We did both as well. They first gave me the GARS which is not a very appropriate test for kids who are high-functioning. Both the teacher and I scored him very low and I requested that the GADS be done as we were having him evaluated for Asperger's. The school psych was young and inexperienced and really didn't know what she was doing and wasn't terribly appreciative of my requesting specific tests being done. Thankfully, the director of special ed agreed with me - it helped that I have an MSW (masters' of social work) - so I had some credibility behind me.
The whole 6-hour thing is frustrating. I chose to not look at it like that at all - like you said, that is virtually impossible to do. I just figured that if I had never seen the behavior it was a 0. If I had seen the behavior but it wasn't every day, that was a 1. If I saw the behavior usually every day but not more than twice a day usually - that was a 2. For very frequent behaviors - that was a 3. There were definitely gray areas even doing it this way. Do the best you can. On the GADS, both the teacher and I scored him similar and he came out in the moderate AS range. That being said, he doesn't have Asperger's according to his developmental pediatrician - he has mild PDD-NOS!
When we did his re-eval last year, they wanted to do the GARS on him. I told them that was a waste of time and I wanted to do the GADS if they insisted on that kind of test. They argued that he didn't have Asperger's so it wasn't an appropriate test. Well, I kept copies of ALL the tests we ever filled out and the teacher had kept copies of hers for me as well (he was in a private preschool at the time and she was the one who suggested an evaluation for him). I pulled them out and showed them the huge discrepancies. The school psych (a different one this time) finally snottily said to me - Well it seems that you are dead-set on the GADS so I guess we can do that one. Well, she was not a nice person, but I didn't have to like her and I got the appropriate test for my son - even if she wasn't nice about it!
Keep copies of EVERYTHING you fill out and see if the teachers will give you copies as well. Hopefully they are doing more than just those two tests. You should have an observation in both the school and home settings. I would also highly recommend a Vineland scale being done. A school psych basically verbally interviews you and the teacher as to your child's level of adaptability and functioning in the home, in public and at school. I am fully convinced that is how we got my ds qualified last year. He had been qualified on an override the previous year and I was terrified they were going to try to deny him services last year. Thankfully that didn't happen!
Joyful, a lot of our kids act completely different at home than they do in public. My son's pre-school teacher recently came for a home visit and was absolutely shocked at the difference between how he acted at home and how he was at school. That is why a home observation is so important in ANY evaluation. You have the right to request that - and anything else you want. If you request it in writing, they have to give you an answer IN WRITING that explains why they won't give a certain test or do a certain observation. They generally don't want to put things like that into writing as that may legally come back to bite them later on.
You do NOT have to agree with the results of the evaluation and if you do not, then DON'T sign the report! Even if they tell you that all it is is saying that you read it (which they told me). My reply is that there was no way that I accurately read the whole 12-page report in the hour we had sat and talked. I wanted time to go over it and would not sign until I did. They cannot make you sign it there! But you need to reply to them very soon after - in Minnesota it is 10 days if you want to disagree.
If you disagree with the results, request IN WRITING an Independent Educational Evaluation because you disagree with the results. I did this originally (because they originally didn't qualify ds) and the district requested a meeting beforehand. That is when I requested the GADS be done and another observation as well as a few other tests. I also took an advocate to that meeting, although she didn't talk as I was on a roll and was able to counter everything they said (I didn't sleep the night before as I was preparing so hard!). I think it helps just to even have someone else there (a professional there for you) just to hear what is being said. We never did an independent eval because they decided to qualify my ds on an "override" basis. Basically, the squeaky wheel got the grease! Then I had to fight for services the next year - but that's a whole other story. Let's just say that the school district is not upset in the least that we are moving out of it in a few months!
Getting back to the original questions... I think separating out the bipolar would be hard - but I guess I wouldn't try to do that. Just answer things according to how you think he does in general - not necessarily autism-related, just in general. The school does need to show documentation to the state and federal government that they administered tests. Here in Minnesota, they don't have to take a medical diagnosis into consideration AT ALL! This was originally put into place due to medical diagnoses sometimes being costly to obtain and the long waits for evaluations. Now, it is sometimes being used AGAINST the parents because the child doesn't have the same behaviors at school that s/he might have anywhere else Ilike particularly at home). Most schools do take medical diagnoses into consideration anyway and they do provide great ammunition if you have to take your case further. Once they heard that my ds got a medical diagnosis, their tune changed a lot - this was helped by the scathing letter our dev ped wrote to them about ds not receiving OT either! The next day, they called and offered not only OT, but that DS could attend ECSE 2 afternoons a week as well!
This is a hard process - take a deep breath, fill out all the paperwork as accurately as you can, keep copies of EVERYTHING and don't be afraid to ask lots of questions of the school (and here of course!).
I better end this novel as my ds just woke up. Good luck!
GADS and GARS are not the best tests in the world, but they are used to provide documentation that meets your state criteria for autism spectrum disorders. Err on the side of too much or too frequent for the behaviors if you want to document the need.
The school district needs documentation to prove an educational need because they are accountable to the federal government for funding for the services.
Personally, I would never assume that a doctor knows best- too many doctors have made too many big mistakes, and the ones I have met know very little about teaching and learning.
I've done those and when we had the IEP meeting to go over the results, the teacher's answers were way off from mine and yet it was written as follows, use extreme caution when comparing mom's to teachers .They had written that mine was exaggrated and scored on the mod/to extreme scores. Most of the questions to me pertained to home environment and how he functioned at home and I TOLD THE TRUTH.......It was frustrating as the teachers were not really certified in autism anyway.Let's just say, he's not there anymore! We don't need tests, just someone to observe us in our daily life at home.We just added autism to my son's list of dx's and now I have too do the questioners for school services, they sent me GARS and Gads, has anyone ever done these and if you have what do you think about them. I'm a little frustrated with them do to the fact that they want to know the number of times he does a certain behavoir in a 6 hour period. Even if I had 6 hours to observe my child, his behavoirs change all the time, he is also bi-polar so you have to seperate that as well. Then in the end they want explanations about when the behavoir started? Which one? Also a bunch of other questions. WHy do you have to have the school agree with the doctor? Don't they think the doctors would know best? What if the school dosen't agree, does he not have the right to services? These tests they sent home don't seem to be very good.
Brandy,
mom of Dorell 9, bi-polar mixed type, autism, Ptsd