Types of IEEs?

[jennd23]

I don't have much time to post but I wanted to get out what I could.

We had the meeting at school today where they say my guy is not eleigible for anything. He doesn't meet their autism criteria, he doesn't meet any educational need for OHI. They're going to do a psychiatric evaluation (school psychologist) to see if he can qualify under ED.

I disagreed at the end of the meeting and have requested an IEE. Now I have to write a letter about WHY I disagree (fine) and request the IEE, as I was leaving one of the ladies said (off the record) make sure you are VERY specific about what type of IEE you want.

I have NO idea what to put. I assumed an IEE would be an overall evaluate for ANYTHING but apparently not. Obviously I want an autisim evaluation, communication evaluation, and Occupational Therapist (OT) evaluation, but is there something big or obvious that I'm missing?

I know I haven't provided a ton of information but what other kinds of evaluations are there?

 

[rlsnights]

You can request independent evaluation of every area of suspected disability - which basically means every area since you have no way of knowing for sure that he doesn't have a disability in any given area. And that is what I would do in your place.

Do you have a copy of the assessment plan document that you originally signed agreeing to his assessment? Most school districts use a standard form that lets them just check all the boxes that apply.

Normally you would tell them your concerns or why you believe your child is a child with a disability which limits his ability to benefit from the regular classroom instruction without modifications. Then the school district will send you an Assessment Plan form for your signature with things checked off.

If that's what they do, please know that it is your right to check every single box on that form including the Other boxes and write in things you think need to be assessed that don't fit the other categories.

If you want to get more specific in your letter, pull out and use the district's own Assessment Plan as the basis for your IEE request. You should have a copy of the one they had you sign before they did the assessments the first time.

The form I have would allow you to check all the following:

General Intelligence/intellectual function
Health and development screening
Social-emotional and adaptive - should say it focuses on social proficiency, attitudes and feelings about school and self
Behavior - usually means you want a functional behavior assessment of how he's doing in the classroom with the intent of targeting instruction to his unique learning needs. You also want it to look at his functioning outside the classroom - at lunch, recess, bus if he's transported
Body Coordination and motor abilities - PT and Occupational Therapist (OT) evaluation of gross and fine motor skills plus you should say you want sensory integration assessment if you think he has sensory issues; most ASDers do
Communication - i.e. speech with the focus on language processing and pragmatics not articulation
Academic Achievement
Other - Autism assessment

If you are satisfied with the school district's academic assessment - usually done by using the Woodcock Johnson - then I would skip that. But the W-J is a brief test and may not do a good job assessing reading and writing skills in particular. If you think his scores in these areas are not accurate then you can ask for specific assessment in these areas. For example, once I insisted on a reading assessment for my son and the district chose to use an independent evaluator who was a reading specialist who found significant issues that had not been revealed by the W-J scores. Another time I wanted his writing assessed and that was done by the speech pathologist from the perspective of language processing and pragmatics.

If you have an advocate I would ask that person for suggestions about what to include in your letter and how specific to get. If possible have that person review your letter before you send/hand deliver it to Special Education.

Patricia

 

[TiredSoul]

My son qualifies for an IEP under the category "Other - Health Impaired" due to this ADHD. If his issues impede his learning or the learning of others around him - I think he should qualify. I have heard from a lot of people who don't get qualified for ADHD. I don't understand that.

 

[jennd23]

Thanks for the input! I do have that form and I'm going to whip it out and go through the boxes.

He doesn't qualify for OHI either according to them today (again I disagree). "luckily" he is doing great academically. He doesn't have many behavior problems but his teacher brought up some today that we hadn't talked about (which I appreciated), i am mostly concerned with his social skills (his district does have a social skills program) and communication issues. His teacher was totally on our side and said many times "just because he's doing well grade wise, he is NOT being successful educationally because of his social deficits."

 

[TeDo]

Definitley request an evaluation of EVERYTHING you think might be causing ANY problems for him. rls is right about the testing they do. It is not nearly as thorough as it should be. My son did fine on the Woodcock-Johnson but when I requested an IEE of his reading abilities, we found another whole list of skills he was lacking. The SpEd teacher's response was "that's not what our testing showed" but it was the school district's reading coordinator that did the assessment so he had to swallow his words.

Push for what your son needs. Go Warrior Mom

 

[rlsnights]

Oh ho. If the general ed teacher was saying there are problems - you know there are problems.

When you write the letter to the district requesting an IEE I would quote that teacher or refer to her remarks that were made at the IEP meeting. Excellent ammunition for mediation/due process should you end up there.

There is one thing to be careful about. You do not want to get so narrow in your request that the independent evaluators can't pursue things or use different tests than what you think need to be done/used. So you want to word your letter to address broad issues - like social functioning - while giving some specific examples to support your contention that he is a child with a disability that requires modification of the curriculum to benefit from his education.

Do not use language that suggests that he needs Special Education services in order to "reach his full potential" or anything like that. Case law has clearly established that FAPE does not include services designed to maximize a child's potential. The requirement is that he be able to benefit from his education to the same degree or in the same way that a non-disabled child would do.

If you haven't been there, I suggest you check out Wright's Law www.wrightslaw.com. It is a fantastic site totally dedicated to helping parents advocate for their disabled child. It has lots of legal information about IEPs and 504's as well as some good publications and practical suggestions. Highly recommended.

Patricia

 

[jennd23]

So as part of the follow up, the school is going to do the following assessments:

Language (speech and language skills, voice, and fluencey...expressive language, receptive language, etc)
Physical
Emotinal/Behavioral
Sociological
Intellectual/Adaptive Behavior
Educational Learning Competencies
Adaptive/Assistive Technology


So with that in mind, I guess for this one all I can request is the neuropsychologist evaluation? I can't request any of the others at this time because they haven't done them yet?

 

[seriously]

Do you have private health insurance? Have you tried getting a neuropsychologist evaluation through it?

If not, I think it might be a better idea to go that route assuming you don't have a huge share of cost or copay.

Otherwise, I doubt the school district will agree to an IEE until after all those assessments are done and the team has met to review them. Once they have those results they may find that he does qualify in which case you are not going to get an IEE. And I doubt they will get all those assessments done before the end of this school year unless he's at a year-round school. So you will end up meeting again when school starts. You can request that they meet during the summer but I doubt you will get them to agree mainly because the regular ed teachers are not working. You might get a meeting the week before school starts but they could even still be working on the assessments then.

This is a perfect example of why a parent has to be educated and proactive with school districts.

A knowledgeable Special Education person "should" have listed most of those areas for assessment when a child was being considered for an autism classification. Autism has global effects and is associated with a fairly consistent pattern of disabilities. The lack of a speech assessment is particularly glaring since communication is one of the most significant areas of disability for autistic individuals.

But they didn't.

If you haven't signed the assessment plan yet I would write on it somewhere - other or next to the speech/language section that you want the assessment to include pragmatic language, reciprocal communication/conversation and abstract language.

If you signed it at the IEP meeting, make a copy of the one you signed and and write on it in big letters Amended Assessment Plan and the date. Then write this info in using blue ink so it's clear that it's not part of the original document and sign it. Copy it for your records and send the original marked up copy to Special Education with a cover note saying you wanted it to be very clear that these areas needed to be assessed. You could also e-mail or fax it and follow up with a mailed copy preferably with proof of delivery.

PJ

 

[jennd23]

I have already taken him to a neruopsych (that was on the list the district gave me), if they don't liek that diagnosis, they can pay for a second one!