SCHOOL EVAL
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We just got back from haydens school eval and he didnt qualify for any services at all! He was on his best behavior so cheery and cooperative! His concentration was good too. I dont understand why this always happens when I need his true colors to come out Also they gave me a copy of the screening he did back in February and it said that there are potential social delays and I never got anything like that when they sent me results of the screening ages ago. Are they covering it up or what? But anyway he scored above average intelligence and average in everything except with moderate delay in social. They said because I told them he dosnt have any kids in the neighborhood or real friends thats probably why hes delayed is all. The other lady kept saying so because of this hes not qualifying for any services we could have done it but then that would be illegal. She said that like 3 times then when I read the copy they gave me it said the team could have opted to provide services (identify him) but that option was rejected because he didnt meet the eligibility criteria. But if he showed a delay in social isnt that something or what? They said hes very smart and probably goes off by his own and not interested in the kids games because hes so smart and lots of gifted children are like that. Im confused! If he has autism wouldnt he have showed delays in the other areas? They said the only concerns they saw with his motor was grasping the pencil and told me what to do to help him with that. Also told me to take him to make friends. I told them I take him to the park but hes always in fantasy world. Also he has problems with identifying letters and words to work on that and they said he redirects the conversation to what he wants to talk about when he dosnt know the answer to something. Also everyone even the doctors and the school staff keep telling me how smart he is and the tests show he is, but I thought it was hard to test asd kids because they cant express the smarts they have so they seem different. He really does seem different but IM CONFUSED! Especially they tell me they dont think hes autistic and I just convinced my own self out of the denial stage! I hate this Im really bothered and stressed tho because some things seemed bogus to me but lots of people have told me they have to be severe in their delays to get anything. They said keep him in his preschool and give him more time and the teachers going to have to prompt him to play with the other kids and join in stuff. If he gets kicked out they have one more spot left in the preschool I could put his name on the list if I want and its $125 or something. I told them his problems really come out when hes around alot of people and noise so thats why I think hes having trouble with school now because of overstimulation. They pretty much thought I was crazy. Im so upset, I cant afford to hire a lawyer or pay for independent evals and such. Were still saving up money for deductible to start his occupational therapy! What do you guys think? I was pretty much made to feel like my worries were unwarranted and the neuro AND dev. ped. didnt know what theyr talking about and why on earth would I think hes autistic hes not delayed at all! Anyway, I know I need to get the from tears (emotions?) to advocacy book. 143 - You state this was his school evaluation. If so, you're talking comprehensive testing - to put in place an initial IEP? Since you list him as 4 years old, I'm making an assumption that that's the case, and you're wanting services provided by the school district. If that's the case, then let them know in writing that you disagree with their evaluations and request independent evaluations. You have the right to do so, and the school district has to pay for it. Given the medical evaluations you've gotten, I certainly would. Whether medically diagnosed with aspergers, pdd-nos, etc., if your son meets the proper criteria for services, they have to provide the services. The motor delays you mentioned (holding the pencil) would certainly qualify as an educational need - a student who can't write will certainly be educationally impacted. Social skills can and will also impact his ability to learn in the classroom. Intelligence, or the lack of it, doesn't go hand-in-hand with whether your son needs services or not, and the assumption that he's "too intelligent" is outrageous. I'd say your neuro and developmental ped. are way more on the money than the educators. It was a multidisciplinary evaluation to see if he qualified for services or special preschool. I do want services provided by the district but I was wondering why he dosnt qualify even tho they said he has moderate impairment in social? Ive heard it had to be severe impairment. Also they stated he had potential social delay in his screening he did in february and its still there so ? I am going to call them and see why its just I always need to take things in and prepare what im going to say so I think of it all and what I disagree with when I get home ( i know im a weirdo I felt close to an anxiety attack leaving the school because school had just gotten out And the whole intelligence thing is soo annoying! It dosnt mean he dosnt have problems because of his IQ! That really irritated me when she said that! I get the feeling that you must have the same IEP "team" as I have.Some thoughts to consider: One sign of Asperger's is an inability to read social cues that allow folks to maintain proper behavior in social situations. That is, to respond correctly to friends and maintain friendships. My understanding is that the Asperger's causes lack of friends, not the other way around. Redirecting a conversation to focus on a topic of interest to the Aspie, is also something that they do (since they lack the social skills to talk about something that someone else is interested in). The higher functioning Aspies can have good skills everywhere but social and average (or above average) IQs in everything but social skills. That's kind of what defines "Asperger's." I suspect that either they do not understand and the Asperger's diagnosis, or are hoping that you don't. I would go for the independent educational evaluation (do everything in writing) from someone who specializes in autism and related, and also knows the local laws well. We have had a couple of evaluations ignored or mis-interpreted because the authors did not understand how to write the evaluations so that the SD had to take them into account. I think that doctors write "I think that ..." because it is not possible to prove the autism diagnosis by blood test or whatever. And then the SD responds like you saw. Incidentally, in the IDEA PDD/NOS is not mentioned. Only autism and related conditions, [but PDD/NOS is a related condition]. So if they tell you PDD/NOS does not qualify (which my SD does every time we talk to them) be aware that you will have to get your evaluator to specify that the PDD/NOS as seen in this case qualifies for special education as defined in the IDEA under autism and related conditions. Assuming that he does of course. My son is PDD/NOS, and has been recommended for special education services by a person who writes books on autism, we happen to live close to her university. But the SD has mis-interpreted her reports and recommendations, and given such bad services, we gave up fighting and provide services privately. But our lawyer says that we should not have to. I know thats what I thought too. But even though I told them hes dxed with aspbergers (and on his records it SAYS diagnosis: aspbergers and seizures- and it had some codes or something) but I dont know what was going on with her! The doctor hadnt even wrote that he thinks that he MIGHT have asd thats why I was so annoyed too Also they told me that his receptive language was kind of low as well but I dont have any of that on the papers they gave me. I knew that because of him redirecting the conversation and when they were asking him things he was saying off the wall answers or things not pertaining to what they were talking about (altho not all the time) but frequently enough! For example one was the stove is hot and the refrigerator is ? And hed say hot. Theyd go over and over but hed keep saying hot even after they told him its cold. Do you know where I could find someone for independent educational eval. ?
Do you know where I could find someone for independent educational eval. ? [/QUOTE]Depends... I believe that some of what I have seen is state dependent, and I do not know what. nor if it might apply in your state. So take what I say with a gain of salt. You are starting down a path that probably needs real legal advice. If you want the SD to reimburse, they are allowed to impose restrictions on the qualifications (but not limit who). So in my district there is a five page document giving the procedures. The limitations sort of read "Educational degree - anyone is in but PhD - tough luck." By this, XXXXX (famous author of autism books) does not qualify to evaluate for autism, since she only has a PhD and 10-20 years' experience. So you'd need to get the equivalent of this document and then find someone who qualifies. Word of mouth might be a place to get recommendations, or local parents' groups. The SD can supply a list of names, but the rumor is that someone who is parent favorable does not stay on the list long. If you expect to go to due process, you might look over decisions in your area (on the web?) and see how the person fares in due process. We are in the process of getting an IEE and we compromised and got someone with a reputation of being considered highly creditable in due process, but is has a reputation of being not particularly parent friendly in her recommendations. If you don't care if the SD reimburses, you can use anyone, but you've seen what happens there. I don't think that there is a way to force the SD to accept anyone's opinion about services. Possibly this is a good thing in some cases. In any case my reading of hearings is that the judge/officer did not have much of a clue (understandable) and so had to believe whoever had the better looking resume. Presumably the SD has done the same research and will know when to settle, and when to go to court. Incidentally if the SD believes that their evaluation is good, they can go to due process to stop reimbursing you. I don't know if/when this happens, but it is a possibility. Wow this sounds like a real headache! Do you think I should get an independent eval if he showed moderate social delay and receptive speech problems? If it costs alot of money to get id want to try and make sure I get reimbursed but if its not tons of money I wouldnt care. Thanks, Dad2, I will look into all of this. O ya and what do you think about them sending me a paper from his preschool screening in february saying that there wasnt any problems but on the papers I just got from the eval said inhis history he showed potential delays in social? Is that nothing since it lists as potential? Shouldnt they have done further testing or at least let me have known about it on my copy they mailed home to me back in feb.? O ya and what do you think about them sending me a paper from his preschool screening in february saying that there wasnt any problems but on the papers I just got from the eval said inhis history he showed potential delays in social? Is that nothing since it lists as potential? Shouldnt they have done further testing or at least let me have known about it on my copy they mailed home to me back in feb.? [/QUOTE]"Tons of money" depends on your personal financial situation etc. We have had SLP evaluation cost around $500 and a developmental pediatrician evaluation cost around $3000, nut I live in a high cost of living area. It also depends no how much your insurance will pick up. Nice thing about paying yourself is that if you don't like the report you don't have to mention it. As for the withheld info in the evaluation, I believe that they are not supposed to cherry pick what they tell you. I am not sure what you can do about it. Maybe file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights stating that by denying you this information they are denying you the ability to participate in a meaningful way in the IEP process. However, they (the OCR) might ask what you want as compensation, so think about that. Sorry to hear about your frustrating experience. When they don't observe him with other children, I don't see how they could possibly think they've done a valid evaluation. Here's a topic on our forum with sample letters, including how to request an independent evaluation. As AmamCara mentioned, the school has to pay for it. http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=18727&am p;KW=sample I am no expert in preschool rules. However, it is my understanding that a child must be 50% behind in one area of development or 25% behind in each of two areas of development to qualify for spec. ed. preschool. This may vary from state to state, I don't really know. But I DO know that there are criteria applied. The evaluation team cannot capriciously have different standards for different kids. If you don't fully understand why your son has been rejected for services, ask the team to completely explain the testing. I find it's best to ask for a child's scores to be translated into percentiles. The 50th%ile is dead average. The 25th - the 75th is average range. If a child is below the 16th, he is considered one standard deviation below the norm, which means he is disabled in that area. Just have the testers fully explain the results of your son's testing and why those scores make him not eligible. You, as the parent, have the right to FULLY particpate in your son's education. How can you do that if you don't fully understand the testing? So it's incumbent on the evaluation team to make the results fully understandable. If your son does not qualify for services based on the testing, that is GOOD news. Your boy is not that delayed! dad2- he just had an eval with his developmental ped. but im sure this isnt the regular dx eval the school needs. Ill see if our insurance would cover another one, all we had to pay at his dev. ped. visit was the $50. copay. I hope it dosnt cost that much! Norwaymom- I told them how he gets in a classroom or around bunch of people/noise etc. they thought I was crazy! All I got from them all were really? He seems fine here, with thier eyebrows raised. Like they were thinking "this mother dosnt know what shes talking about!" Made me feel kinda stupid! Thanks for the lnk ill look it up Tzoya- I have his scores broken down into percentiles and a few of them are pretty low i think! Here they are: adaptive behavior was 5th %, motor domain 4th %, socialization 6th %, communication was 18th % so I guess that was is normal right? But his receptive was 16th % so I guess he just made it on that one too? What do you think? SHould I push for services? Or would I be wasting my time since its only social and I guess they think its just cuz he dosnt have any friends, which hello is part of his problem caused by dx! Yes, it seems he would qualify. However, what services he would get might depend. He should at least get some home services. Ask them to PUT IN WRITING why they are denying him what they say they are denying him. You can always ask for Mediation. Get your state's Procedural Safeguards Notice in order to find out what your recourses might be. I will. I called az dept. of education and talked to someone there and she said that az dosnt go by a percentage even tho most states do they go by if every other alternative has been tried before giving anything then I told her why they denied him and hes dx'ed with aspbergers and seizures and she told me to call the woman responsible to special ed. for this school district and tell her I want a conference set up because she thought he should have qualified for services too. I also called az center for disability law and theyr going to have an advocate assigned to me but they said it can take up to 10 days. I do have it in my paperwork they gave saying they did consider giving him services but then denied because they felt he just needed to join a playgroup/more park days for me to take him. Which reading that kind of offends me because I take him to the park all the time! I just hope I can get something out of them! Ill ask for it in writing/dated too. Thanks for all your input tzoya! Hopefully my book comes in tomorrow so I can stop bugging you |
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They were surprised when I told them how he behaves in his preschool hes in now and other issues we have with him. Also the director told me she dosnt think he seems autistic at all because she works in some autism awareness group and if he was autistic he wouldnt be able to sit at the table with them. I think thats totally dumb if you ask me! Also I showed them the records and she said O I see they still have him down with pdd-nos. I said no the developmental ped. dxed him with aspbergers last month. She said no it says hes impressioned as pdd-nos. I kept telling her and even showed her where it listed the aspbergers and seizures and for some reason she kept saying that he only thinks. HELLO i talked to this doctor and he TOLD us his dx he gave to him! Not to mention youd have to be an idiot not to know from looking at the records. But anyway not that the records even make a difference anyway. 
) Theres a lady I met in an autism group and im going to ask her about it. The holding a pencil thing she told me to break crayons in half cuz it forces them to hold it correctly or have him write on a chalk board against a wall etc. He drew good for them tho. Not to mention im going to see if they can watch him in a classroom setting also. 
