Evaluation Experinences Please

2BoysnKy

New Member
I am in the process of looking to see what evaluations are offered in our area.. which should be plenty to choose from.. Shorty needs them for emotional/social/sensory that I can pin point. I am shooting for a multi-disciplinary evaluation but I am wanting to know what to expect if I take him in for one. what are they going to do?
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Depends on who all the team members are. Some teams include Occupational Therapist (OT), some don't... here, in general, they don't, but that's not necessarily true elsewhere from what I hear.

Occupational Therapist (OT) is going to be one of your big ones... if the team doesn't include that, then get your own separate Occupational Therapist (OT) evaluation, before the team evaluation... because the team will make use of the Occupational Therapist (OT) report as part of their evaluation.

At such a young age, I don't know what all the possible testing is... but much if it is difficult to do that young. Occupational Therapist (OT) - the sensory and motor skills stuff, is definitely NOT too young. Likely ditto for speech evaluation. Beyond that... mine were school-aged before their first evaluations, so I haven't been through the process with a 2yo.
 

Ktllc

New Member
V was 4 when he had a psycho-educational evaluation and seperate speech and Occupational Therapist (OT) evaluation. I could not find one clinic to handle all the testings... so I had to get seperate professionals, but at the end I got a pretty good idea of what is going on.
As far as Sweet Pea, EI tested her whole development through a screening and then only did the actual test for speech as it is her problem area.
To be honest, I don't regret having V tested, but the psycho-educational evaluation did not reveal anything I did not know already... The Occupational Therapist (OT) was the big one for us, and then speech/audio as he has Auditory Processing Disorders (APD).
We are now waiting for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) testing specifically (loooong waiting list).
Even with testings, it's not a perfect science. Sometimes, kids have a clear cut diagnosis, but most of the time it is a lot of trials and errors. The younger the child is, the harder it is to really find a diagnosis.
In the mean time, even if there are still lots of ?, you can still identify some lagging skills and work on them or compensate the difficulties. Does your little one have issues with calming down: read about calming techniques (calming music works really good for my kiddos), weighted items, etc. Does he have problems remembering things: make it visual. Expressing feelings with words: read about feelings, act the feelings for him and make him participate, (that's a VERY hard one for V... still not successful at it. I kind of put it in the back burner for now).
What did your pediatrician suggest?
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
The first multi-disciplinary group my son went to was in a university hospital (I highly recommend university hospitals). If I recall, every type of professional available tested him, including an Occupational Therapist (OT) and a PT and a SLT. A psychologist preceded over the rest of them. Although we got a lot of useful information about son's problems/deficits, and we DID get help from the county and, later, the school district, they still misdiagnosed him. But that's ok. A very young child is likely to be misdiagnosed. The main thing is to find the issues that he needs help with. If you have any way to do it, I'd take him to a university hospital. They tend in my opinion to be t he best and also be on the cutting edge...and very thorough.
 

2BoysnKy

New Member
I see the pedi next wednesday. She already knows I am having problems with Shorty so it should surprise her that I want the evaluation. The evaluation will be done at the university or children's hospital I imagine. Either is fine they are both state of the art and excellent places. I'm not so much worried about a diagnosis as much as knowing what all he needs help with and finding out what I can do to help him. I try to stay on top of him without irritating him so I can keep him redirected to stay out of trouble as any discipline sets him off. Caillou and CareBears are our friends right now. I can put on one of those and make sure he has his blanket and bear and he tends to simmer down, unless I didn't catch it quick enough and he is in a full blown fit. Yesterday was our first fit free day in two weeks and he spent the entire day in underwear. I am hoping for the same today....
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Your expectations are very realistic.

Try to find out whether these teams include Occupational Therapist (OT) or not. If they do, they will be checking for sensory issues... which is very high on the probability list. If not... book an Occupational Therapist (OT) evaluation on the side, for sensory and motor skills evaluation, so you can take the results with you.
 
L

Liahona

Guest
I had to get all the tests done separately and then take the results with me to his different doctors.
 
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