IQ testing by school | Autism PDD

My daughter, 6, has statistically significant language delays and is now being tested and observed by her school for PDD-NOS.

Her previous school district obtained an IQ of 86 for her, one year ago, using Wechsler. I expected it to be higher based on her behavior at home, but since she qualified for speech therapy, I let it stand. They would not qualify her for fine-motor OT, but she since caught up on her own.

This district recently tested her using Kaufman, and her composite was 89. I did not (yet) get a separate report of performance and verbal. When I requested a non-verbal IQ test, I was told they did not know about that.

LAst night I was looking at their own, district-printed, menu of tests, and noticed, gee, the second cognitive test listed is the UNIT. I am not sure if it will help, however ... if she is not watching the gestured questions ... ?

What IQ testing is most appropriate and gives the highest scoring (now is that too broad a generalization or what?

Should I push for more IQ testing? The kid reenacts movie scenes, yes, but she adds content of her own including interior feelings and thoughts. She also compares characters (ie villains) from different movies. There's stuff going on in there that I did not do till I was 14, I swear it!

Thanks for any and all input!

foxl39157.3311458333LEITERLEITER ... hmmm not on their menu ... will look into it!

[QUOTE=tzoya]LEITER[/QUOTE]

How is the UNIT? THe district apparently DOES have that .... should I accept it?

We pretty much agreed we need an advocate ASAP, here, BTW. Now to find one ...

The Leiter is an expensive test and many school districts don't own it. A TONI can work, too, but the point is that a non-verbal IQ test needs to be used so that the testing is not invalidated because it plays directly into the child's main disability -- language. My son has hearing loss, and the Leiter was originally designed for the deaf. He's had BOTH of the tests mentioned here. Got the same score on each, 5 years apart.

At the moment, our school district is trying to get me to allow them to test our son with the Weschler. This is punishment for me because I have called them on some enormous mistakes, of late. One of which could cost them over a year in State Aid. I know that Impartial Hearing Officers look askance at parents who refuse consent to testing. However, there is also in the law the provision that any test is supposed to not test into a child's disability. I'm not sure if I want to risk looking uncooperative, so I may allow it. However, I will IMMEDIATELY ask for an IEE and THEN I'll get the Leiter and will get to CHOOSE the outside evaluator. My son's most recent IQ test is less than 2 years old, so this is simple harassment. But I can sure run up a bill for them if they insist on going this route. We'll see...

BTW, the Leiter is LENGTHY. 3 hours, as I remember.

OH that is very interesting, the psych the boys are seeing just used the Kaufman I believe, and it was a bunch of questions for me to answer. It said Kaufman on it, I don't know if it was an IQ test or was judging where they were. It was a lot of language questions. I would like to ask about either one of those other tests.Yeah I wondered about that. I think the same for my boys. And right now they really need those services, so I don't know about pushing for a different IQ test. The biggest problem with my boys is they do all this incredible stuff with me and then an evaluator or teacher comes in and they just sit there. So I am sure they are going to test lower than what they actually are.

Actually, a medical diagnosis of autism or anything else does not guarantee school intervention/services. It guarantees that a child legally has a disability, so they can't refuse a 504, but even there the accommodations and modifications have to be based on NEED. Schools would be foolish to give a 504 if a child could qualify for an IEP because IEPs are partially reimbursed to the school through the state and feds, but 504's are not. There are two criteria that have to be met for a child qualifying for an IEP -- the child has to fit into one of the educational classifications of a disability (in this case, Autism) and his disability has to have a negative effect on his education. You'd think that would be easy to show, but SOME school districts look ONLY at academics when they think "education." In fact, IDEA 2004 defines "education" as academics, development and behavior. The development part includes social skills. Each state has the option to define "education" even more strictly, but not less strictly. It would be beneficial for everyone here to look up their own state's definition of "education." Here is NY's:

Part 200 definition of “education”

(3) For purposes of this definition:

(i) The individual needs of a student shall be determined by a committee on special education in accordance with the provisions of section 200.4 of this Part upon consideration of the present levels of performance and expected learning outcomes of the student. Such individual-need determinations shall provide the basis for written annual goals, direction for the provision of appropriate educational programs and services and development of an individualized education program for the student. The areas to be considered shall include:

(a) academic achievement, functional performance and learning characteristics which shall mean the levels of knowledge and development in subject and skill areas, including activities of daily living, level of intellectual functioning, adaptive behavior, expected rate of progress in acquiring skills and information, and learning style;

(b) social development which shall mean the degree and quality of the student's relationships with peers and adults, feelings about self, and social adjustment to school and community environments;

(c) physical development which shall mean the degree or quality of the student's motor and sensory development, health, vitality, and physical skills or limitations which pertain to the learning process; and

(d) management needs which shall mean the nature of and degree to which environmental modifications and human or material resources are required to enable the student to benefit from instruction. Management needs shall be determined in accordance with the factors identified in each of the three areas described in clauses (a)-(c) of this subparagraph

An IQ score is required for an evaluation to be complete, but the IQ score is vital in only two classifications: Learning Disabled and Mentally Retarded. None of the other classifications is defined by IQ in any way. And even Learning Disabilities is no longer defined solely by a discrepency between IQ and achievement. Since the reauthorization of IDEA this past year, there is now something called Response to Intervention that can be used to determine if a Learning Disabilty exists. This is new, but it's the alternative way to discover a learning disabilty and qualify for IEP services. For Autism, there is nothing in the definition about IQ and the law does not require medical dx (although it's always wise to have that). Here is the IDEA 2004 definition of autism. As long as a child fits into this definition, he qualifies and as long as any of his areas of development are effected, there is an "educational effect."

IDEA 2004:

(1)(i) Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance, as defined in paragraph (b)(4) of this section.

If your child has been diagnosed with autism, then the school district cannot refuse services, regardless of his or her IQ score. That's why it is so important to get all of your ammo together. I went full guns - I had two separate private evaluations done: The first time was to get an autism dx. The district evaluated him and said he was not autistic when he started kindergarten, but listed him as language delayed, so he received speech services. By second grade it was clear there was more going on, but the district stuck to their LAS services only. I hired a private evaluator, that my insurance paid for, who gave him his proper dx. I called an IEP meeting with the dx, and the district agreed to re-evaluate him, and concurred that he was indeed autistic, and from that point on he was listed as AUT. The next year they talked me into changing his services to SLD, which was hilarious, because all the while they were denying that he had any learning disabilities. Meanwhile, my poor son was unravelling at school, and I had finally had enough of the game playing and red tape. I hired an attorney, and filed for Due Process under the pretense that my child was not receiving a FAPE. This was when I had a full blown private educational assessment done on him that included the Leiter, Vineland, SCAN-C for auditory processing, and the Woodcock-Johnson for academic capabilities (all this testing was spread out over several weeks). Of course in the middle of this, the school suggested that we change his classification back to AUT, to cover their own asses. Armed with all of this, I was able to get a fair settlement in mediation (which reimbursed me for the cost of the private assessments, as well as two years worth of private speech therapy), and moved him to a school that had an appropriate program, and was actually willing to build a personalized program for him based on the results of the private assessments. And they pushed the district to transition him to the most appropriate middle school, which is also doing a wonderful job educating him based on his needs, that were established in that assessment

IBGECKO, thanks for posting ACTUAL RESULTS!!! I would not be surprised if T tested up there, too ... but would be happy with even a 112 ...

My, but that was motivating to read!

The reason they were IQ testing at all for the school was because they base eligibility for services off it. If she is working up to IQ, then she "does not need" services ...

[QUOTE=panickedmomof2]At what age do they start testing to see wherer their IQ's are for school? Sorry for butting in on your post foxl.[/QUOTE]

I don't know if there is a standard age for testing. Connor was given the Wechsler in 2nd grade (he was 7 years old), and scored a 92, then was given both the Wechsler and Leiter by a private evaluator. The Wechsler was again 92, but his Leiter score was 136! Wow, what a difference! He immediately went from barely average intelligence to gifted. His Vineland score was a 96, so he is only in the average range of applying his above average intelligence. We then had a full educational evaluation done to identify specific learning disabilities, and he was identified as having 5 specific learning disabilities in the areas of language processing and broad knowledge. All this info really armed us for taking on the district in finding the proper placement for him.

Tzoya,

You mentioned an outside evaluator in your last post. How do I go about finding one? My son was tested using the Weschler and I would be interested in seeing how he does on the Leiter. My son C is verbal, but language is his most significant issue. BTW, I live in Illinois (near Chicago).

Hmmmm. So, if I invoke IDEA 2004 definition, I could conceivably spare T the additional testing (for now)?

But could they reduce services, by category or by frequency, by insisting her IQ is lower than her achievement?

Tzoya, you are a font of information!

-- can you elaborate a little, on Response to Intervention?

I would STRONGLY recommend against not signing your OK for an IQ test. It's not about the services you'd get for him, it's about how an Impartial Hearing OFficer might view your interaction with the school should you EVER have a dispute. Speak with the school and ask what IQ test they want to use and why. The Leiter or some other non-verbal IQ test will yield the most accurate results, which is what IDEA asks for. But there IS important information that a standard IQ test will yield that might be helpful. For example, if there is a very large discrepency between the verbal and performance scores, this can support the classification of autism. If there are huge discrepencies among the subtests, this, too, supports the classification of autism. If your child is not significantly speech impaired, it might be worth consenting to the more standard IQ tests. If you do, ask if the publisher of that test says anything about how wide a discrepency there can be between the two parts of the test and among the subtest before the results are considered invalid.

Parents really have to have a DARNED GOOD REASON to withhold consent or someone sitting in judgment at some future date might hold lack of consent for testing against the parents. Say yes right now. If the scores you get on any test don't sit right with you, ask for an Indepedent Educational Evaluation and make them pay for your second opinion.