Speech/Language Evaluation results | Autism PDD

I'm late on getting this info...but I don't want to push back the appt either...but would like to get some input from those here that understand the results and what my son may need or not need.

Here is the report:

[quote]

Language: The oral portion of the Oral and Written Language Scales was administered on 6/5/07 in order to formally assess receptive and expressive language. Results were as follows:

...........................................Standard Score.............Percentile
Listening Comprehension...............102...........................55
Oral Expression.............................110.................. .........75
Oral Composite.............................106................... ........66

Student achieved receptive and expressive language standard scores that fell above average based on chronological age expectations. He exhibited the most difficulty making inferences in test activities. A standard score of 100 was considered to be the standard deviation of plus/minus 15. Therefore, scores ranging from 85-115 fell within normal limits.

[/quote]

They also did the pragmatic...which I knew would be okay...and he did fine...except making eye contact...he had difficulty maintaining eye contact throughout the evaluation. He did not report any feelings of anxiety when communicating with peers or adults.

On Vocabulary...he achieved a standard score of 97 and a percentile rank of 42. A standard score of 97 fell solidly within the average range based on chronological age expectations.

They did the ROWPVT to assess receptive vocabulary...he achieved a standard score of 104 and percentil rank of 61....which was slightly above chronological age expectations.

Soooooo...according to these results he's doing fine....I guess my question is.....when I ask for the district to pay for the pyschol/educational testing again by someone outside the school...should I also ask for some of these tests to be administered again as well?

One of the test that I didn't mention..that they did was the Pragmatic Language skills ....is was done by the teachers at the new school...[quote]and the teachers were unable to complete all items on the pragmatic assessment as he was new to their facility.[/quote] The one thing that all of his teachers noted...was the immaturity in his interactions with peers.

Okay....so wake up if you've gotten this far...and tell me what you think?

My meeting is tomorrow...so if something jumps out at anyone...let me know so I don't go in there tomorrow and find out something that I should have know.

The appt. tomorrow is to meet with the elgibility committee. Right now he has a sp ed and it's "specific learning disability"....but hopefully with the school's pysch/educational eval....we'll be able to change it to autism/asperger's. Right now in order for the school to place him in the current school that he is doing wonderfully at btw....they had to put in his IEP that he was E.D. (emotionally disturbed)...otherwise the school couldn't/wouldn't place him in that school.

On a side note...received the last quarter progress report from his old public school...he failed all classes except for PE (this was pretty typical at that school). However at the new school ...for the last 4.5 weeks...he ended up getting A's in all his classes except for history...in History he got a B.

Hopefully the public school will see that he "fits" in this new school and is able to learn and do his work there. Unlike the other where he was frequently sleeping in class, not turning in his classwork/homework and was breaking out in hives the last 6 months while he was there. I took him to an allergist....none of their tests came up positive. Took him off seafood, peanuts and all tree nuts...reintroduced them...and guess what? Nothing..nothing has happened. Most likely culprit was nerves we're guessing...since he hasn't had any problem with hives since he's been at the new school.

Also....I think that a well written thank you to the sp.ed. director that approved my son trying this other school is probably in order...especially with the results that we ended up with????

Definitely write that thank you note. I just finished writing my thank you notes. It ALWAYS pays.

You have the legal right to an IEE for every test that your District paid to have done. But you only have ONE chance per year to ask, so I'd ask for an IEE on EVERY test that was given. However, if your son's IEP for next year meets with your approval, I'd leave things well enough alone. If next year their testing causes them to reduce interventions or change them in some what that you do not agree with, you can ask for IEEs next year. Also, if they are proposing reducing his intervention for this new IEP, you should ask for IEEs in that case. Of course, since this is a school that doesn't specialize in autism, if you think he's doing well there and don't want his placement changed, you might not want to push too hard on the autism/speech thing. Sometimes it pays to not push for everything in order to preserve the most important things.

Diane, how did the appt. go with the committee? I haven't really been able to respond, because I've been slammed at work, and I'm going on vacation to Hawaii on Tuesday. Don't worry about classification, as long as Greg is getting everything that he needs. Classification can always be changed. The one thing you need to do, though, is make sure Greg is getting adequate social skills training. Have you talked to the school about that? Is there a group in your area?

Greg is now classified as autistic....and no longer "specific learning disability".

However....the testing that was done was not complete. Someone was suppose to have Greg do a standardized test...didn't get done. And like I said above....because he hadn't been at the new school for very long....not all the tests were accurately assessed. They admitted to this. And I also noticed the lack of information. What I also found interesting were some of the questions that they asked Greg. I don't have the questions in front of me....but they were odd...odd in that they seemed to be asking Greg if he had quirks or felt odd? Some of the questions were interesting...but he's not necessarily going to say "yeah...I'm quirky and have these odd habits".

They too were surprised that he was at the new private day school. (This was a whole another evaluation committee from the original one)....and so I gave them a very brief reason why and said that it was a trial...since he was already failing at Bethel..and since he was having the safety problems, hives and other behavior problems like sleeping in class...that we wanted to try it to see how it worked. They then asked how it worked...and I produced the last 9 weeks reports...4.5 weeks from each school. The old school with all F's except in PE...and the new school with all A's and one B. They were truly all catching flies (horseflies) at that moment and didn't question the change of placement after that.

I figure that I'll make copies and email my advocate to let him see the results...and get his input....and Karen...I'll send you copies if you would like to see them too....maybe I'm just not "reading" them accurately...that has happened before

Speechie...the pragmatic results were very incomplete...and they were incomplete because he hadn't been at the new school for very long. I also think that it would have been more costly ...but def. more interesting to have tested or observed him at Bethel (old school)..then observed him at the new school. I think they would have seen two different children...since it was obvious at the other school that he was completely lost and was breaking down and possibly decompressing. When he was doing this...his obsessive behaviors increased at home and at school. Nervousness...insecurity? Too much stimuli? I'm not sure and may never know. I don't know if having an outside test would be beneficial...since I don't know how accurate the tests will be....if the tester has never met my son...and only sees him during a short time. Now granted....one person that knows kids with aspeger's will pick him out pretty quickly after a discussion with him....but how much time will the new testor have before summarizing their time with him? How can they get the proper info from not seeing him in different situations? Watching him interact with others his age?

Right now I have him involved with a small group of boys locally that have asperger's. They meet once a week for a few hours to play putt putt, go to the movies, go bowling, go to the park....and he loves it. Why? Because all these boys...of different ages (17 to 28)....all have what he has and they treat him kindly...and talk to him and hang out with him. They are all learning to socialize together...even though much of what they do is parrallel play...they do it together as a group. It's interesting in that even the oldest of the boys....acts more like my son. They all act pretty maturely to a sense...but it's not usual for 17 year olds to want to go to Blue Bird Gap Farm (mostly young children frequent this farm)...as does the 24 year old. The other 17 year old acts a little younger, but is very smart. Finally a group of boys that love to go to the zoo...even at their age...like my son does. I can actually see Greg growing some socially because he's part of this wonderful group of boys...that are kind and they all get along well.

Sorry for the long post....I'm done...my fingers are getting tired.

Virginia Greys39255.9357407407I have a few autistic kids on my caseload that actually understand to some degree that they are different so I'm not too surprised that your son was asked. That is one way to gauge his insight into his own strengths/difficulties. It sounds like your son is going to get the services he needs which is great. I imagine as the staff gets to know him the pragmatic area can be further understood and the IEP goals amended is need be. Don't discount yourself as being the provider of baseline pragmatic information for the IEP. I usually have both school staff and parents complete a questionnaire and list both results as the baseline in the IEP. Sure, there may be differences in report but you can then get an idea how the child functions in different settings. Wishing your son good luck!

Hello-

These are good scores - all solidly in the average range. ALso, it does not appear that the tester neglected any major area of language (ie receptive/expressive verbal/vocab/pragmatic were all addressed). The SLP side of me has the following thoughts but since I know very little about your child please take them as food for thought only. I was unclear about the pragmatic results reading your post - sounds like they are incomplete. One area I would bring up is to get a full understanding of how your child functions in social language skills in the classroom, not just on a formal pragmatic test but during actual observation using some type of standardized checklist (there are a variety of checklists that can be used)- if a child is indeed Asp. one would typically expect average scores in expressive/receptive language but may have language troubles in the pragmatic area so that is the area that should be looked at quite carefully. (The "autistic" child will generally have receptive/expressive problems in addition to the pragmatic issues for those who are wondering the difference). I would also want to know how well your child does understanding non-literal language, making inferences, solving problems etc. because these are areas an autistic/aspie child will typically have problems with. Just think about how much inferencing, non-literal language is embedded in school work and daily interactions. The Test of Problem Solving can assess this (there is also an adolescent version). Does your child understand that other people have their own ideas/opinions, can he understand another person's perspective, understand that other's opinions may be different than his, how to interpret body language/facial expression etc so that he can regulate conversations in a socially acceptable way? Does your child understand the unwritten rules of the classroom or any other social situation? One nice test for assessing problem solving/inferencing is the Test of Problem Solving (there is also an Adolescent version). I haven't given the OWLS in a really long time so I don't know if it covers any of these areas. The social thing is HUGE, not just for daily interactions with peers etc but for actual learning in the classroom. For example, if a child does not understand how to interact in a group (be it the whole class group listening to the teacher or the small group assigned to do a science experiement together) he will have learning impacted. If he does not understand non literal language or inferences, he will not understand books he is assigned to read and much teaching content. I would NOT request that the exact same tests be administered by another tester - it is not recommended test protocol to give the same tests too closely together and your SLP should be well qualified to administer them. If you still want another person to test the same areas, there are plenty of other standardized language tests that could be given. One other thought: if your child is younger, he may be getting by socially even if there are problems with his social language skills if the kids/teachers in his class are accomodating. Be careful of reports that "he is doing fine" socially in class b/c teachers may not realize how much they are accomodating him. This accomodation by peers/teachers will lessen as he ages and he could find himself in real trouble later on. If your child does indeed qualify for the ASP/AUT dx but is getting by socially right now, you and the school staff could monitorthe situation in case interventions for social skills are needed at a later date. Hope this was helpful and good luck!