Chicago Area Evaluation Services?

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Hi everyone.

I'm getting my 4 year old daughter evaluated for SPD and possible AS. I'm getting a referral from my Dr on the 15th and then i'll start the process of getting an appointment with the Childrens Hospital in the city (Chicago) and i've also been told Illinois Masonic Hospital (also in down town) has a good program. Anyone here done this and have recommendations of other hospitals with good evaluation programs? Or preference between Childrens and Masonic evaluation programs?

We are homeschooling so won't be able to get the same services through the school that a lot of kids get (or may be able to but i'm not sure how that all goes) and we have Publicaid so they would need to take that for insurance.

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

I have been through the evaluation process at IL Masonic and felt like a number. I was truly displeased with our evaluation experience but they have some outstanding therapists there that have done some great work for my son. I don't know anything about Children's but we did go to University of Chicago's Children's hospital a few years ago(I just can't remember the name right now--it is on the tip of my tongue) Our experience there was also not the greatest. I heard the Erickson Institute downtown is now doing evaluations and they are very thorough but make sure that they do them for 4 year olds. I also heard that Dr Cutler at Rush, I think Rush, is pretty good.

Why are you getting her evaluated by a hospital? Another route we took is that we had our son see a psychologist that specialized in ASD and after many sessions and work with him, she determined a dx. I truly believe that these evaluations we have gone through where specialists see our son for an hour and make an assessment aren't as accurate as someone who has gotten to know our son over time. If you can do this and get someone good who takes public aid, I recommend it.

I think you can request a service plan from your local school if you home school. Where do you live? Feel free to email me privately and I can possibly help you with some of this stuff and be more precise about names. We have been at it for 5+ years and there are some good resources but they aren't always easy to find if you are not hooked up with the schools. I think I may be able to help you with some of this.