Could anyone please recommend an educational specialist who can conduct a private evaluation for ADD/ADHD in Princeton, NJ? My daughter needs help to find an appropriate placement within her public school. thanks so much.
If your child needs to find an appropriate place within her public school, her public school should have a list of appropriate providers. They can not recommend one person, but they can give you choices.
You might also want to talk to your daughter’s primary care physician. That person should be able to recommend a good psychiatrist who works with a psychologist.
Have you put in a referral to your schools? They can do the behavior intervention plan, and also behavioral checklists that will be very helpful in planning an appropriate educational program.
How old is the student?
Your health group should also have a list of providers.
There really isn’t any test for ADHD. Generally a questionnaire is used, for parent and child. (You can probably find it online.) A psychiatrist is the best person to diagnose, but even a primary care MD can do it.
That said, it is useful to do a full neuropsychological evaluation in case other issues are causing problems that resemble or aggravate ADHD. The school can do that, and then, if you disagree with their results (and refusal of services) you are usually, at least in our state, entitled to an outside evaluation paid for by the school.
If there is a medical reason, however far-fetched, that MIGHT explain the ADHD (for instance a difficulty at birth, an infectious disease like Lyme or PANDAS, etc.) insurance may cover the evaluation.
The tests on attention in a learning evaluation are not very reliable, because they are done in a room with no distractions, one on one attention, and short passages that do not require sustained attention. Evaluation will also test learning disabilities and executive function, processing speed, scatter in abilities, mismatch between ability and performance, visual spatial problems etc.