Need Psychologist or Psychiatrist to Do Educ. and Psychological Testing on My

If you are concerned about ADD, I would suggest Dr. Myers at Park Cities Psychiatry. He is a specialist in the field, and comes highly recommended by the Shelton School. My son has seen Dr. Myers for 3 years, and he is great. I have referred two additional families to Dr. Myers and they love him as well. Their sons did not have the same issues as mine, but he has help each one.

Just considering his age and what may be going on in the classroom, I would take him to either Dr. Bob Mandell in Richardson or Dr. Linda Fellini-Smith. He may be having difficulties keeping up with his peers socially, and the nuances of language become extremely complex around age 9-10.

Good luck!

I had Dr. Nuche do psychological testing on my daughter when she was about 10. I found her to be rather shallow in her understanding of my daughter's real issues. My daughter did suffer from depression and anxiety. Later I found out she also had ADHD. Dr. Nuche's results did not find this and she gave me ideas about jelly bean jars and nonsense to get her to turn in work... classic signs of ADHD. When she was medicated these issues went away immediately. Dr. Nuche's results were not helpful nor very insightful of the depths of the issues. I later used Dr. Peter Stavinoah. He is fantastic. He is very insightful, very smart, thinks deeply and thoroughly. He gave me more real helpful information than anyone else everhas, including the PISD school system. -Nita

Gosh, I'd really think long and hard before considering medication. The ADHD test is not a great indicator and teachers today, as well as doctors are just overly eager to medicate.
Childhood is not as easy as it was when we were growing up.Kids can be horrible to one another.
A lot of kids who are very bright are bored in school and that is misdiagnosed as ADHD.
It would be terrific to find something to build his self esteem. Have you tried anything like Tae Kwon Do? That is such a great sport and did wonders for my boys self esteem. He never liked team sports but the positive attitude surrounding independent sports like martial arts is very nurturing.

It would be good to see a nutritionist as well. They often find underlying problems that doctors don't see.

Our Children's House at Baylor is an excellent resource for testing. Just remember , a kid can test for ADHD one day, and take the same test the next day, and show completely different results. Just because they have ADHD, it doesn't mean they need medication and it certainly does not mean anything is wrong with them. These are the multitasking men of the future that women will adore!

You can ask your school district to complete both assessments. A medical physician will have to determine ADD/ADHD though. Through the assessments, they can determine if further testing is necessary.
Maybe your son is bored. It happens.
J.

You might try Mark Fugit ###-###-####) psychologist
Dr. Burgos is in the Holliner group (I do NOT reccomend Holliner but his partners might be ok). I do not know Dr. Nuche. Just FYI, testing for ADD can be very lengthy and expensive. Insurance often does not cover it. You might want to consult with them first if money is an issue. My former employer charged $1200 for 8 hours of testing.

I don't know about the doctors you've listed, but I do know that not all doctors are the same, and/or good. My daughter who is now 7 has been on medication and had to see a psychitrist for the past two years. The best we found were at Children's Hospital in Dallas. There is a doctor, Corinne Fribley on staff that is very good, and really found what we needed. She also recommended several resources to us. The first of which was a Pediatric Psychological Eval. done by Dr. McCalm of Children's to determine where we needed to go, and what course to take.

We moved to Massachusetts for a year, and found an ok doctor. But, some just want to change med's even if they are working. I will not accept more medication for a child if it doesn't seem necessary to me.

My son had more trouble with the move (he's 14) and was placed on ADD medication, adderall. It does seem to help with his focus. But, again I won't let them go up on his medication because the lowest dose seems to work best. He had complaints of bullying at the new school also. But, sometimes that's a symptom of something more going on with them.

I wish you the best of luck with your search. We have found Dr. Louis Costello here, but usure if that is going to work for us.

Have you tried Scottish Rite?

My 8 year old recently went to Dr Cindy Taylor and we were very happy with her services. You can find her info at addtesting.com. Good luck to you in helping find a solution to your son's problems, I understand how discouraging it can be.

I am not sure where you live, so this may be a drive for you. But Dr. Michele Bengtson in Southlake is good for this. She is a neuropsychologist. She basically takes you son's brain apart and tries to figure out what is wrong. Then from her recommendations you can talk to your pediatrician and the other professionals she recommeds about therapies and such. But make sure your insurance is going to cover the testing because otherwise you are looking at over a thousand dollars. However, it is well worth it to find out what is going on. She does not actually treat patients - just does testing and analyzing. She is off of HWY 114 and White Chapel Road.

HTH and good luck! My son has ADHD and neurological/developmental delays so I know how hard it can be for you to watch him go through this.

I don't know of a psychologist or psychiatrist but I can relate. My 8 year old went through the same thing this year and it was very frustrating for the whole family. I won't give the whole saga to read through but I just wanted to suggest a few things like making the school give your son more challenging work.
Your son has the right to a curriculum that enables him to learn just like the kids who need help keeping up get. His boredom is an indication he isn’t learning from the set curriculum. It is in the students bill of rights that every student has the right to receive appropriate curriculum for them to learn. Your son may have some ADD or whatever but more than likely he is bored with life.
I know your request was for a dr. recommendation but I want to plead with you please don't go to psychiatrist. Don't let someone mess with your child’s head. I went to one for years as a teen; and medication will not fix the issues of boredom or learning to cope with society, it will only make you complacent and like being complacent. The testing is so subjective. You can honestly answer most questions any way based on your mood.
Find what excites him and support him in it. Changing his surroundings may be all he needs. We have all dealt with mean people and they just suck. Teach your son to deal with it however he can or remove him from the situation.
See how he reacts to some new stimuli over summer break. Start having him look over camp info now to help find something interesting to do. There has to be something you can do like the tie kwon do or creating video games to get him in a better frame of mind.
I know that some kids absolutely need meds. I simply employ you to exhaust everything else before going to such and extreme as doping him up. He has to learn coping skills or he will need to be on meds all his life and that won’t even help eventually. You always hear about someone on meds having a bad side effect or committing suicide or doing messed up things or getting into drugs but not so much the smart kids who are into some extracurricular activity. Once you start taking him to a mental doc. (as kids see it) they have a notion that they are forever not right. That may further depress him or make him act out now having the excuse of whatever he is diagnosed with. I don’t know of anyone that has ever gone to a psychiatrist and them not finding something wrong with them.
The family sessions one mom mentioned may help and it won’t be assumed there is something wrong with your son but that the family needs help communicating. The nutritionist may help, or any number of routine changes.
Oh, my son is great now that we changed schooling and added a new extracurricular activity as the other ones were boring also.
O.K. I know you get what I’m saying so I will part with read GENIUS DENIED. You may find a whole new prospective on your son’s situation.
www.geniusdenied.com

I have had my child tested through Dr. Susan Gifford's office in the H.E.B. area. Google her name and you can find phone number, address etc. She works with my 7 year old son and I'm very pleased with her. It might take a while to get an appointment as she is very busy with her current clients. E-mail me for more if needed. Good Luck, B.

We had very similar issues with our son last Spring when he was in first grade and our first stop was to Dr. Dante Burgos! He spent an hour or more with us and our son, we filled out some surveys, and he very quickly came to the conclusion of ADHD. But we went in there thinking the same thing, so we didn't question it. He was very up front and open that when you go see a Psychiatrist, their first line of defense is medication. We were not opposed to trying it, and it has turned out to make a world of difference in our son. HOWEVER, we had to seek additional counseling with a Psychologist to help us as a family to understand our son, and create new methods for getting along with him at home. The Psychologist we used is wonderful! I highly recommend him: Dr Matthew Housson on W. Lovers Lane near the Park Cities. His web site is www.drmhousson.com.

He helped us immensely and looking back, I would actually recommend you see a Psychologist first, because they will sort through all the issues and try to help you figure out the source (which can be complex) before just throwing your son on medicine.

We are currently returning to Dr. Housson for psycho-educational testing which we probably should have done in the first place. He is an excellent help with placing kids at the proper schools where their needs will be best met.

We also still see Dr. Burgos, but it is merely a relationship based on how effective the medication is and managing the side effects. He does not do behavioral therapy, which you most likely will need! Another bonus is he files insurance..which is probably what keeps us loyal.

Contact the Child Study Center of Fort Worth

That's a tough one. I would recommend providing him ways that he can focus and develop his talents. What is he good at? What does he have fun doing? Try to take the emphasis off pinpointing his problems or difficult areas. Help him grow into who he was created to be and give him ample support and encouragement. School is a scary place and I was miserable, shy and scared until I found something I could be passionate about and excel in (a Graphic Design program in high school).

Keep your family unit strong and set aside a day or evening where he or a sibling gets to each choose an activity to explore or do something fun (choose it in advance and plan during the week, that will make them look forward to it).

Here's something you might not have thought about: does he eat a lot of sugar/refined flour? The average intake of sugar in America, ESPECIALLY high fructose corn syrup can create mood swings or depressed feelings, and even suppress the immune system and aggravate digestive problems. Avoid processed foods, have lots of healthy snacks (carrot sticks, fresh fruit, raisins, peanut butter, etc.) And make sure you encourage drinks that don't have high-fructose corn syrup. I highly recommend the book Super Baby Food for kid-friendly healthy meals. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0965260313/booksto...

Hope that helps!

D.

Does your son have a pediatrician? If so, have you talked with his doctor? Many pediatricians do evaluations for ADD/anxiety/depression and will prescribe medications if they feel it is needed. The doc should talk to you about how your son is doing in all areas of his life (home, school, peers) and might consider doing some basic health check-ups. Also, have you considered talking with the staff at his school? A school counselor might be a great support for him and your family. He is a lucky kid to have a mom who is supportive of him and looking to get him the support he needs. Best of luck to your family!

Check out The Child Study Center in Ft. Worth. My son (now 12) has had a hard time with school since kindergarten. They were able to help me when my son's school and pediatrician couldn't. Here is the website: www.cscfw.org.

I would suggest Psychologist - Dr. Derrick Blanton. He specializes in educational & psychological testing as well as treatment of these and other psychological & behavioral issues. He can do testing to determine if your child has ADHD, learning disabilities or other psychological problems. I worked with him a couple years ago and he is incredible! I know he now has two offices - one in Addison and one in Dallas. Phone: ###-###-#### Website:www.drblanton.net Good luck!
J. V

D.:
I work for the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. We have an excellent neuropsychologist, who tests children for LD, ADHD, ADD, etc. Her name is Dr. Cheryl Silver. If you are interested our number is ###-###-####. You will need to check with your insurance company to see if she, or the doctors you have mentioned are covered. Also, You also have the name of Dr. Sara Nuche. I will tell you that Dr. Nuche (if she is the one I am thinking of, because that is not a particulary common name), did her internship with Dr. Silver, so I am quite sure she would also be excellent.

A little about me:
I live in Arlington, but ride the TRE train to work. I'm a step-mom to three guys, two are in the 20's, the youngest graduates from Lamar High School this year. I am also grandmother to two adorable babies, a 2 1/2 year old and a 1 year old.

Working for a non-profit private school for kids with learning differences and ADD (Great Lakes Academy in Plano), I have a big selection of names for you. However, I prefer Lee Ann Hamm, M.S. and Dr. Derrick Blanton for testing. Both of them are extremely thorough. Should you like to take a tour of our school, please do not hesitate to contact me. You may visit our website at www.greatlakesacademy.us. Good luck.