runs about $1800. :32: I'm going to speak with the insurance company in a little bit, but what has your experience been with that?

Thanks!

[Gena]

We see the developmental ped at the local children's hospital, so visits are covered by insurance. We do have to pay a higher copay because she's a specialist. Many DP's require a referal from the child's regular doctor, so you might need to go that route. Also, your regular doctor should know if there are any DPs in your area who are in your network.

As for what to expect, they will probably take a detailed history (possibly senting you the form in the mail to fill out beforehand) and do a basic physical, but the rest depends on why you are going. We went for an autism assessment, so the DP observed DS for a while, did a screening, and then ordered blood tests, an EEG, a psychological eval, a speech eval, a hearing eval, and an OT eval. Also we were given the Gillium Autism Rating Scale (GARS) to fill out and mail back. It took about 5 months to have all the tests and evaluations done. Then we had another appointment to get all the results and that's when DS received his official diagnosis of autism.

We go back to the DP at least once a year so she can check on his progress and write notes to continue his private speech and OT.

[ett]

DS1 saw a dev. ped. for an evaluation 2 years ago. All the places here have long waiting lists. (we waited about a year). Our insurance company covered the evaluation but we did have to get a referral from our regular ped. and she also had to write a letter recommending the eval. We just had to pay the specialist co-pay for the visit.

The place where DS1 got his eval., he only get's seen by a medical doctor, so insurance covered everything. If we had gone for an eval. at another place, their eval consists of being seen by a dev. ped. and then also a neuro. psychological test done by a psychologist. The medical part done by the dev. ped. would still be covered by our insurance, but the neuro. psyc. test would not have been covered and would have cost about $2000. It was not an option to skip the neuro. psyc. test.

That was okay for us since DS1 is in the public school system and they will cover the costs for a neuro. psyc. test to be done around ages 5-6, which is soon for us.

I would definitely suggest talking to your regular ped. to see who see recommends, and also talk to your insurance company about who is in network. We also initially thought we would have to pay and it took a lot of talking to the insurance co. and the billing people at the doctor's office to figure everything out.

[crayonblue]

I set up an appointment for Carmen with a developmental ped and she was on a 6 month waiting list at Children's. They take our insurance. I also called Kennedy-Krieger and had a 9 month waiting list there. And they do not take our insurance.

Ended up that I cancelled the appointment because we got her diagnosis before the appointment.

[brittone2]

I'm not familiar with the insurance issue, but I've worked with families who used developmental peds and I"m fairly sure in many instances it is covered. You may need a referral, etc. but I'm pretty sure most of the families I worked with weren't paying that much out of pocket. I certainly hope that will be the case for you...1800 is steep!.

I agree with the PPs in terms of what to expect. I spent a day observing at a developmental ped office when I was doing my peds PT internship. Usually they do a detailed history, an examination, and then the child will go through testing with various clinicians...PT, OT, SLP, etc. As some of the PPs said, there will be detailed questionnaires for the parent. If you can keep a little notebook of your own observations, concerns, etc. that will help give the best information. When I was a PT, if a client we saw was going in for a specialist appt like a dev. ped, we sent along a report with our observations and assessments. I would ask the OT and SLP to do this for you before you go. THe dev. ped will do their own evaluation w/ their own staff most likely, but it is always helpful to have info from those who see the child regularly vs. a one-time evaluation. It helps to determine whether they are getting an accurate picture of what is going on with the child.

I hope you can find a way to get your visit covered, and hopefully get some reassurance and or answers :hug:

[vludmilla]

We had a dev. ped. visit for our DD when she was about 18 months. I very much liked the doctor as he had a very nice manner and seemed to try to be thorough but ultimately I was unimpressed. It may be that, as nice as the doctor was he wasn't really able to offer more than we already knew or it may be that DD really didn't have any susbtantial issues.
So, I wouldn't recommend against a dev.ped visit but I would be sure to get recommendations from people who have seen one in your area.