P.S. Re: My introduction

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- You are considering hiring an advocate? Is the school really being a bear about giving your son services he needs? Also, you told me earlier that the school had recently finished his MFE. Did your original letter also request evaluations? Perhaps the school feels they already responded to your original letter by doing the evaluations. Marotta----- Original Message ----- From: Biehl Sent: Saturday, May 07, 2005 9:49 PMSubject: Re: [ ] My introductionThank you , for all the info I am running around in circles trying to get his IEP meeting scheduled before the end of the year. I wrote a request 2 months ago and when I write reminder question of when I don't get a response. Wondering if I am going to hire an addvicate or not. I have called the vice Princpal and still no call back yet. Any idea?The Marotta Family <marottafamily@...> wrote:Hi Terese and - I'm a little frustrated right now. I couldn't find my son's latest MFE report. I have too many 3-ring binders lying around the house. However, I did find my letter to the school requesting the different types of tests before the MFE. I requested a test that would evaluate his auditory processing abilities based on the fact that he sometimes would answer questions immediately, sometimes after an inappropriately long pause, and other times, he wouldn't answer at all. I didn't know if this was due to an auditory processing problem, and attention/focus issue, a semantic pragmatic deficit, or some other issue. So I asked the school to test for auditory processing problems. Here is a list of tests that could be used: Language Sample with Narrative Task, mood Test of Auditory Conceptualization (LAC), Test of Auditory Processing Skills (TAPS), Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP), Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock Test of Auditory Discrimination. I asked the school to perform at least one auditory discrimination test. They choose the TAPS. I can't say that I liked that test because one of the subtests was kind of weird {What would you do if someone told you to put this glass on the table? Answer: put the glass on the table} But a couple of the subtests pointed out some of Bobby's difficulties and he scored low. The fact that he scored low was actually a relief to me because it the IEP team had some direction to go when drafting his annual goals. I knew he would score high on the CELF-Preschool and the PLS-3 and I was afraid that the school would then say he was ineligible for ST. As for pragmatic language, here is a link to an article that discusses a couple of pragmatic tests:http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/resource/speech_program/spl_pragmatics_eligibility.htmIn it they describe the TOPL (Test of Pragmatic Language - the test give to my son last summer when we were in Chicago) and the TOPS-R (Test of Problem Solving-R). However, TOPL is age-normed beginning at age 6; my son was only 5, but the SLP reported the results to the school anyway. At first she wasn't going to, but my son scored so low she must have thought that the school needed to know this. I don't know what ages the TOPS-R is appropriate for. http://www.socialthinking.com/idb/documents/Assessment%20Issues%20For%20Social%20Pragmatics%202002.doc also discusses pragmatic language function in HFA and goes in depth on how that child should be evaluated. I also asked the school to test his non-verbal IQ. It turned out that this test gave some insight that the school wouldn't have known otherwise. The school performed the Wechsler (I think - remember, I have yet to put my finger on the MFE!!), which has performance IQ and verbal IQ subtests. My son scored lower on the performance than the verbal, which shocked the school psychologist, but it made sense once you take into account his fine motor skill deficits. Since I requested a nonverbal IQ instrument, she also gave my son the TONI (Test of Nonverbal Intelligence). He scored highest on this because it did not have a fine motor or a verbal component. The school was then able to get a clearer picture of his functioning. Here are a few other non-verbal IQ instruments: Leiter International Performance Scale (LIPS), Matrix Analogies Test -- Expanded Form (MAT-EF), Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI), and the Leiter/2 . If/when you want the school to perform any evaluation, be sure to put it in writing! Marotta--- Original Message ----- From: therese taylor Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2005 1:07 PMSubject: Re: [ ] My introductionHi, I haven't written in awhile, but I'm intrested in the names of the tests and other information as well. My son just turned 4 and is highly functioning as well, I've been trying to get into a program or class that will help me work with him, he's very emotional and angry, and just refuses to cooperate (they even wrote 2 paragraphs about his stubborness in his evaluation/diagnosis). I have an IEP coming up and I know that he needs to continue with his schooling over the summer. He had a hard time after the holiday break getting back into things, I can only imagine how hard it's going to be after 11 weeks or so. I live in Lakewood, and the school board isn't willing to help with anything outside of their preschool program and I keep getting turned down everywhere. He's too old, too young, too high functioning, or the school board has to approve it first. Either way I can't seem to get the help I need. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks,Therese PS. I don't know if anyone remembers me, but I had my baby girl in Dec. and luckily my son is doing great with her. He's very gentle, no hitting, and very protective. Yeah!!!The Marotta Family <marottafamily@...> wrote:Dear , I'll see what I can do about the SLP! Yes, Bobby is in Kindergarten, and he loves it very much! He has grown so much this past year! He has a great teacher, one who has a lot of experience and structure in her classroom, but is flexible enough to respect each individual child's needs and learning style. Also, there are some students in his class that accept him as he is so he has a niche. I am hoping that those relationships will be supported and will grow in the next school year. The IEP just before kindergarten was tough! Bobby is high functioning too, but for the MFE, I asked in writing that the school use certain types of diagnostic tests that would tease out where his deficits lie (and his deficits are very significant) and I took my son to a center in Chicago which specializes in hyperlexia (his official diagnosis) where an SLP performed a pragmatic language test. Also, he was overdue for a visit to a neurologist, so we made an appt. and I had her report during the IEP which again highlighted his deficits. During the first kindergarten IEP meeting, the team discussed his services, but because of time restraints, we were unable to come to an agreement. Before the second K IEP meeting, the director of special services did internet research on hyperlexia (what do you think about that? I was impressed), and much of our differences were ironed out before the meeting convened.If you are willing to discuss (either publicly or privately), what tests were done during the MFE? Do you have private evaluations to bring to the IEP meeting? What did these evaluations/tests show? Sometimes, if high functioning children are given only the standard language tests (for example, CELF-Preschool), the team won't have a clear picture of the child's level of functioning and an administrator, who doesn't know the child and sees only the test results, won't want to allocate ever diminishing resources to a child who seems to have caught up with his peers. Maybe I could give you the names of some tests that could help the team evaluate your son's abilities better.Marotta>From: Biehl <angelabiehl@...>>Reply- > >Subject: Re: [ ] My introduction>Date: Tue, 3 May 2005 06:51:20 -0700 (PDT)>>Hi , I live about 10 min away from Lakewood. If you think this >person would be interested in helping Dylan that would be great could you >call? Thanks>Is your son in Kindergarden? We are getting ready for that this year >Gearing up to write another IEP. I don't know about you but we are having >alittle trouble getting services from our school because Dylan is so High >Functioning. ( as they say) . Any input how to get thru this transition is >greatly apprecated. >>The Marotta Family <marottafamily@...> wrote:>Welcome, ! I'm glad you found us! You are among friends! My son is >6 years old, but he wasn't diagnosed until age 3, so we probably got the >diagnosis at the same time as your family. Those few weeks after the >diagnosis were very rough for me, but reading your email reminds me of how >far my son has come these last 3 years. I am very proud of all his hard >work and he has taught me a thing or two!! . I look forward to getting to >know you better and sharing our experiences!>> Marotta>>P.S. One of my son's SLPs moved to Lakewood. Do you live near there? I >don't know if she is currently working with children with autism or not, >but I think I could contact her and ask if you are interested.>----- Original Message ----->From: Biehl> >Sent: Monday, May 02, 2005 3:22 PM>Subject: [ ] My introduction>>>Hi My name is . I have a 5 year old (as of this May) son with PDD_NOS >We live in Cuyahoga County by Hopkins Airport. When we found out our son >was Autisic when he was 2 and we thought all our dreams for him were down >the drain, (as I am sure many of us did) But with all we have accomplished >so far I think his future looks very bright. I want to thank you for >starting this group. We all need someone who gets what we are all going >through. We are still dealing with potting training issues and if anyone >has any suggestions I would be glad to hear what you have to say. Dylan >talks (alot) but what he has to say doesn't always make sense to us. He >doesn't always stay on topic and pronouns we are still working on those >pronouns. We are looking for a speech theropist in our area. Well thanks >again for the group look foward to meeting families like ours. >>>>>--------------------------------->