Can you tell me what the testing is like with a ped. Neuro?

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My son has an appointment in May to start the testing process with a Pediatric Neurologist. So far he has had testing through the school and early intervention programs, but they would like us to have formal testing through a Pediatric Neuro. that specializes in ASD. All tests so far indicate an AS diagnosis.

What kind of tests does the PN do? What do they look like? What does this entail? He will be 5 by the testing time if that helps. How long does it take to get results?

I don't know if a neurologist is the best route because the signs of autism spectrum disorders are not physical. Though there are some physical brain differences for many on the spectrum, such as small, compacted minicolumns and an abnormally sized amydala (small or large, I can't remember), these are not diagnostic criteria.

I would instead suggest a center that specializes in autism spectrum disorders such as the Chapel Hill TEACCH center in North Carolina. It's where my son and I were both diagnosed, and they have an expert team who spends hours with you and they really do a good job.

I find it interesting that the process of diagnosis seems to vary so much, especially in terms of which professionals are actually doing the assessing.

I'm in Scotland, and my son's assessment process started last week and will take about 6 weeks. Last Thursday I met with two Specialist Speech and Language Therapists from the Community Autism Team, and they structured the meeting around a questionnaire I'd been given in advance. (I had retyped this 4 page questionaire and turned it into a 13 page document. I also took a 6 page document I'd already sent to the Educational Psychologist when I met with her in December.)

The meeting took place at my son's school and at playtime one of the Specialist SLTs went out to observe my son in the playground.

My son already has a Community SLT working with him, apart from this whole diagnostic process, and has been observed by the Educational Psychologist, again not as part of the diagnostic process, but in an effort to address his particular issues. A Speech and Language Technician started working with my son at the beginning of the year to address his pragmatic speech problems. All this goes on at the school, and I meet with the SLT from time to time at home.

With my permission, all these various professionals are sharing information so that they each have as complete as possible a picture of my son. This information sharing is not only a part of the assessment for autism, but also helps those who work with my son on an ongoing basis.

So far, I haven't seen anyone else on WP describing a process similar to the one my son and I are experiencing, although I might have missed it.

What has most impressed me so far in all of this, which has been going on for a year now, is the way education and health professionals work together and share information about a child. It seems to me to be a very holistic approach with my son at the centre of it.

my son was tested by a developmental pediatrician/neurologist last year. he gave him a pdd-nos dx. it took him over 3 months to give him the diagnose because during the first visit my son didn't say anything and just sat quietly in my lap, he just turned 4 at the time btw. in the second evaluation he started to stim and flap his arms and pretend he was a train, the dr said that he was "clearly on the spectrum." then he ordered a speech pathologist to evaluate my son. at the third eval, he had the speech results and dx him with pdd-nos. to answer your question, the evaluation is pretty much talking to you as a parent and discussing what your concerns are. they make u fill out tons of paperwork and ask you about your child from birth. that's pretty much it. when my son first enrolled in pre-k, they only gave him a developmental delay dx instead of an asd one. although he qualified for ot and speech. he did very well in the school tests, although he didn't do very well socially in the classroom and he isnt as independent as the other kids. he always played alone and needed to be prompted and helped to put on his jacket and clean up his food. i sought a second evaluation by a child psychologist who worked with autistic children. she automatically dxed him with as within the first hour of seeing him. so i have 3 different dx's and views of my child