Evaluation Info by Bowen

[Guest guest]

From - I also have some specific information about neuropsychologicals if anyone needs it.

The tests that I recommended to are meant to aid in the rule out process and to identify of the other issues which are impacting education. Let me first say that, as a general rule, I don't like the school's evaluations at all because they know how to put together tests and subtests to achieve the desired results - less areas of weaknesses which means less or no services needed. But, you have to start somewhere and this is what I would suggest.

If your child is having problems , they must test in all areas of his SUSPECTED disability. This is the law. Please request this in writing - leave out all the legal stuff because you don't want to be adversarial at all right now- you are simply asking for what they must provide. Address this letter to the Dept. Head of Special Education or the Principal- cc. the other one. I would not address his teachers directly because this is not an issue that they can give you an answer too anyway so you would be wasting time.

1. I would get a complete neuro-psychological. This is a licensed psychologist who receives special post-doctorate training . He studies brain -behavior relationships but he has specifically designed tests ( which are not normally used by the schools ) to see if brain functions are not normal. This is a very important piece of the puzzle because it can steer you into the right directions. [ Bowen]

2. A thorough Occupational eval. is crucial. In the school environment, an OT helps a child be successful in their daily life there. They typically address problems with written expression, forgetfulness, following instructions, paying attention, organizing work, adjusting to routines or changes in existing routines, some social issues . The most crucial part of this is that you ask for someone who is trained in SENSORY INTEGRATION . These are the tactile, vestibular, and proprioreceptive areas that many kids have difficulties with and it is crippling them in the school environment.

3. A thorough speech and language eval. is crucial. Many people think this is just for kids with articulation deficits - NO, not true. The school may even suggest that you are over the top for wanting this. Stick to your guns. Kids need a strong language base to be successful in reading and writing. A good therapist can look at auditory and perceptual skills to see if poor memory is a problem. She will examine executive function although you need a separate test for this which I will outline below.

Make sure to ask for the CELF-3 and the TOWL - these are good tests and can provide some good answers. Guess what ? School typically does not do these.

4. A test of executive functioning skills. This will offer attentional skills deficits as well as organizational, planning processes, and ability to perform what's in your head skills. These are crucial skills to academic success and need to be examined.

5. A functional behavioral analysis. Every one of these I have seen done by the schools I have worked in are useless. The school psychologist is NOT a good person to administer this. Let them do it, though, because then you can disagree with it and ask for an independent one. Schools use this to the detriment of a child because they focus on BAD behavior and look for reasons to get rid of kids rather than educate them. AN FBA tells WHY a child is having behavior issues and identifies problems within the school that could be exacerbating them. What precipitated the behavior ? What are you doing to help my child learn new behavior skills ? What function is non-compliant behavior serving for your child ? What is he getting out of it ? Is there a pattern to the non-compliance or negative behaviors ? Is the child avoiding something by exhibiting the behavior ? What you are trying to do here is diminish the undesirable behaviors with providing motivators, alternatives, and perhaps more appropriate learning environments.

6. Auditory Processing Test- this test will look at how a child processes auditory information when the language and cognitive demands of the test or task are controlled. In other words, they test a child's ability to manipulate language or verbal information in order to comprehend or understand the message. For kids to understand, they must get the auditory message, understand the language in the message, understand the language rules in the message, hold the message in short-term memory, attend and focus on the relevant pieces of the message and then formulate a decision about the message ( cognitive processing)

This would be my recommendation to start. This is alot of testing . Proper evaluations are so crucial to this whole process. They determine NEEDS which determine GOALS AND OBJECTIVES which determine PLACEMENT. This process does not work the other way around. If needs are not identified, there can be no placement issue- they cannot stick him in a holding tank until they figure this out either.

Now, you have to be careful with this because the school likes to discredit results by saying things like " Your child wasn't attending that day .", " If he just tried harder, he can do it . " and other such crap. Results can vary, yes, depending on medication, time of day, sleep the night before, all of these things. But they are irrelevant when your child is in need of services. If they use the ATTENTION card, ask for another test and you will be in attendance during testing to ensure attention. For every reason they discredit the results, have an answer. Have a plan- they will try to catch you off guard and you cannot let them do this.

These evaluations need to be done by qualified people. I know that sounds strange but you will need to make sure that the person performing a test is actually qualified to perform that test and to determine the results properly. It has to be more than one instrument or assessment procedure. It must be in your child's native language and it must not discriminate against your child. These are the guidelines. Ask what types of tests will be given- which specific instruments will be used and why. By what date will I have a written report of the evaluation ? Tell them you need to have it at least 48 hours before a scheduled meeting so you can review and share with your private doctor if need be.