Getting Evals done end of Senior year

[mckive6]

Hi, 

My daughter was diagnosed with convergence insufficiency at age 15. She got a 504 at the public high school for the 1 class she takes there a year.  It allowed extra time on tests, and larger font. She does need both of these accommodations at times in her class. We're not sure if there is anything else going on.  She has always been very strong in English and reading, but math and science, particularly when reading text books, does not come as easily.

 

Our understanding is that she'll need testing done to qualify for any accommodations in college. She is doing really well in calculus in the high school and does not always need extra time; however, she will be majoring in Mechanical Engineering, and I'd hate to not do this and realize we should have.  She has her first appointment this week.  She's 18 now, and likes to be independent.  I think it would be helpful to her if I was there, for the 1st appointment and the final appointment.  I think it can be confusing, and a lot to digest.  

 

Any advice?

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

Has she done any vision therapy?

 

And yes, go with her.

[PeterPan]

Who is doing the evals?  Ps or private?  Definitely you'll need to be there, because they're going to have some questionaires they want filled out.  Could include teachers, parents, etc.  

 

Remember, what you DO with the results is your business.  Having the information allows her to understand herself, predict where her challenges are going to be, and not be surprised.  MANY kids are surprised in engineering programs, no matter how good they were in high school.  So I think you're VERY wise to get the evals. 

 

Did she get VT?  What are you anticipating they diagnose?  

 

You can talk with the psych about how to handle the privacy.  They're probably going to have forms and questionaires people need to fill out, so it makes no sense to disconnect you.  And, personally, if I'm paying for it, I'm there.  Testing is $$$ stuff!  If I pay, I'm there.  if it's your dime, your insurance policy, then it's your business.  But if it's my dime, I'm there.  But I think the psych will have suggestions on how to handle it.  The first appt is usually intake, not testing.

[mysticmomma]

I have accommodations in college and didn't need any evaluations (3 different universities). I told my doctor what I needed and she wrote a note. Met with student services and they gave me a letter to give to my instructors and offered other services.

[mckive6]

Yes, she has had vision therapy and it has helped.  She also has exotropia, eye turn, so she will always have to deal with that.  

 

She really could have used accommodations for the SAT, but we went back and forth on if we should really do all this testing when we knew it was her eyes. This spring she did say she had a really hard time filling in the bubbles, because she hadn't done it in a while.

 

We will be doing testing privately.  Also, my dd and I  wonder if she has something else going on.  We know she has mixed dominance. She is right handed, left eyed and uses her left foot to kick a ball. When we started the testing process 2 years ago, the psychologist mentioned this could be an indicator.  At that time, she had not completed VT so we held off the testing so she could complete it.  

 

She's struggled this year in her online science class. She would read and reread the text and not be able to even come up with questions to ask for help. Now, there really wasn't much teaching, unfortunately, so that is part of it.  We decided to skip the AP test, because she was so stressed out about it.  Even in classes she is strong in, everything takes her longer.  She has always had a hard time handling 5 or more classes at a time in high school.  I wasn't sure if it was because she is a perfectionist, and often tends to overthink. 

 

My dd will call the disability center on Monday to see what she will need for documentation.  

 

Thank you!

 

 

[mckive6]

OhElizabeth,

Thank you for the reminder about the questionnaires!   She is our oldest, so this whole now 18 years old has thrown me.  Who I can still talk to for her, and what has to be signed in order to, etc.  And of course they'll need my signature in order to bill our insurance company.  

 

 

[1shortmomto4]

Check the college website - forms are usually there and you might be able to print out and take the Dr/testing appointments and save some time/money.  There is usually a form that your dd can fill in that specifies who can have access to the medical information and all she has to do is put your name (or parents names) on there and you are fine.  Some schools will require a recent (within 3 years) evaluation when submitting in any disability requirements requests but it probably depends on the school.  My ds has a severe hearing impairment that wasn't going to change to the positive in his lifetime and the school still required a recent hearing evaluation but once done, Audiologist provided detailed list of required accommodations and the school accepted - put those requirements into the Memorandum of Accommodation (MOA) and nary a problem.  It is better to get a list of accommodations that probably has more than may actually be needed because it can be time consuming to go back to Dr. offices and get letters updated/changed, etc.  The Disability office sometimes even suggests accommodations that the Dr. didn't.  My ds started out with a long list of stuff but over time found what worked best for him - and sometimes things worked better in different classes vs others over the years.

[PeterPan]

On the dominances, some VT docs and psychs are picky about that and others aren't.  If you read The Dominance Factor, there are learner profiles based on the patterns of dominances.  Might be interesting to you.  Our OT finds it to be helpful and went through it with us for ds.  Our library had the book.  Our VT doc was NOT of the opinion that you should change dominances.  In fact, she said she doesn't like to see ALL the dominances be on one side.  So to have it be left, left, right, that actually fits with what our VT doc wanted to see.  I know there are theories on it, but I'm just saying there are people who would say she's ok, leave her alone, work with it.  

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by OhElizabeth

[mckive6]

That is very interesting!  I'll have to see if our library has that book.  Thanks!