Tutor before testing?

[MistyMountain]

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[OneStepAtATime]

I understand your concerns but if you can get him started on tutoring now, I would do it.  Don't wait.  Give him a fighting chance.   The sooner the better, if the program is really solid.  

 

If the school eval nets you nothing, then yes, seek a neuropsych eval.  Even if you start remediation, any issues will still be there and a trained neuropsych SHOULD be able to determine those issues.  

 

Dyslexia and dysgraphia don't disappear.  They will probably always be a part of things in some form or fashion.  Getting help, the right kind of help, especially when the child is still young enough that you aren't having to also unlearn years and years of ingrained bad habits and misconception and poor practices, can keep those issues from becoming bigger issues and can keep the child from falling further and further behind.  They won't disappear, though, especially not with just a few sessions over a summer.

[PeterPan]

Misty, you need to check the laws in your state.  In our state, you make a formal written request, and they have 30 days to meet with you for the evaluation planning and formal parental consent signature.  Then they have 30 days to complete the evals and have that meeting report and then 60 days for the IEP.  You should be able to get the testing done quickly enough that it's not a terrible moral breech of parenting to wait and get the evals first, kwim?  Have you filed your formal request?  

 

Obviously do what you think best.  Yes, my ds' reading disorder was painfully obvious EVEN WITH quite a bit of Barton work.  It will still show up.  But you would probably get that testing done even before summer if you went ahead and requested now.  The important thing is to learn the law and make a formal written request, not leaving it up to impressions and words.  Date everything and keep a paper trail.

[MistyMountain]

So I just found out that ds could also get OT but he only gets 30 sessions of either reading tutoring (under speech services) or OT not both. I am not sure which one to do. 

[PeterPan]

So what is the sequence then?  You use the services and in the meantime wait for your evals to qualify for more services?  Or you get the IEP evals and still have these restrictions of 30 sessions and choosing between OT and reading??  Seems kinda screwy.  Or is this your insurance offering the 30 sessions and then school that would do evals for the IEP?  

 

Part of it you already answered, because you said his dysgraphia is worse than his dyslexia.  It's also the harder of the two for you to know how to work on at home.  Not all OT goes endlessly anyway.  What if they eval, call you done in 12 sessions (it happens) and then you're able to use the rest for reading tutoring?  Has he had an OT eval yet so you can at least know the extent of what you're dealing with?  Are there midline issues and sensory involved?  Would the therapist there be a good therapist for his OT issues?

[MistyMountain]

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[PeterPan]

You could use the insurance to pay for OT if you can do the dyslexia tutoring yourself.  An OT eval varies.  They'll sometimes do a 1 hour eval that is sort of a feeder to therapy ($80-ish) or there's a full SIPT or something multi-hour for sensory, and that's usually $350-ish around here.  It's all the number of hours they put in.  

 

Fwiw, around here a dyslexia tutor is $65 an hour and an OT is $110.  

[FairProspects]

Our OT (granted, it was specialized sensory integration therapy) ran $450 per hour long session. I would absolutely choose OT over tutoring. Barton and some of the other programs can be learned and taught yourself. I can't become an OT specialist with training videos.

[PeterPan]

Wow Fair, that's expensive!  But I say that, and actually OT through a hospital *is* more expensive, sigh.  But wow, $450 an hour?   :svengo:

[FairProspects]

Wow Fair, that's expensive!  But I say that, and actually OT through a hospital *is* more expensive, sigh.  But wow, $450 an hour?   :svengo:

 

Yup. Welcome to life in one of the more expensive metro areas. Everything from goods to services costs more here. That, and the fact that this was a pediatric OT with a certification in sensory integration at a specialized children's therapy hospital. Our OT also occurred in a state of the art building with a pool, huge therapy rooms with every imaginable device for sensory integration, and smaller break out rooms for more individualized activities. She was absolutely amazing and we are very lucky that we had access to her services through insurance, but yes, that was the actual cost per hour.

[OneStepAtATime]

Oh.my.goodness.  $450.  Wow! FP the services sound terrific but boy that is STEEP.  Glad you had help through insurance!

 

OP, I agree, OT is almost certainly the one I would go with if I had to choose.  

 

As others have mentioned, there are many programs, like Barton, Wilson, etc. that you could use to tutor your child in reading/spelling that you, all by yourself, could implement without extensive training.  Barton especially already comes with training DVDs, a clearly laid out TM, lots of extra supports on-line and assumes the tutor has no prior knowledge or training for remediating a dyslexic.

 

 OT?  I'd want a professional, at least until we got a handle on things.