Another PS evaluation question

[MicheleB]

I am meeting with our school district's psychologist this coming Monday. She has the reports from the neuropsych. evaluations for my boys and we are going to discuss the reports, recommendations, and ????

 

I'd like to get *her* perspective and see if she has anything to offer. I'm wondering if there's anything specific you might ask? One of the things I really want nailed down is IS there anything other than academic issues going on that needs to be addressed immediately? The np reports showed my boys had ODD, ADD, PDD-NOS, and anxiety disorder (not all for both of them), but the n.p. didn't really go into that and offer anything about those issues.

 

Is that something the school can look into further? Is it worth it to have the school look into it? I'm thinking it might be good to know just to help *me* in helping my boys, KWIM? So I don't get frustrated with them and expect of them things that could be done differently, if needed. ???

 

I'm a bit worried because I live in PA and I don't want to get the school district involved to the point where my kids are dually enrolled. But since they *have* to provide testing if I request it, I'm wondering if I should request some, in addition to the np already did.

[Laurie4b]

If the schools in PA are like the ones in our state, the schools make a clear distinction between what is appropriately a medical question versus what is an educational question. They keep the focus directed toward what they need to do in the classroom to accomodate the manifestations in the classroom of the medical diagnosis.

 

For instance, schools used to advocate that kids be diagnosed ADD and put on meds. I believe abuse of that led to some policy changes---whether someone got sued or federal law was changed, I don't remember. Now, they won't breathe a word about ADD. You are sent to your physician to have that diagnosis made. Once the child has the diagnosis, then they can qualify for special accomodations. For instance, with ADD, the accomodations could be that they are given testing in a separate room from the other kids and that they have a longer time to do the test. Or, if their impulsivity is causing them to get into disciplinary situations, they will have more rights/oversight than if they didn't have the diagnosis.

 

The school psychologist may be able to recommend academic accomodations that you could make in your homeschool. That will depend on the school psychologist. If she recommends them for your homeschool, she will know that should you ever decide to put them in public schoool, the school would need to make the same accomodations. It's been my experience sitting in on a number of school meetings, that school personnel rarely reommend many accomodations, other than things that are easy like "more time on tests." They are always balancing what their staff can reasonably do with what is optimal for the child. Most of the time, I've seen outside forces (parents, advocates, etc.) as the ones that truly push for appropriate accomodations.

 

Unless the np did not do a WISC-IV or achievement testing, I doubt that there is much testing the school system could provide that wasn't done. They won't confirm or dispute the diagnoses either. Your bast bet is to ask her what kind of accomodations you should be making in your home school setting.

[MicheleB]

Thanks, Laurie.

 

These are the tests already done:

 

WISC-IV Integrated

Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (selected subtests) (older son had WRAML-2)

Rey-Osterreith Coplex Figure (copy and recall)

Early Reading Success Indicator

 

So, is that basically what the school would do? I'm wondering if there's any sense in going in, then. I am never sure if things like PDD-NOS, ODD are considered medical or what. ???

 

Thanks! :)

[Laurie4b]

I don't see an achievement test on the list. That is something they would typically do, but you may not need it. You might try calling ahead and asking what to expect. That way you'd at least both be on the same page.

[MicheleB]

I don't see an achievement test on the list. That is something they would typically do, but you may not need it. You might try calling ahead and asking what to expect. That way you'd at least both be on the same page.

 

Would the achievement test have a certain title? What are the specific purposes of the tests they were given by the np?

 

As for achievement testing, is it possible the np didn't do any because my sons basically can't read or write? Or can you do achievement testing regardless of that?

[Laurie4b]

The most common individual achievement tests are: The Woodcock Johnson III, The Weschler (I think the initials are the WIAT. It is made by the same people who make the WISC-IV), and the WRAT (Wide Range Achievement Test) I have only administered the Woodcock Johnson myself. That test is designed for preschool through college-educated adult, so there are numerous items that a child could do who was pre-reading, pre-writing.

 

The tests that were done all measure the cognitive underpinnings of academic acheivement.

WISC-IV Integrated This is an IQ test

Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (selected subtests) (older son had WRAML-2) This is testing various cognitive functioning. Here's a link http://www.cps.nova.edu/~cpphelp/WRAML.html

Rey-Osterreith Coplex Figure (copy and recall) Tests visual perception Here's a link http://alpha.fdu.edu/psychology/rocf.htm

Early Reading Success Indicator http://pearsonassess.com/haiweb/cultures/en-us/productdetail.htm?pid=015-8983-203 It is assessing the cognitive processes necessary for successful reading.

 

What would you get from an achievement test? Maybe nothing that you don't already know. I mentioned it because I'm not sure what else you could get from the school pyschologist.

 

However, as I said earlier, call and see if she thinks she can be helpful with making academic accomodations for children with the diagnoses you list. I think you would need to go to a clinical pyschologist to get help in actually addressing those problems, but I could be wrong and PA may have different standards for their school psychologists.