Jump to content

Menu

How often to re-evaluate


Recommended Posts

Since we don't need evals for PS purposes, how often do you guys repeat neuropsychological evaluations? I've read we should have them repeated every 2-3 years, but if we're not currently using any meds and feel like we are managing to meet my kids' needs at home, is there any reason to repeat an evaluation? FWIW, my kids are autistic, adhd, dyslexic, dysgraphic, and have also been diagnoses with anxiety & pervasive depression. Just looking for pros and cons (besides the obvious con of having to do hours of evaluations.... lol)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my opinion — if someone is working with his/her kids and knows where the kids are at and how they are doing — and things are going generally well — I think there is not necessarily added value from evals.  
 

I have just spent the past year thinking my son read at a 2nd grade level, overall.... just got updated testing (through public school) and his reading comprehension age level was 7 years 10 months.  
 

I think if you have seen big changes with any of your kids that is more of a reason to do it, or if you aren’t sure where to focus.  I think those are good reasons for sure.  I think there are other good reasons, too.  
 

But I don’t think it is necessary to do it just to go through the motions on a set schedule.  

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorta depends on who's paying, lol.

You might think in terms of trajectory and positioning evals to prepare for next steps. In general, if all their needs are being met, maybe you don't need more evals. But that's sort of an idealistic assumption. Reality is, kids change and we benefit from fresh perspective, fresh advice on where they're at. If they're going to college, you'll need evals for paper trail and want them timed for that. So then you back up 3-4 years and do them at that point as well. 

Given the complexity of the mix, you're probably going to need to update things, sure, but 2 years is excessively close.

Sometimes the reason they do full evals, including IQ, is not so much that they expect it to change (which it may or may not significantly) but to give them *time* with the client, time interacting and watching them, so they can give sensible observations and assessment about what else is going on. You'll probably get to a place where you're ready for this fresh take.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think for private therapy they may require an evaluation.  I think that can be something they need to do.

This probably depends a lot on the situation — but I have found most evaluations to be kind-of shallow as far as — do they get to see my child in a variety of situations?  Ime they are having 1:1 child-adult time.  They cannot tell me about social interactions with peers and they cannot tell me about daily living skills.  Those are two top concerns for me so of course — an eval could still be helpful but they are unlikely to be doing a direct observation.  
 

In fact — ime they are likely to look at a form I fill out, the teacher fills out, and now that my son is taking some specials with no aid support — the specials teachers are the ones who can say how that is going.  
 

That is really specific for my situation — but I do feel that way.  
 

I have had several evaluations with no new information.  My son has not changed a huge amount in the past few years — or if he has, it’s obvious enough it’s not a surprise to see a change on paper.

 

I think for other kids the parents are getting useful information every time, though.  I definitely think that!  I think it can depend on the kid, though, and the situation.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, PeterPan said:

If they're going to college, you'll need evals for paper trail and want them timed for that. So then you back up 3-4 years and do them at that point as well. 

How do you time it, more specifically, to account for college entrance tests?

8th - EVAL

9th

10th

11th - EVAL

12th

College yr 1

college yr 2 - EVAL

 

Or would you suggest shifting the cycle back a year to start in 7th?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, domestic_engineer said:

How do you time it, more specifically, to account for college entrance tests?

You need to see what the colleges want. They never asked us to update while in college, though some do. They wanted evals from within the past 3 years to file with the university's disability services and get all that going. So I think we did updates in 11th, yes. That gave her paper trail for DE accommodations and was recent enough for the university. You'd only update again if your university requires it.

I don't think it matters on 7th vs. 8th (either will get you good advice on handling high school), but I think you're going to want it more like 11th-12th for college purposes. We did dd's initial psych evals at 12 (6th?) and again just for free through the IEP process with the ps in 11th. 

This is not like pediatrician visits that you do it anyway, even when you're not sure why. If you have a reason, do it. I think you'll know when you have questions and if you aren't seeing things that raise your eyebrows or make questions, I'm not sure how you'll fill out the forms differently enough to get any new information. That's the thing. These people are not rubbing some ball, lol. They sit with your kid for a few hours and have you fill out forms. If you want to find out what you don't already know, maybe it would be better to do a different kind of eval (for things that got missed that maybe you have red flags for) rather than just psych over and over.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When my DS12 got his ADHD diagnosis, they suggested the next eval be after puberty hits, especially if we were still seeing social concerns. With him having a neuropsych eval as a brand new 7 year old, they were confident in giving the ADHD diagnosis, and suspicious about him being on the spectrum but not confident enough to diagnose. I'm pretty sure based on what I still see that he would be much more likely to get an additional diagnosis now.  I'm aiming for early 8th grade for another eval for him (he's finishing 6th now) because he will probably want to do what older sibs are doing and try public school for high school, and I want fresh evals going into that to have the best possible info to know if he needs any accomodations. He has no learning issues per se but going from doing school work alone and completely undistracted will be much different than doing it in a classroom with other kids. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, kirstenhill said:

especially if we were still seeing social concerns

That's a good point about unfolding evals. Fwiw, a neuropsych is not the only way to do this. You could hit an SLP (who is the one who usually does social skills intervention anyway) and get pragmatics testing. Pragmatics testing is not reliable when they're very young (7, etc.) but by 10/11  it's much more reliable. There's a bunch of testing an SLP can do that many neuropsychs don't bother to run. Neuropsychs can be really fast food in their approach, not giving you that much. They can screen and catch things, but when you're like nitty gritty, what will change how we're working together, sometimes an SLP eval (or a psych who has taken the time to by the stuff these SLPs do) will get you farther. So that's like pragmatics, narrative language, EF testing, etc.

And there are psychs who do this stuff, but they're uncommon, that's for sure. The big name neuropsych we used and the middle name neuropsych we used (both in a very big city) were much more fast food. They'd get you in the ballpark and then you still needed specialists to dig in. So I'm just suggesting it's another way to do things, to flip that and go to specialists, get the specialized testing. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think if ACT/SAT etc is an issue, look specifically at that.  
 

That is it’s own thing and I know there have been threads specifically about it in the past.  
 

Edit:  my impression is that a college disability office will be easy to work with, in general, and a new eval will be fine.  
 

My impression is entrance testing is pickier and there has to be a lot more lead time. 

Edited by Lecka
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kirsten hill — imo how your son does in other group situations will be useful information just as much as testing information.

A lot of times — you take your information about what you see in group situations into the person doing the eval, and then they include that information in the recommendations that they make, that you then take into the school.  
 

So the evaluation is an important part of the paperwork you take in, but you will still need to provide what information you can about group situations, social situations, etc, because the evaluator will be going off of observation forms and not direct observation.

 

Just mentioning that bc I have been surprised before how much comes from information I provide vs testing.  

 

It does just depend, but that has been my experience.

 

Ita an eval the year before entering public school is a good thing to do!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Domestic Engineer — you might post on the high school board.  
 

There’s a chance I will be trying to get my older son a 504 plan for accommodations on AP testing, next year, but it is really not make-or-break.  I would expect for him to need teachers to see a need for accommodation in the classroom.  And then I expect to talk to teachers early in the school year.

 

Lately he is typing or teachers let him have extra time informally, and he has not wanted a  504 plan.  He said he would be open to it when he signed up for AP classes.  He also just may not take the tests at the end of the year — it is up in the air.  
 

But I expect to need to see problems early in the year in order to start paperwork on time.

 

This year his English class is 100% typing because of coronavirus.  
 

But if I definitely wanted him to have accommodations for AP testing at the end of next school year, I would be looking NOW to document problems with handwritten responses.  

But it is not a focus here.  
 

I think you need to find parents who have gone through the College Board with homeschool students, though, to find out how they did it!

 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can just update on dysgraphia here..... we have a diagnosis from 4th grade, and he had an IEP through 6th grade.  Now in 10th.

Typing has worked extremely well since 6th grade.  Extremely, extremely well.

He can write legibly, and with capital letters and punctuation, and good spelling even, but it’s very slow, it’s slow enough that he has one class this year where he turns in written notes 15 minutes later than the rest of the class, which is totally fine with my son.  That is his only issue this year.

He types very well.  He does have issues with punctuation, run-on sentences, and not knowing how to separate paragraphs.  He also can make mistakes with using words like “although.”  His content is great, though.  
 

I doubt he could do written responses on an AP test, but I don’t know how invested he is. We are at a point where it might take having things not go well in 11th grade to be invested in 12th grade, as far as accommodations for a test.  
 

If he ends up allowed to type everything in his classes, I think he will not care about the tests.  I think that is fine.  
 

He is on the touchy side and he would rather just type everything and not have any problems.  
 

He has come a long way!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, PeterPan said:

 So that's like pragmatics, narrative language, EF testing, etc.

And there are psychs who do this stuff, but they're uncommon, that's for sure. The big name neuropsych we used and the middle name neuropsych we used (both in a very big city) were much more fast food. They'd get you in the ballpark and then you still needed specialists to dig in. So I'm just suggesting it's another way to do things, to flip that and go to specialists, get the specialized testing. 

What tests, specifically, will test this kind of thing?

3 hours ago, Lecka said:

I think you need to find parents who have gone through the College Board with homeschool students, though, to find out how they did it!

I've gone through College Board with the PSAT, but I don't know if they're more forgiving with that than the SAT/ACT? We had available our neuropsych evals and formal diagnoses, but all that we submitted initially (and it turned out to be enough) was a list from our normal psychologist stating the diagnoses and suggested accommodations. We got every single one we requested. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, 4KookieKids said:

What tests, specifically, will test this kind of thing?

Test of Narrative Language

Test of Executive Function

(don't get too creative here, lol)

For pragmatics, there are a variety. SLDT, CAPS (which includes video, haven't had this but want to), etc.

If you want to see what testing could be done, you can look at ProEdInc, as they sell most of these tests. You might find some other things that would be helpful. It's a shame we have to work backwards like this, but there you go. Some things I've found by searching online for IEPs and ETR (evaluation team reports) to see how the ps teams are evaling. There's a lot of variety in districts. That's how I found the SPELT, which I happen to adore for its little niched purpose.

 

Edited by PeterPan
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe the accommodations for college entrance testing has gotten easier lately.  Years ago it was considered a hassle 😉

I think also, maybe, it helped you had evaluations with a diagnosis?  And what the diagnosis was?  Sometimes people are a few months out and realize they will need to set things like that up (not sure)? 
 

I’m also not sure but I think in the past it could be harder with “just ADHD”? 

 

I doubt they would be more difficult for the SAT than the PSAT, but the ACT could be different, and it could depend on the diagnosis and what the accommodation will be.

 

My niece got a private (or semi-private) testing area for the PSAT easily and I don’t see why she wouldn’t get it the same for the SAT.  She has a pump for diabetes and it works from an app on her phone, and so they let her keep her phone, which is normally not allowed (my understanding).

 

But I don’t know all the ins and outs.  There have been people who say it is a problem, but then sometimes it’s like — oh you are mad they gave 1 1/2 x extra time instead of 2 x extra time?  
 

But maybe it has just gotten easier and that is why there are not posts about it — there used to be but maybe that is 7-8 years ago now.  
 

If it is easier now then that is good news 🙂

 

I do think it would be worth asking with recent people though — ACT or SAT, what documentation, what accommodation.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...