Asperger's DX - military question

[LivingOutLove]

We finally met with the child psychologist today for a dx - Asperger's - for our ds5. Since this is what I've suspected, it's a relief on many levels.

My question is: do I need to go through the public school system in order to get a full eval (free) and to get Tricare to cover services (therapies and such)?

I already registered ds5 for K with an umbrella school; we live in TN. But I wonder if I'll have to register instead with the public school system to receive services covered by Tricare...does anyone know?

DH is going to get the EFMP paperwork started soon...we'll know more then, I'm sure...

What's been your experience?

Thanks.

[Misty]

You don't need to do anything through the school system as long as the psychologist you saw today officially diagnosed your son with Asperger's. If that is the case, then you just need to enroll him in EFMP. Tricare will then cover whatever therapies you need. Of course you will need to get a referral from your PCM before starting any therapies.

Tricare will cover psychologist or psychiatrist visits and occupational therapy if your son needs that. My Aspie daughter just finished 6 months of OT and Tricare paid every penny.

Speech therapy is a little harder to get covered. You will need to work with a Tricare case manager to get speech covered, if needed.

If your son needs ABA therapy, then you will need to enroll him in ECHO (Extended Health Care Option) http://www.military.com/benefits/tricare/tricare-extended-care-health-option . Tricare/ECHO pays up to $36,000 a year for ABA for any child on the spectrum (as long as the evaluation deems it necessary... The evaluation would be done by the BCBA.. the therapist). You only have to pay a small co-pay each month based on your husband's rank. My husband is an 0-2 and we pay $40 a month for our 6yo daughter to receive ABA three days a week.

The people at EFMP may ask you for an IEP so if you have a way to get that created, then I would start looking into that. That would be the only reason you would need to contact the public school, I think. But we made up our own IEP and it was acceptable to the EFMP people. We live in a state where there are no homeschool laws so we have no one overseeing our homeschool. So we had no one to help us with an IEP. So we just made up our own and gave it to EFMP and they were happy!

Let me know if you have any other questions!

[LivingOutLove]

Thanks, Misty!

The doc we saw is anti-homeschooling, so I think that's what made it confusing. He left us with the instructions to call the public schools to get a full evaluation of sorts. Does this mean the diagnosis is not official? But then, he also told us to get enrolled in EFMP immediately. Does that mean the diagnosis is official?

Ack.

I'm so confused.

Hopefully DH can get alot of this sorted out as he goes to the Tricare office and EFMP office to fill out the mounds of paperwork that are surely awaiting him.

:D

[Misty]

The doctor could have been talking about an *educational* evaluation to rule out things like dyslexia, get an IEP put in place, things like that.

If he meant a full evaluation for Asperger's, then he did NOT fully evaluate your son. A full evaluation would consist of an IQ test, achievment test, countless questionaires filled out by you, dad, and a teacher (you). There would also be interaction between doctor and child so doc can observe child. Did any of this happen?

Did he give you a report with an official diagnosis on it? Did he say he would mail one to you? Are you supposed to go back for another appt. to get the report? The report would have the official diagnosis with the diagnosis code on it. It would look like this:

Axis 1: Asperger's Syndrome - 299.80

And it would consist of about 5 pages of observations made by the psychologist as well as test scores and a plan of action (or recommendations).

Tricare will pay for your son to be fully evaluated by a child psychologist, so you need to either contact that doctor again or look for a new doctor to do a FULL evaluation. The psychologist tested my daughters for two days before diagnosing them with Asperger's.

If he did officially diagnose your son, then you will need that report. You will have to give a copy to EFMP as well as your PCM (for referrals to therapy) and therapists when you start him in therapy.

Let me know if you have other questions!

[LivingOutLove]

The doctor could have been talking about an *educational* evaluation to rule out things like dyslexia, get an IEP put in place, things like that.

If he meant a full evaluation for Asperger's, then he did NOT fully evaluate your son. A full evaluation would consist of an IQ test, achievment test, countless questionaires filled out by you, dad, and a teacher (you). There would also be interaction between doctor and child so doc can observe child. Did any of this happen?

Okay, this is useful, Misty! Thanks!

We did fill out two questionnaires and doc had one-on-one time with ds. Doc did say it was more of a "screening", rather than an evaluation, I think.

No IQ or achievement tests.

Did he give you a report with an official diagnosis on it? Did he say he would mail one to you? Are you supposed to go back for another appt. to get the report? The report would have the official diagnosis with the diagnosis code on it. It would look like this:

Axis 1: Asperger's Syndrome - 299.80

And it would consist of about 5 pages of observations made by the psychologist as well as test scores and a plan of action (or recommendations).

Good to know. No, we did not get a report.

Tricare will pay for your son to be fully evaluated by a child psychologist, so you need to either contact that doctor again or look for a new doctor to do a FULL evaluation. The psychologist tested my daughters for two days before diagnosing them with Asperger's.

The psychologist did say we need to see the developmental pediatrician. Maybe the dev ped is the one to give the official diagnosis...funny, our regular ped contacted the dev ped, who told us to go to the child psych...now back to the dev ped!

If he did officially diagnose your son, then you will need that report. You will have to give a copy to EFMP as well as your PCM (for referrals to therapy) and therapists when you start him in therapy.

On the other hand, the child psych did say that EFMP would probably need a letter of sorts (maybe he meant report?) and that he could whip one up (not exact words, but was his attitude)...yeah, this guy is sounding kinda sketchy, the more I think about it!

But no, we never did get a report nor did we know we would get one...

Let me know if you have other questions!

Thanks, again, Misty. I will call the dev ped tomorrow to figure out our next steps. I was so confused by the psychologist...


I just don't want to do anything wrong that could jeopardize (that spelling doesn't look right; I'm tired) our homeschooling...


Will keep you posted!