Now what?

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I can't afford to see someone to get a diagnosis. $150 an hour for an 8 to 10 hour session sounds so rediculas it isn't even funny. Not only can I notafford that, butthat is a hell of a lot of time for someone to try and figure out something that I could pretty much tell them already. I want to get a diagnosis for help in school, but I simply can't afford it. What am I supposed to do, just sit at home my whole life?

This is one of those things that really annoys me is that for any kind of "special treatment", you often have to pay an insane amount of money out of your own pocket. It seems like they want the most money out of people that are the least likely to have it. Do they charge so much because of the few people that come for treatment? There must be some logical reason for this that I'm missing, because otherwise, it just looks like a way to keep the minorities down. In this case, why do they need that many hours to determine whatever diagnosis you're looking to get, so they can get more money?

Not that the above paragraph helped answer your question about what you're suppose to do...

Have you inquired about getting a diagnosis at a university psychological services center?

If you can prove to them that you can't (by providing proof of income like paystubs, W2 forms, etc....) afford the regular cost of testing (usually between $1000-2000) they will likely be able to work with you on a sliding scale.

I received two of my neuropsychological evals at two seperate universities around here and only paid $100.00 in total for each.

That was a long time ago though and i'm not sure if you could get testing done quite that inexpensively anymore.

I know that the Neuropsychology assessment center here at Nova southeastern university offers full neuropsych evals for as little as $500.00 if you can prove you can't afford the normal cost.

I realize $500.00 still may be a bit more than you can afford, but you might be able to find something cheaper at your local universities.

Or...you could apply for services at Occupational-Vocational Rehab. They will likely send you for testing at ENTIRELY their own expense. Even if you're ultimately deemed ineligible for services, (which would be unlikely if you are Dx-ed with an ASD) they will probably still set up an evaluation for you.

After that....and if you're found eligible for services...they may be able to assist you (financially and otherwise) with educational costs, job placement, therapy, etc....

The psychologists/psychiatrists OVR has under contract often aren't the best though. Still...they're usually competent enough to administer neuropsych testing and make a legitimate Dx.


OVR paid for ALL my college expenses (beyond what the Pell grant covered) including tuition, books and even parking stickers.



Due to recent budget cuts though, VR services probably aren't as generous as they were ten years ago. Assuming they still are covering client's tuition, (at least in part) you'd probably have to be willing to go to a public college/university. They were willing to cover all my educational expenses up to a BA/BS.

Last edited by Horus on 28 Apr 2010, 11:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

There's no kind of coverage under insurance or anything for the tests?

Neon304~

If you haven't worked in the past year and don't have a W2/paystubs, you can contact the IRS and they will mail or fax you a form letter that proves you didn't file a return.

The number you need to call for that is 1-800-829-1040.


Also...if you depend on someone for financial support, a university might ask for some proof of their income.

Well my diagnosis was free and barely lasted an hour. I wouldn't mind paying buttloads of money over many many months to get a more in depth diagnosis. Although I do have an unofficial dx that lasted over 4 months.

Some insurance plans cover psych care and i'm pretty sure those plans would cover at least part of the costs of a neuropsych evaluation IF a psychologist/psychiatrist formally recommends one.

When I had BC/BS of Florida, they would cover up to 25 psychiatric visits per year.

I'm guessing you just had an ADOS or something right?

A full neuropsych eval in the USA usually includes tests like the WAIS, MMPI, Halstead-Reitan, etc....and the whole thing entails at least 8 hours in most cases.

I don't really know how these things work "down under" though

Thanks Horus, any idea on how I would go about asking about that though? I think I could come up with $500, that's still quite a bit for me, but worth it in my opinion.

Just contact some of the psychological services centers at your local universities and explain your situation. If they're able to offer you testing at a reduced rate based upon your limited income, they will tell you what documents are acceptable as proof of income. As far as I know, most are willing to work with people of limited income on a sliding scale and i've yet to encounter one that wasn't. Psych grad student interns are usually the ones administering the tests, but a clinical supervisor and the director of the psych services center will review them.

I believe most major universities have a psychological services center, so it shouldn't be a problem finding one in your area.


Just to give you some idea of what all this usually entails, here's the link to the Neuropsychology Assessment Center I mentioned in my OP:

http://www.nova.edu/nac/

You might want to "shop around" as the costs of this may vary from uni to uni.


Now you MIGHT have some trouble if you live with family since the sliding scale may be based on annual FAMILY income and the number dependents in the home. That's precisely the criteria at Nova and it's likely the same everywhere. All I can say is that this wasn't an issue for me. I was living with my mother when I received my second neuropsych eval at the University of Miami. They charged me $100.00 for the test and my mother makes over $70,000 per year. I was the only dependent in the home as well.

All that being said, I can't promise you anything here but it's certainly worth looking into.

If none of this works out for you....you might want to consider the OVR option I mentioned.

Anyway....I wish you the best of luck with all this and if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

I have BCBS of Oregon and two $25 dollar co pays to a clinical psychologist for a psychological workup that included a Asperger's Syndrome diagnosis. The price for those actual visits were $120. for the initial consultation and $220. for the expanded consultation when I did all the tests. I then came back for a follow up when the DX was explained to me that was included in the expanded consultation.

When asked why was I presenting myself to a clinical psychologist I only said I had reasons to believe I had psychological issues and wanted to have an evaluation to find out what was going on with me. This was considered a valid request and reason for the assessment.

Merle

Why not give college a go without a diagnosis? Not all courses require great social skills. If you're doing something like computers or engineering, half your class is probably made up of undiagnosed aspies.

Thanks everyone,now I at least have some things to look into.

So glad I live in the UK. Free healthcare FTW!

(of course, the NHS can be crap and getting a diagnosis on it can take literally years, and I actually have private healthcare anyway, but that isn't the point)

Last edited by Asp-Z on 29 Apr 2010, 12:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

sorry, delayed double-post. Server a bit busy.

Last edited by Lene on 29 Apr 2010, 2:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It's too bad that you can't get that testing done, for free. What do they charge that amount of money for, anyways? To pay for "research"?