Fwd: Psychological Evaluations

January 9, 2012

Hi everyone.

My son's school just called and told me that they are " recommending "

that I have a psychological evaluation done on him. They feel that he

is presenting behaviors that they " have never seen from all the other

autistic children they have worked with. " (We live in North Country NY

and the educators are less than progressive).

They said that they are very concerned about these behaviors as they

are interfering with his ability to learn. The school psychologist

told me that they feel he may have a mood disorder or oppositional

defiance disorder (Oh no! ...the fallback to " we don't want to deal

with this behavior). I asked how knowing if he had dual diagnosis

would effect his educational plan, since the haven't even changed his

behavioral plan, or done a FBA. She really couldn't answer me

clearly.

He is in 5th grade and academically, it had been a challenging year

for him and very stressful. All the behaviors they are dealing with

stem from his anxiety and the fact that he is overwhelmed. He came

into 5th grade not testing at grade level (but they passed him

anyways). To me he is just trying to escape and doesn't like to do the

unrefereed activities. Also, why has he been able to make it to 5th

grade before anyone mentioned this? He

has been mainstreamed since 2nd grade. Also, my school district was

put on the carpet by NYS for not educating ESE children to NYS

standards.

Now, I have never put him on any pharmaceuticals, nor do I want him on

them (since I have heard hundreds of horror stories). MY fear is that

anyone at a psychiatric center who evaluates him will not be

experienced working with autistic children and the behavioral issues

that are part of that diagnosis, and they seem to want to prescribe

immediately...everyone - regardless (like banks giving lollipops to

children). Everything I have read on ODD says that these kids are

spiteful and deliberately defiant. The difference is that he is not

acting out of defiance and he has never done anything malicious or

spiteful. He has a history of looking for escape when he is

overwhelmed.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Debra

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