Diagnosis Anxiety and Autism

[Purple036, LVN]

Doctors excuse c diagnosis of anxiety and autism per NP. Is this acceptable? Should the student seek professional (psychologist) diagnosis/treatment? Diagnosis has been accepted by the school and is listed as 504. Should I request a psychological report on this student?

[OldDude]

No

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

An excuse for what? what accommodations are they looking for?

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

Nurse practitioners can diagnose and treat. Should the family seek a psych diagnosis - yes, but is that NP a psych NP? RJ Junior has a fabulous psych NP who's treating her anxiety.

Is the family asking for services? If so, yes, you need more data. Are you medicating the student? Ditto my first answer. Good luck!

[AdobeRN]

When I get a diagnosis or paperwork about issues like this I really don't worry about it nor go digging for more info unless I am dealing with the kid on a regular basis, if I am dealing with a kid on a regular basis chances are everyone is already involved and is aware of the kiddo - I will pass the info onto Admin/504 coordinator/SPED/diag or whoever and they will then reach out to me if they need an IHP or my input on anything.

[Purple036, LVN]

Assistance on test, extra time on test and time spent with interventionist due students diagnosis of autism. At this time student is not taking medication or seeing a counselor due to anxiety.

[Purple036, LVN]

The excuse was in regards to the student being absent the day before due to illness. Included on the doctors excuse was the diagnosis

[k1p1ssk, BSN, RN]

I used to work in Developmental Pedi... If your school district will accept the dx made by an NP, then so be it, but if the family is looking for outside services (like summer services, if the school won't provide), their insurance likely won't pay for it without a full psych eval/testing, which would need to include an ADOS (autism diagnositic observation schedule), CARS (childhood autism rating scale), or other relevant testing, so you may want to *suggest* this so the student doesn't lose skills during breaks...

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, Purple036 said:

The excuse was in regards to the student being absent the day before due to illness. Included on the doctors excuse was the diagnosis

1 hour ago, Purple036 said:

Assistance on test, extra time on test and time spent with interventionist due students diagnosis of autism. At this time student is not taking medication or seeing a counselor due to anxiety.

HMMM. Yeah. That's interesting. The parent is asking the school for interventionist services - I'd be very interested to see the psych notes for this. Also the fact that there's no counselor here is a red flag. Talk therapy is the first line of defense for anxiety and even when you are prescribed meds, they still want you to work with a counselor.

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

32 minutes ago, ruby_jane said:

HMMM. Yeah. That's interesting. The parent is asking the school for interventionist services - I'd be very interested to see the psych notes for this. Also the fact that there's no counselor here is a red flag. Talk therapy is the first line of defense for anxiety and even when you are prescribed meds, they still want you to work with a counselor.

This. Unless counseling referral is underway and student is awaiting placement? (Which can happen.) But family docs and NPs being the only ones to manage a student's diagnosed anxiety? Can't say I haven't seen that, but if student does truly have anxiety, they can often suffer more with this approach only.