psycho. educ. evaluation

[Guest guest]

and anyone,

Our son just turned 5 four weeks ago and is cruising through his sounds. He

just has l, r, and th left. He is " ok " on the r and th. It's more his language

and past/present, using " question " words, proper word order in a sentence, etc.

He knows all letters and sounds and is " ok " with reading. he's fine with

sounding out words in isolation or doing 3-5 words on a page, but it's not a

blast to him. he reads the #'s on road signs (25, 35, etc.). He can count (just

gets caught up on 16) to 50 (+ with help), can count objects to 30 (last

checked), gets basic adding and subtracting with fingers, keeps telling us " Noah

and Nini (grandma's name) both start with an N- they're a match! " ; " Noah and

both have o, a, and h in their names. " ; " Madelyn and mommy have m's at

the beginning of their names " , etc., etc. They're working on this in class, but

he loves this. He's on the high levels of Earobics, etc. He knows all of his

friends first and last names, and he's recently started asking about all of our

middle names and has those down. He's in pre-k at our Speech School and will

do a transitional young 5's there next year. He did not take the psych. ed.

eval. this year b/c he didn't need it for young 5's. We didn't want to spend an

additional $3000 for kicks. This school relies HEAVILY on this test- if you ask

any questions about anything, they say " take the test- it will answer all

questions. " Have others taken this test? 2 of our friends who had it done at the

speech school were sorely disappointed. One friend is a ST herself. Her son

doesn't have apraxia (has anxiety and some expressive language issues). Another

psychol. looked at his report and said they never should've given him a certain

test (i think the verbal iq?- not exactly sure)- she said it's not an accurate

assessment at this point- and therefore in some ways- the test was a waste (at

$3000). his other scores were off the charts. just wondering what others think

about this test. we are very skeptical of this test's results over-riding what

his teachers (st/ot/special ed. teacher- all in one class) think. my child's

not one who does well when questioned unless he's VERY comfortable. The

teachers are very vague and his ST just says " Take the test; these kids are at

high risk for having LD's- he will need to be in a speech/language supported,

small classroom for years. " A friend (hasn't met our son) who worked at a local

LD school until her husband was transferred said it doesn't sound like he has an

LD. We're frustrated and confused by all of this. Another kid with apraxia in

his class is being sent on to mainstream. He still has a lot of fears (sensory).

Another apraxic boy is being sent on to an LD school (right there at speech

school- upstairs) and another apraxic boy is being sent to a small class school

with no speech/language supports- but for kids not ready for mainstream (he has

stuttering and tics, but his speech/language sounds better than Noahs; he's also

leaning toward adhd).

We have a conference in May. We always look forward to answers in those meetings

and always walk away frustrated. They're just HIGHLY guarded and vague in their

answers, but have very definite thoughts of where the child should go next- and

" GO TAKE THAT TEST UPSTAIRS! IT WILL ANSWER ALL OF YOUR QUESTIONS AND THEN WE'LL

ALL DIRECT YOUR CHILD AS TO WHERE HE SHOULD GO. " We just don't get why the

teachers can't give us more. Let's just say a few of us parents are having the

test done elsewhere next year if we have to do it. Another parent friend has

turned us on to a psychologist she went through who is wonderful. Also, some

say- " Don't put all of your eggs in one basket (have everything- therapies,

testing, etc. done at one school). "

He's in OT once/week, ST 2x/week + all of this support in the classroom. He

plays soccer (on a team with his buddies- does SO, SO, SO much better when on a

team with kids he's comfortable with- loves the sport now), does a karate class

and a gymnastics class. Can't hop on one foot perfectly and can't skip

perfectly, but has galloped for 2 years, has ridden a bike with training wheels

all over our hilly neighborhood for 2 years, hikes 2 mile mountains, ran the

local 1 mile road race with us this past summer (only walked the 2 little

hills), swims (sometimes gets the arms right, but not consistently, but swims in

horizontal position with head in water, breathing correctly and kicking). He

does back rolls in gymnastics, he does the zip line with no help, he walks the

balance beam and does the crab walk on parallel bars. frustration- his

classroom ot writes on his report- can't throw a ball or kick a ball and run at

the same time. He CAN throw a ball and run and kick a ball (yes, w/out stopping-

i know what she's getting at). If you ask his soccer coach if he can do these

skills- he'll tell you w/out hesitation- YES! But, when his ot in the classroom

asks him to do it- nope! and this is written on his formal evaluations. i'm ok

with it being written as long as it's qualified- can't do it in " certain

situations- when all eyes are on him in an evaluation type setting. " His outside

OT (who we really like) said, " I'd love to come watch a soccer game. " I said,

" Please do so you can see what he can do in a real life setting! " A fellow

parent said, " Do you think they believe you? " I said, " Kinda thinking- no. "

We're at the point we're going to start videotaping.

He has sensory (needs arousal; spacey), but is improving. has done well on ther.

listening. we're taking a break and she'll pick it up again this summer while

he's at " sensory " camp.

He's done well there and loves it. It's a VERY highly regarded school in the

area. And it really has been a great year- no regrets. And we're looking forward

to next year. But...it also has a reputation for being very conservative and

very nit-picky. some say this is good...conservative meaning they're going to

err on the safer environment for our children and they're going to stick to

tried and true methods. Let's just say they're just coming around to therapeutic

listening. not something they think is really that helpful- and won't even

listen to the idea of any other types of music or other therapies outside of

traditional ot and st. Let's just say when Noah (in 1 day!!!) went from

non-engaged to fully engaged in class (his lead teacher- the ST- said " like a

switch has been turned on. " ), they were all so excited! But, when it came to

conference time a month later, they all calmed down and said, " Well, ther.

listening is a boost, but what is really helping Noah the most is what's going

on in class. " I'm not arguing with that, but there's definitely a sense of " The

director is telling us to tell you that you must keep him in this class for as

long as we say b/c this is the only thing that is going to help him- other

therapies aren't really important. " If you ask a question, they ALWAYS (and all

parents say this) take a day to get back to you- hmmm (checking with the

director for that politically correct, vague answer?) No suggestions of books to

read or any networks to join to find more information. Definitely get the sense

of - " Just take this test, listen to us and let us direct the show. " I have my

masters in pre-k to 8th grade. I've taught 1st and 7th grade for a # of years

(presently at home). I don't take well to being shut out.

I guess for starters I wonder what others think of this psych. ed. test. And

what you think of where my kid's at, academically, since both of your boys went

through this. Are we looking at special schools for a very long time?? Or can he

ever be mainstreamed at a normal, small class (15) private school with a basic

resource room like all schools have now? His classroom OT looked at me at the

beginning of the year and said, " You have very high expectations for your

child. " I hadn't said anything other than I'd like for him to go to our local

public elementary school. I DO NOT want him at one of the top private schools;

a mid-level one- sure, but is that truly unrealistic at some point? I was a bit

put off by that statement. Is my son a lost cause?

ps. Our public school is wonderful if you're a " normal " outgoing kid. Special

services are AWFUL. To the point- you have to threaten to sue to get them to

talk to you. And I had connections.

thanks for any thoughts.