Good Day

I had a really good day today. I met with Richard Louis, Director of Special Operations at College Hospital in Cerritos and we worked out a lot of the specific personnel issues with staffing and orienting the new DDMI psychiatric wing. I met the Nursing Director and discussed physical plant adjustments and nursing specifics. We agreed to a meeting date to orient the medical staff to the new wing and a date for orienting the dentist involved with the dental screenings for behaviors. I had several new callers while I was at College Hospital and a request for Educational Therapy for a former patient I had tested. I spoke with a family in San Diego that is coming up to be tested in two weeks at the Pasadena office and I finished up testing today on a GMAT accommodation assessment. I had a call from an out of state professional wanting to learn business operation details and I referred him to LDonline since I am too busy to get involved with consulting to outside professionals on how to run a LD business. I had two new patient referrals and handled some hospital referrals for the regional center. I had several emails for out of state assessments that will be in Los Angeles and want a professional assessment. I also had a referral for a client in Temecula who may be coming in to be tested at the Newport Beach office. A Law School client dropped off a package of background history with MaryEllen at the Newport Beach office instead of mailing to the Pasadena office and since they have a tight deadline, I have to drive to Newport just to pick up the package...too much information in a giant envelope! I had another request to do work with lawyers and I may or may not get involved with the Forensic side of things...but I am really much too busy to take on another side to my businesses. Currently, I have a non-profit, a LLC and two dbas under the corporate umbrella...plus the behavior software I designed for the Palm that is licensed and handled through a Florida company (DDH Software.) My mom is coming in town tomorrow from Dallas so I'm taking a vacation until next Thursday...but, I will have my Treo and Powerbook to stay in touch and keep things running from afar.

Started the Blog

I've discovered blogging. I just got back from Sacramento, having participated on the State Mental Health Task Force meeting and...along with considering creating a pod cast decided to jump into the fray of blogging. I haven't even read a blog, so I want this first posting to be a baseline of my understanding of a blog from information I've obtained through various media (televion, newspaper, internet etc.) I just understand, up to this point, it is a public on line journal.

I received several calls for learning disability testing assessments today. One caller needed testing to petition to return to Law School. I've done quite a few of those types of assessments. Another caller needed extended time documentation for the SATs. A very bright girl with a 4.35 gpa and extremely low SAT scores...probably cognitive-motor processing delays. I feel that I can speak very generically about callers, without revealing personal information and still have an interesting blog about my assessments of extended time for the LSATs, SATs, GMAT, MCATs, GREs, Law Schools and Bar Exams. I also took in a new patient from Pacificare. I didn't know they had subcontracted their out patient mental health care to MHN. I don't take insurance for testing. Insurance companies never pay enough, they don't cover enough hours to write a report and they don't want to pay for all the tests that are necessary to do a good job. I don't mind accepting insurance for cognitive-behavior therapy. Most patients are successfully meeting their goals within two or three months and than they can go on with their lives independently with new tools while I take on a new set of patients. I don't mind the short-term doctor-patient relationship because I feel really good (and sometimes amazed) at how quickly some people can change and get better. Hypnotherapy is pretty amazing too. I won't do it outside of the course of therapy because it isn't adequately supported and may lead to only short-term results. I spoke with another Law student that I'm testing about coming in to review her report, and getting some more background information. Sometimes patients take a long time to get their documentation together, but it is very important for qualifying the diagnosis under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). When petitions are denied accommodations, it is most often the result of a failure to provide adequate documentation of the impact of the disability across settings in their lives.