I know for sure two of the forms were for his age group. they said preschooler on the front and still so much of it just seemed funny to ask about a preschooler. lol. One question was do any of your childs friends drink or do drugs
Collin got his Medical diagnosis 10 months ago. But in our state the school system will not just accept the medical diagnosis.
I didnt even think about requesting the evaluation until about 6 months ago. Then I realized that even though he is getting good services now if he doesnt have a label of autism educationally in kindergarten he will not get the services he needs.
So I wrote a request in writing asking for an autism evaluation. Legally they have 60 school days form the day you request to do the evaluation and have the meeting for the results. They have to observe him in three places, in our case, his two schools, and at home. So I didnt hear anything for a while and I kept hounding them and nothing happened. Finally I noticed they had passed the 60 days and went to his case worker. She freaked she didnt realize, and she knew if I reported them they would be in big trouble. So they jumped on the ball. Seems his case was "lost" in the shuffle. I decided that for now I would not report them because I need them on my side, I dont want to make them my enemy just yet.
Unfortunately because they were so worried about going over they rushed the evaluation. They did all three observations and the meeting in a 4 day period of time. I felt it was not done correctly before even going to the meeting. So they gave me the observations they saw and it seemed obvious to me that he would qualify. They said though that because the "standard deviation" was not large enough he might not. Ummm he is already in special education even w/o the autism label so doesnt that mean he is far enough behind lol
So we all agreed to extend the evaluation because they feel they did not get a good feel on Collin, because in their words "he is so complicated" ugh. So now he is being observed by the school psychologist who will team up with the autism specialist and help make a decision. Because of the holidays it took a while to get this started. So she is going to observe him next week in his class and come home with him one of the days to observe him here. I had to fill out all these forms on his behavior, so much of it did not apply, it seemed like they were talking about a teenager.
Then the meeting to discuss the results and come to a decision is on the 26th of this month. Im so nervous that he isnt going to qualify. His teacher claims that she doesnt see these things in his class setting. His extremly structured and perfectly planned class setting. Although the asd specialist did see it. If he doesnt get it he might not get what he needs in the future. ugh im a nervous wreck and feel like i should be doing something, but I have nothing left to do.
Here is what the asd specialist did observe: ( i think i have posted this before though, but i cant remember lol)
Disturbances in development of language and/or the use of Communication:
At times he does not respond to his name
language development delays both expressively and receptively
is starting to us "no" but usually will whine or cry to protest
he is not yet able to follow 2-3 step simple familiar commands or directions
will engage frequently in "self talk" not directed at anyone
he does not use words spontaneously during times of upset or escalation
he is not able to follow novel simple directions without assistance (cuing or prompting)
at home he often just gets things for himself vs using his words to obtain items of interest
not yet usint "i" but he will refer to himself by his name. For example he will say "me turn"
is not using language to ask for help but will put the object at an appropriate distance in front of adults face to indicate he needs help
collin is using some gestures such as pointing
he does reference towards his conversation partner expressivelly. however, it takes a concerted effort to initially engage him. he often faces his activity instead of his conversational partner
he does a nice job of attaining eye contact when he is initiating on a topic of his interest or want. however, eye contact is minimal when obtaining information receptively. at times was observed to use peripheral vision to process receptively.
Impairments in Social Interaction
he is not consistently attentive to environment and social stimuli
he does show emerging imitations of adults during instructive events, such as circle. however he was observed to be delayed his nonverbal and verbal responses
he is not yet showing much interest in playing with other children, but occasionally will offer an item he is finished using, such as a scissors
does use parallel play, but has a difficult time sharing items of interest or use.
struggles to take turns, but will comply while at school.
during unstructured times collin will occupy himself for long periods of time at home. actively avoiding interactive play with peers. he will tolerate his sister, but even with her his play is short.
he had no visible reaction to me when i visited the home and appeared to not have a stranger awareness
difficulty identifying or expressing his own emotions at an age commensurate level
diffulty understanding or relating to others emotions and perspectives
while at school collin was observed to look past the asd specialist, while she called his name and got directly into his line of vision.
Patterns of behavior, interests and/or activities that are restricted, repetitive or sereotypic
frustrates easily and frequently
difficulty with transitions"
undesired changes requires ample pre warning and visual picture of first/clean, next/circle
is pretty easily lost especially in crowded or demanding situations
due to significant agitation collins parents refrain from taking him to typical community outings such as the grocery store
can remain in the same activity for extended period of time. collins parents provided the asd specialits with video tape documenting on going repetitive play patters, such as lining up blocks, stacking blocks, lining up french fries, and colored chalk. this was also observed while asd specialist was in the home setting.
will become agitated when his repetitive play is interrupted
need clear cut consice directions for rules expectations, how or when to begin or end task
occasionally one he has learned or experienced something a certain way he insist on it being that way every subsequent time. collin will protest and tantrum if any radion, tv, or any type of music is play in his home or in the car.
collin demonstrates much higher skills when engaged in familiar and structured activities
at times it is difficult to redirect collins attention to directed tasks or activities
hhis parents report that he will retreat into his room sit on his bed and play in there for hours
he is reported by parents to have a low threshold of pain
he was observed covering his eyes with his hands
he is not showing an interest in toilet training.
he lacks creativity in his play. play has been directly taught to collin, yet even when he is able to place two small figures facing each other, he makes odd noises and doesnt elicit the vocubulary he does have
Unusual responses to sensory information
collin appeared to do pretty well while in school. however at home he will become much more easily irritable when there is too much noise going on around
often at home he will make self induced noises and repetitive vocal patterns particulary in more sensory stimulating settins such a the grocery store. however this is rarely observed in the busy preschool settings
when collin started attenting his new preschool for a short while upon his arrival he would run in circles around the classroom
only tolerates touch by others on his own terms and for short periods of time
he likes to feel and touch objects
fine motor concerns, handwriting is big, with no spacing, unsure where to start on the paper
walks with a slightly odd gait semi gangly or awkwardly
he has a very high tolerance for pain
he has limited food preferences he has a limited diet he prefers dry uncomplicated tastes
he often seeks out movement type activities
Anyways. I feel like they saw plenty to qualify him. Why are they making it so difficult? They havent said no yet but this has been going on since September. I dont mind the wait if we get the right result but I just have a feeling that were doing all this for nothing.
I feel like I should be doing more. What do you think??
First of all, it's a good sign that the IEP team decided to extend the evaluation and they didn't try to make a decesion based on the 4 days of information they had gathered.
I just wanted to comment on the behavior scales you filled out. Some of those are to evaluate the entire age spectrum from K all the way thru adulthood. So if there were things you felt just did not apply becasue it's not age appropriate yet, it's ok to mark he doesn't do it. When they score it and use his age, that will be taken into consideration. This does confuse paretns sometimes if it isn't explained to them that there is going to come a point in every section you are marking where it goes out of the child's age range. If I send this home to be filled out, I usually try to write a short description of how to fill it out. I can always tell when a parent doesn't read what I send or the directions because they have marked their 3rd grader can go to the store alone, knows how to get around in the community, keeps a checkbook, fixes small appliances, keeps up with social news events, etc. Clearly those things are talking about a highschooler or older and it's ok to mark that the child doesn't yet do those things. So don't feel like it was a waste of time. The younger the child, the less items there are going to be on something like that that pretain to them. However, there are some rating scales that are broken up by age groups and you would only get a form to mark pretaining to his age and what he should be doing.
Here is what I would do, take the following criteria for eligibility, and plug in all of your information. This is the Oregon eligibility criteria- (I made a guess from your name?)
Use everything from the ASD observations and other information that you have. When the team writes the assessment they are required by law to use this criteria to determine if he is eligible for services. If you have all the documentation plugged into the criteria already, it will be hard for them to argue.
By the way, I don't know of any ASD assessments that require a child to qualify by a "standard deviation". That terminology is most frequently used on speech and academic skills types of tests and the child usually must have a score that is 2 standard deviations below the mean to be considered significant. I don't see how the term applies to ASD at all.
Here is the criteria:
Eligibility - If a child is suspected of having autism, the following evaluation shall be conducted:
(A) A developmental profile which describes the child's historical and current characteristics that are associated with autism as described in subsection (1)(b) of this rule;
(B) At least three 20-minute observations of the child's behavior in multiple environments on at least two different days by an educator knowledgeable about autism;
(C) An assessment of communication which includes measures of language semantics and pragmatics completed by a speech and language pathologist, licensed by a State Board of Examiners in Speech Pathology and Audiology, or the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission;
(D) A medical statement or a health assessment statement indicating whether there are any physical factors that may be affecting the child's educational performance;
(E) Assessments to determine the impact of the suspected disability:
(i) On the child's educational performance when the child is at the age of eligibility for kindergarten through age 21, or
(ii) On the child's developmental progress when the child is age three through the age of eligibility for kindergarten; and
(F) Additional evaluations or assessments that are necessary to identify the child's educational needs.
For a child suspected of having autism, the child shall meet all of the following minimum criteria:
(A) The child has impaired verbal and/or nonverbal language or social communication skills;
(B) The child has an impaired ability to relate to people or the environment;
(C) The child exhibits or previously exhibited unusual responses to sensory information; and
(D) The child exhibits or previously exhibited inconsistencies or discrepancies in the development of physical, language, social or cognitive skills.
For a child to be eligible for special education services as a child with autism, the child's multidisciplinary team shall determine that:
(A) The child's disability has an adverse impact:
(i) On the child's educational performance when the child is at the age of eligibility for kindergarten through age 21; or
(ii) On the child's developmental progress when the child is age three through the age of eligibility for kindergarten; and
(B) The child needs special education services as a result of the disability.
A child may not be eligible for special education services on the basis of having autism if the child's primary disability is an serious emotional disturbance as set forth in section (4) of this rule. However, a child who has autism as a primary disability may also have an serious emotional disturbance as a secondary disability.
I don't know if you are aware of this so I will put the info out for you: there is - Oregon Special ED Helpline 1-888-891-6784. They can answer all your questions regarding Or law and fed law, they also have advocates to go with you to IEP meetings, and its FREE. Hope this can help you.
Thanks, Karolysgirl. Wow, Oregon is VERY specific. Much moreso than other states I've seen. Bravo, Oregon.Karolysgirl -- Where did you get that quote? I'd be interested in reading the original document. Thanks.
Hi Tzoya,
It is from the Oregon department of education:
http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=299
Ormomof2: The criteria in the above post is the eligibility criteria for the school to meet. "Educational" need does include functional and social skills, but often teams don't acknowledge this. So, I will stick with my original suggestion. Take all of the DATA that you have (information from checklists and observations being done for this current assessment, as well as from past assessments: this is called "existing data" ) and list the specific examples that fit into this criteria.
For a child suspected of having autism, the child shall meet all of the following minimum criteria:
(A) The child has impaired verbal and/or nonverbal language or social communication skills;
(B) The child has an impaired ability to relate to people or the environment;
(C) The child exhibits or previously exhibited unusual responses to sensory information; and
(D) The child exhibits or previously exhibited inconsistencies or discrepancies in the development of physical, language, social or cognitive skills.
For a child to be eligible for special education services as a child with autism, the child's multidisciplinary team shall determine that:
(A) The child's disability has an adverse impact:
(i) On the child's educational performance when the child is at the age of eligibility for kindergarten through age 21; or
Down here at the bottom under adverse impact, take the information you have and write examples of how impaired social understanding and functional skills will interfere with learning. For example, if obsessive interests are present, write a note about how when he is focused on these he is unable to focus on the teacher's topic at the moment, etc.
Then bring this with you to the eligibility meeting. I guarantee the team will not expect that you even know the eligibility criteria, much less have examples from the current assessment to support it. I have never yet had a parent do this, but I cannot imagine how they could argue with you if your information is taken directly from their assessment and fits the state criteria.
Thank you so much everyone :). I am from Oregon by the way, gee how did you ever figure it out
Oh and I actually have already contacted the ORPTI, who had someone attend Collins IFSP meeting a couple months ago. Im not so sure I need someone to come with us again this time though, since we handled it all on our own last time.
Thank you so much. :) In the last meeting I actually brought the whole 80 pages from their website stating how the asd evaluation is to be done. I do think its a wonderfull idea to take what they saw and plug it into it. I will definately have to do that. I am curious to see what the school psychologist is going to say after her evaluation this week.