If you have taken your DC to a neurologist ...

If you have taken your DC to neuroligst what age did you take them and what was done at the first meeting?

I just took my almost 4.5 year old DS today. He receives services and they recommended it and I have been debating it for a while but because I was nervous he might have some form of autism. His prek teachers were for it. My mom and DH thought I was crazy.

He doesn't listen well in school and basically does what he wants to do and we are having potty issues were he constantly has accidents. He is speech delayed and get OT once a week for fine motor skills. He tends to not like loud noises.


So dr walks in and says he is only 4 to young to be diagnosed with ADHD. I tell her OK I do actually agree with that. I am not sure how you can diagnose so young a child may have ADHD rather then they are just immature. (I knew going in even if they did say he did have ADHD I would not medicate him at all because I feel like its too young to really know) I did question why people have told me drs have said that kids this young are diagnosed and she said she knows but she doesn't believe in it basically. I also told her I am worried about Autism.

So she asks me a bunch of questions. She then asks DS to count blocks name the colors, stack them and build them certain ways. Asks him the alphabet, to walk to follow an object with his eye and checks his reflexes. Asked him to draw shapes

That's all and she told me she thinks he is perfectly normal. She did show concerns about his grasping and speech but he already gets services for all that.she said he followed all her directions and that in school he may just not do that well in large crowds and that he needs a teacher that can basically handle him and bring him back in. (This year I believe his Prek teachers do this) she said she is not worried about autism (which again was my really big concern)

My main question is, is that all they really need to do to determine that he his "normal".
My friend told me her DR gives her kids test /scans on their brains. She did offer for me ito have an EEG if I wanted but I had to go back because I did say I feel like DS zones out in the car often.

What did they do at your 1st appointment? Should I be getting a second opinion? Should I minimally go back for the EEG? Of course, my mom and DH are a no. I am leaning towards no but I feel like his teacher, the district, are going to be surprised by the results. (My older DD was nothing like this so even though I know I shouldn't compare I do and him not getting things is new to me since DD picked up on things easily)


ETA: fix EKG to EEG

Message edited 3/26/2018 8:49:15 AM.

If you have taken your DC to a neurologist ...

ok so my daughter sees a neurologist for a medical condition - but we started with her first one at 18 months and moved on to another doctor at 3 years old. Yes - that all sounds like a very normal 1st visit. Ours was a lot of talking, giving background, telling her what we see, etc..
You say EKG but do you mean a EEG? Neurologist don't give EKG's.
The EEG would be mostly likely bc you said he spaces out. Not so much the autism.
My nephew has autism and I have a few close friends with children on the spectrum - NONE of them had brain scans done to confirm autism. Maybe there were other things going on that the doctor want to check out? Autism is one of those diagnosis that is more about how they interact or tests done in the office (like how the dr did). There is no definite test - like a blood test, scan or anything.

If you have taken your DC to a neurologist ...

Sounds like my son at that age....but he does have Autism, although not formally diagnosed at that age. He was always listed as OHI for his EI/CPSE/IEP classification. He was in early intervention then to CPSE and they also suggested the neuro because of his low tone issues and toe walking. They thought maybe hypotonia, along with Duchenne's or something else because he toe walked. Turns out he had none of that. We continued to see her, and she said ADD but they wouldn't look into it seriously until K. Of course he still had attending issues in K, so that is when we started medicating him after she sent a Connor form to school, etc.

There are no brain scans to be done to diagnose a person with autism. My son has had an EEG done because he was spacing out also and started stuttering. Spacing out could be seizures. He was like 9 or 10 at the time. He did the short one in the office. The results showed some slowing in his brain. So they sent him for the 24 hour video one and had to spend the night at Good Sam. Same result and they detected no seizure activity. The neuro did say that many kids with Autism DO have slowing, and attributed it to that. He did stop stuttering, I think that was just a nerve thing that he got over.

A neuropsychologist would be a good person to diagnose if you are still concerned about Autism though.

Who did you see?

Re: If you have taken your DC to a neurologist ...

def. Meant EEG its been a long few days!!

For now after talking to his teachers I am leaving it alone. I may go in for the EEG if I continue noticing him zoning out in the car.

Thanks for all the lnput knowing that the first visit seems normal I am OK then.

I saw dr. Kharode at Winthrop ped neuro

Re: If you have taken your DC to a neurologist ...

My dc first saw a neuro at 3.5 yrs old and had already been receiving services for speech and ot at that point. We were on the cusp of an ASD diagnosis, but it took more than one visit to determine it. Our initial visit the dr. took a history, read his IEP's, looked over evals and spent sometime interacting with dc. We were given C.A.R.S forms for teachers and providers to complete as well as an adhd check list. WE returned with the completed paperwork about 3 months later.

4 is way too young to diagnose adhd. My dc has been followed by the neuro for several years now and although we all suspect add, the dr is still reluctant to diagnose it or offer medicate.

Re: If you have taken your DC to a neurologist ...

One of my twins had an EEG when he was 3 because he was ‘spacing out’. As suspected, nothing showed up and I kind of wished we hadn’t done it. He was very scared.

My youngest who is almost 5 has autism and we never had an EEG done on him. Everything you wrote sounds exactly right. As far as the distraction in school, I agree with Dr. Kids have different learning styles and he may just listen better when he was focused with dr. I can tell you my son barely follows directions (working on it), won’t stack blocks (he can-but prefers to line them up), and the list goes on and on. Also as far as the accidents with potty training, I’d say another things kids do at their own pace. One of my twins finally stopped with accidents in kindergarten.

Re: If you have taken your DC to a neurologist ...

Thank you for the input. Hearing it makes me put things in perspective more.