Evaluation Meeting to Determine if IEP is Needed - Results of meeting

[Martie]

GOOD JOB DREID!!!!!!!!! Way To Go at the meeting!!!

ADHD is not always an automatic qualifer but your difficult child has a lot more going on. A DSM diagnosis is also not an automatic qualifier. However, check out the meaning of a GAF scores of 58. It suggests that there are serious funcitonal problems (to me.) That rating is based on SOMETHING--the question is what.

There is a link in the archives of Sp Ed 101 about "protections for children not yet eligible." IF you send a CERTIFIED (of course) letter to your SD stating that you have reason to believe that your difficult child can not follow school rules and normal discipline procedures due to the manifestation of a disabling condition, then most of the protections of having an IEP kick in. This constitutes legal notice that the SD knows or should have known that there is a problem. I would write this letter immediately due to what was said today. difficult child is in the evaluation process but they might try to state that it is not for behavioral issues so send them the information CERTIFIED to cover that escape hatch.

A speech pathologist cannot diagnosis a Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). Only an audiologist can. Your SD can either accept your audiologist's report IN TOTAL (not pick and choose the sentences they like and ignore the rest) or they can get an outside audiologist to evaluate. I had this happen once. My ex-difficult child was not responding to directions (duh) and said "huh?" a lot because it is annoying and disruptive to the teacher in a passive aggressive way (he HATED the teacher--feeling was mutual ) Anyway, the S/L person said he MIGHT have a Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) and I said (right in the meeting because they had not disclosed this to me beforehand) that I HAD a child with a Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) (my easy child who was by then well-compensated) and there was NO WAY! Further the S/L person was not qualified to do the diagnosis, and ex-difficult child was (and is) a musician with no auditory processing problems and much more acute hearing, sense of pitch, rate of processing, etc. than the average student. I also produced earlier auditory results (part of a battery) that suggested superior auditory processing skills. They wrote in the meeting notes that "Mom (which is NOT my name) is in denial." LOLOLOL I told them, "By all means, have him evaluated by my easy child's audiologist at Northwestern Unversity S/L Clinic; happy to comply with this request--where is the consent form?" They thought about the cost and decided that they really wouldn't use this mechanism to draw the topic onto blaming ex-difficult child (or me) because they wanted to lose focus on what THEY needed to be doing.

Your difficult child DOES have a Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) but the above illustrates how SDs can use bogus evaluations to try to switch the subject. Don't let them do it. Either they use your audiologist or produce their own.

I am between meetings but if you need more information, ask.

Martie

 

[Sheila]

Sounds as if things went well. Good job, Mom!

this was an evaluation meeting to determine if an IEP is needed

Not exactly. This was a meeting to decide what private evaluations they are going to use and what evaluations they want to do in-house. After evaluations are completed and the sd report written, there will be another meeting for eligibility determination purposes.

Just so you know, the regs state, "In evaluating each child with a disability under §§300.531-300.536, the evaluation is sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of the child's special education and related services needs, whether or not commonly linked to the disability category in which the child has been classified. The child is assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability, including, if appropriate, health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, communicative status, and motor abilities."

What this means is that if they discover or "suspect" an additional evaluation(s) is needed during the process, the sd needs to do more than what was initially decided.

but they wanted further testing outside of the Audiolgists report to see if my son needs speech therapy.

A Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) can not diagnose Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) (aka Auditory Processing Disorders (APD)). Ironically, however, a Speech Language Pathologist is the professional that treats Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). [There is a difference between treating Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) and providing accomodations for Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). You'd want the sd to provide both.]

If the sd IEP team members do not understand your private evaluation lingo, get the doctor to write it in plain language. "X has been diagnosed with ADHD-Combined and Central Auditory Processing Disorder."

She stated that she it not evaluating for Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), but for his need of speech therapy as noted in the audiologists report that one should be conducted.

Does the audiologist's report recommend additional testing?

Speech therapy typically has to do with annunciation. Language therapy would be to treat the Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). A qualified Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) could do both.

Test of Auditory-Perceptual Skills-Revised (TAPS-R)
by Morrison F. Gardner

Ages: 4-0 through 13-11
Testing Time: 10-15 minutes
Administration: Individual
The Test of Auditory-Perceptual Skills (TAPS), a highly respected, well-normed and well-standardized measurement of a subject's ability to perceive auditory matter, has been revised. TAPS-R provides valuable information used in the diagnosing of subjects who have auditory difficulties, imperceptions of auditory modality, and/or language problems that could be the basis for learning problems. Although the overall concept of the original TAPS has been retained, some of the original items have been replaced with new items.

The norms for the revised version of the TAPS are more refined and include standard scores, scaled scores, stanines and percentiles for each subtest. Scoring takes approximately 5 to 10 minutes.

I was advised that they will gather all information to determine if speech therapy is needed. They also tried to keep telling me the report states he has componets of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) and not necessarily the condition itself. And that means what, exactly for his IEP determination? The speech therapist also made an indication that she spoke with a "collegue" who has over 20 yrs exp to confirm. I think they do not want to implement the suggestions of my audiologist which is to provide audio devices to help him with the condition.

You're probably right. There are different types of Auditory Processing Disorders (APD). I agree they are giving you the runaround.

You can also consult with the Audiologist; get his input and/or a letter from him/her if need be. Also, keep in mind that if you do not agree with the sd's evaluation, you can get an IEE. Just the next time around, it will be at school district expense.

 

[dreid]

First, thank you everyone for your input. It helped a lot.

Well, this was an evaluation meeting to determine if an IEP is needed--so the IEP team kept telling me.

Basically, they are stating that they can use my IEE for the psychiatric evaluation, but they wanted further testing outside of the Audiolgists report to see if my son needs speech therapy. They kept trying to tell me that my reports do not indicate that my son as ADHD and or Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), but it this is what my reports states:

"Significant evidence of ADHD, Combined Type is present and is consistently indicated in each Conner's Scale, Achenbach Child Behavior Check List, etc..."

"Impressions:

Axis I 314.01 ADHD Cobmined Type
Axis III Central Auditory PRocessing Disorder
AXIS V GAF 58"

Cosndieration should be given to trating the disgnsed ADHD, Combined type with medication"

Does not prove he has the disorder, as diagnosis?


With his Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)

"...a definiate pattern of erros is noted on the central auditory processing test battery implicating auditory figure ground skills and auditory short term memory along wit organization skills--which wil futher degrade writing skills."

There were also abnormalities noted in the sutitory short term memory procissing to facilitate teh developmetn of language arts including reading, writing and spelling.

There was a speech therapist present. She stated that she it not evaluating for Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), but for his need of speech therapy as noted in the audiologists report that one should be conducted. She will conduct a TAPS-R test (not sure what this is, gotta research it). I asked if his one-on-one evaluation comes out that he is fine, what would happen in the situation that it is noted there are issues as it pertains to group settings by his teachers and the proposed audiologist's report, what then? I was advised that they will gather all information to determine if speech therapy is needed. They also tried to keep telling me the report states he has componets of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) and not necessarily the condition itself. And that means what, exactly for his IEP determination? The speech therapist also made an indication that she spoke with a "collegue" who has over 20 yrs exp to confirm. I think they do not want to implement the suggestions of my audiologist which is to provide audio devices to help him with the condition.

I also asked what type of protection he has from expelltion due to behavior issues (which is also being evaluated). Again, no one could really answer my question and kept telling me to setup a meeting with the principle and the school counselor. However, the IEP case manager told me that more than likely the school follows the process applied to "all students." Now, my question is that if his behavior and conduct is relative to his conditions, even though we are still waiting for the school to evaluate him, what type of legal protection does he have as far as discplinary actions? THey danced all around this question and no one wanted to give me a straight answer accept for the fact the school will follow the normal guidelines. Is my son protected while going through the evaluation to determine if an IEP is needed, and/or in light of having IEE reports on specific conditions?

So, right now, its just evalutions to see if there is a need to implement an IEP for my son.


PS - I kept my kewl and I feel good about that. I need to know more about my rights however. Some stuff still does not make sense.