<p>My medical insurance doesn't cover testing (Kaiser). And these private places are wayy to expensive. Can the state provide it for free? Do I have to do it through my school (I'd prefer not to)? I'm in California by the way.</p>
<p>ADD is a medical condition that should be covered under medical insurance, at least as far as diagnosing and treating are concerned. But if you are asking about psycho-educational testing of the sort required to get accomodations at school or in standardized testing, that is usually done by a psychologist. Your school may or may not be able to provide such testing. The testing is usually quite involved, stretching over mutiple testing sessions and followed up by counseling. Independent psychologists will charge for their services, and this can be pretty expensive.</p>
<p>Can I get CollegeBoard testing accomodations with just a diagnosis of ADD? Or do I need psycho-educational testing as well?</p>
<p>Edit: Nevermind, I just read what you said again.</p>
<p>the question is, whether or not you have an impairment due to ADD or ADHD such as poor grades. If you think that you have a neurological condition that impacts your learning, under IDEA you can request an evaluation that is paid for by your school district. If you request this evaluation, the district has 90 days to respond to your request. If they refuse, you can take it to arbitration. Even if your insurance paid for your evaluation, you would have to make sure that your district accepts the results of an outside evaluation. Your district however, probably would accept an outside opinion because it would come from the same pool of neurologists/psychologists that the district hires itself!</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Irony. Sweet, sweet irony.</p>
<p>My HS offered such for free, they even did it in the school as does my college.</p>
<p>The testing can be quite expensive so hopefully you can work something out with the school district. Usually, questionnaires will have to be filled out by two or more teachers, both parents, and anyone else with daily interaction with the student. Then the psycho-educational tests begin. I know colleges have specific requirements about which professionals perform testing for students who want accommodations. Collegeboard will want documentation from your school and proof that you actually use your accomodations regularly at your high school over the course of time. They are looking for a reasonably long history and strong verification before approving accommodations for any Collegeboard tests. It would be unusual to be diagnosed in the fall and have accommodations by the March SAT, for example, unless the disabilities were profoundly affecting the student. Good Luck.</p>
<p>Getting medication covered under insurance and the documentation required by schools and college board are two different things.
Medication can only be prescribed by a Dr or nurse practitioner
Documentation is suppled by extensive testing and evaluation by an educational psychologist- someone who has certification to administer the diagnostic tests.</p>
<p>If you receive accomodations at school- that information will help you get accomodations for testing and in college.</p>
<p>*All students requesting accommodations for the SAT must submit documentation to the College Board at least 5 weeks prior to the SAT test date and for those going through the Appeal Process a minimum of 7 weeks is needed.</p>
<p>Documentation required for SAT testing accommodations must: 1) State the specific disability; 2) Be current (within three years; one year for psychiatric disability); 3) Provide relevant educational, developmental and medical history; 4) Describe the comprehensive testing and techniques used to arrive at the diagnosis (including evaluation dates and test results with subtest scores from measures of cognitive ability, academic achievement, and information processing); 5) describe the functional limitations supported by the test results; 6) Describe the specific accommodations requested; and 7) Establish the professional credentials of the evaluator, including information about license or certification and area of specialization. For more info visit: <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/ssd/%5B/url%5D%5B/i%5D">www.collegeboard.com/ssd/*</a>
even though my daughter had, had an IEP for 6 years and currently had a 504- the district refused to test her for accomodations for testing.
rather than continue to waste even more time fighting them to pay for testing- I just paid $800. out of pocket to have a complete evaluation.
The college board accepted the recommendation but the school still refused to increase her accomodations!
:rolleyes:</p>
<p>Sometimes you have to invest some money in your kid (or in yourself) in order to move forward in a positive direction; often school districts have their own best interests in mind, financially. My advice is to get the private testing despite the cost. Once you have a valid diagnosis, that opens up doors for accommodations, counseling, meds, etc. Give a call to The Child Study Institute in Bryn Mawr, PA for a reference to someone in your own area....Best of luck to you pilot....</p>