Testing prior to beginning Barton?

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Ds's cyber school agreed to let us use Barton for ESY, which means they paid for the first 2 levels.

 

I just found out though that for next year they're still leaning towards "resources CCA already has." This means Reading Rewards and Read 180; both of which skip over his actual issues in reading and spelling.

 

His psych testing suggests SLD reading, but parts of the test were also inaccurate. Enough of it was valid for us to move forward though, so I never argued it. He's labeled OHI, autism, speech and language impairment (no idea why they need 3 labels when autism covers it, but whatever).

 

I'm wondering if we should get a private speech eval to break down more of the reading and language stuff prior to starting Barton and Expanding Expression. I'm thinking it could help secure Barton beyond ESY.

 

With face-to-face meetings, the school is better about leaning towards what I know with him.

 

Thoughts?

[OneStepAtATime]

I would go with a private eval if you can swing the cost.  Absolutely.  Anything that gives you more detailed and clearer answers can be very helpful.  I do want to caution you that a private evaluation may or may not hold sway with the school, though.  They don't have to accept the findings of a private evaluation.  It can help.  Don't get me wrong.  They just aren't obligated to pay attention to what it states.

 

I can't recall, how was this structured?  They give you the money and you purchase in their name?  Are you the one tutoring or are they?  Will it be one on one or in a group?  Or are they are buying it and will have the access to the support materials, not you?

[amo_mea_filiis.]

They just wrote it into his IEP and purchased it (ordered in my name). I'll be tutoring.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

I know they don't have to accept private findings, but I'd give them the choice of accepting it or paying for an IEE. Given my son's complex profile, and spotty evals, it couldn't be "just" an ed eval. It would have to be skilled neuropsych, minimum.

 

I don't even care if they ever really consider him dyslexic (SLD-reading, whatever), as long as we can continue to use specific interventions.

[OneStepAtATime]

When do you get access to Barton and when do you plan to start?  An evaluation prior to starting would probably be your best option, considering the circumstances, but you don't want to have to wait too long.  Could you seek out a private evaluation right now?  It might take weeks or months to get in.  Have you called around?  Asked about time lines for getting in?  If not, I would start the process immediately.

 

:grouphug:

Edited May 21, 2017 by OneStepAtATime

[amo_mea_filiis.]

I have Barton. Was planning to start the week after school ends (we've always gone year round for math and reading) which is June 9th.

 

I don't have access or resources for much, but I was going to see about at least the CTOPP to go with the tanked phonological processing part of his eval. I'd also like to find a way to invalidate the story recall part of eval because that's the one score bringing IQ way below previous testing. Since I was sitting there through the testing, I know he just didn't understand what she wanted.

 

If the story recall subtest is invalid, his IQ goes back up to 78, and then there are bigger discrepancies.

 

On the other hand, some of his achievement testing was higher than IQ testing.

 

Kiddo's all over the damn place.

 

But what I see, day to day is autism, borderline IQ, dyslexia. He also doesn't grasp easy math concepts, but I think that's IQ and language issues.

 

On the other other hand, if the school stands by their 61ish IQ, I want to see more life skills programming.

[PeterPan]

If they did a CTOPP and achievement, you already have enough on reading. For his ASD diagnosis, did they do language testing like the CASL or CELF? And has he had the TOPS or another metalinguistics test? That's all SLP stuff the ps SLP should have done.

 

I wouldn't assume the math gig is language. He may very well have SLD math and might as well have it diagnosed. SLD math is, fundamentally, a glitch in number sense. That's exactly how it would come across, that the language of math means squat to him. Like if you say 5 "of" something to my ds, he just looks at you blankly and has no clue. It stores in a different side of the brain from conceptual math. 

 

Rather than sticking with IQ for your future planning, you might look at the Social Thinking communication profiles and look for someone trained in doing their evals. https://www.socialthinking.com/Clinical%20Training That's the directory and this article gives you the profiles. https://www.socialthinking.com/Articles?name=Social%20Thinking%20Social%20Communication%20Profile

[amo_mea_filiis.]

He's not had CTOPP. Yes to CELF I think. What's CASL and TOPS?

 

His receptive and expressive eval actually tested average. He qualified pragmatically. His SLP thinks his deficits are executive functioning related, or similar. The stuff is up there, but he just has no means of getting it out.

 

In some ways he has great number sense. Making change, elapsed time, basic arithmetic. But other stuff like fractions, common sense (he made two boxes of character mac & cheese and added 2 cups of milk, then wondered why it was soup!), telling time, or basically any concept beyond basic arithmetic, are beyond him.

[PeterPan]

CASL is another language test. TOPS is Test of Problem Solving, which shows inferences (for reading comprehension!), prediction, etc.  Yeah, the CELF is kinda funny. Every time I slam it, somebody says it's fine. There's a lot more out there and if you're seeing glitches and the CELF isn't showing them, well that's why there are more tests. :D If they qualified him, they're seeing stuff, which is good. Some stuff is obvious without data, like it's just obvious.

 

Have you looked at Christine Reeve's store on TPT? Might want to do some life skills math. I have to do a lot with generalizing for my ds. We did numbers into the hundreds with one type of manip, but then it's gone with the next. Then I took him to church and he couldn't turn the hymnal to a page number. Gifted IQ, age 8, couldn't turn to page 323. He could do it on a number line, but not with a book. It hadn't generalized, so that's the autism. 

 

Estimating quantities and having a sense of volume is really hard. I wouldn't assume it's the same as the math. Same gig with time. The volume/space sense and time sense are different. He could be stellar at math and have issues with those. You'll want to work on them.