Private vs. Public School evaluation for delays

[Loowit]

My DS is 10. He was evaluated by several doctors and teams of doctors in the past and the last evaluation that we have has several diagnoses. He has speech delays, developmental coordination disorder, and lax ligaments. I strongly suspect he has dyslexia. I was going to forgo testing as I have been able to address is needs at home through various curriculum that have helped him some, however, he still is struggling. It has also been suggested that having an official diagnosis would be good as far as scouting for documentation of a special need, and for college on testing and such. So my big question is how do I go about this.

 

As far as I can tell his insurance will not pay for testing for dyslexia. My DS's pediatrician said that it is not a medical things and insurance won't pay. She told me I would need to contact the local public school to have him tested. I was under the impression that public schools can only evaluate for special needs and provide services but couldn't/wouldn't diagnose things like dyslexia. If it makes a difference I live in Washington (state). So I have looked around online and and more confused than ever about who to contact and the possible cost involved in getting an official diagnosis. I was hoping there were some parents on here who have been down this road and could give me some advice.

 

I am planning to contact the schools soon about getting help with speech delays. I have put it off because I don't want to deal with our local schools, but I think that I need to have outside help on this one. I did have him evaluated by a local speech pathologist but he refused to see DS as his delays were not severe enough. What would the letter I send to the school look like? Does anyone have an examples for homeschool parents I could see?

[Crimson Wife]

See if your library has a copy of the Nolo IEP Guide: Learning Disabilities by Lawrence Siegel.

[Loowit]

Thank you very much for the suggestion.  I checked out the book, but I am finding it, like most resources, heavily dependent on the idea that we are public schooling and how to approach it from that angle.  Since my DS has been homeschooled from Kindergarten on, I really have no idea who to contact with the schools if I decide to have them do the evaluation, nor does it from what I read, address homeschooling differences.  It does have some useful information, but it would be so helpful to get some BTDT advice from moms that homeschool and have been down this road of evaluations and potentially getting special services.

[Pen]

1) So far as I know in most places it is correct that you will not get anything so specific from PS as "dyslexia"--OTOH, you may get something that could either help by being part of a paper trail, OR to help you to access services help from the public school if you want that.

 

2) I did seek testing from the PS, in my case, a phone call led me to the then District superintendent, which then led to leaving messages for the people who did the testing, and it was arranged without a written demand.   

 

3) We worked out some special services for a while--until he moved out of qualifying for them (it was on the edge at first, and it helped actually that he was a homeschooler because they tended to want him in for the money it gave, rather than I think if he had been at public already they might not have wanted to give the services)  when I first started posting on these forums it was usually while waiting for my ds while he was in his classes.

 

4)  I was told not to spend money on a private dyslexia eval yet, because they have to be within a certain number of years of the request for accommodations on tests etc.  One of the benefits he got as part of special services from the PS was a chance to do his required state testing there, with unlimited time.  Soon he will take a regular timed std. test (first time to have it time limited) and we will see how it goes.  

 

5) At one point, ds had had speech services, but at a point when it seemed to me he still had significant troubles with that, it was considered within normal limits for his age.   I did get some suggestions for how to work with him at home on what problems there still were.

 

6 I think the Eides, whose books are excellent, are in Washington.  That is who I hope someday to take ds to for dyslexia testing, but we are not in Washington--I think they are full for months and months, but you are at least closer.

 

If you have any other questions I can help with let me know.

[Crimson Wife]

Your district should have an administrator in charge of special ed for the district. I would send the eval request to him/her and it will get forwarded to the right person.

[My3girls]

The testing through the public school helped us see more specifically where dd8's issues are, but they did not give a diagnosis. They just said she was eligible for special education services if we chose to use them. She has issues with auditory and visual processing, working memory, fine motor skills, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem so, basically, dyslexia. Since pulling her from school at the end of last year and working with her at home, she has already dramatically improved in the last 3 which honestly were the ones that worried me the most. If you can get in at the school, it won't answer all your questions, but may help point you in the right direction. We found after getting the run around at the local level going to the state level opened doors pretty quickly.