first school evaluation's results

[Ktllc]

We received the results today and difficult child does not meet the legibility criteria for any intervention.
The team did see some delays in a few areas but not significant enough (the most being 10% delay in speech).
They want to see him again in May though and re-evaluate him. They do feel the gap might become bigger and don't want him to fall through the cracks of the system.
They also stated to call them RIGHT AWAY if we get a diagnosis of Aspergers. Having seen him, they believe he will do fine in a regular classroom setting, next year in Kindergarten. But they also believe he might qualify for services down the road (when the gap is "big enough" witha 30% dealy in one area or 25% in 2 areas).
Even if we get an Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) diagnosis, they believe he will do fine in school with the proper help.
They recommended to keep him in daycare and keep working on his social skills.
I'm going to give you a short summary of his results so you can tell me if you see some red flags that you would be familiar with. His age is 50 months.
Here, we go:
*Attention: Most skills fall at a 54-month level.
*Problem-solving: most skills at a 48-month level
*Social cognition: based on LIMITED observation at a 48-month level. We have to keep in mind that the team did NOT observe in his daycare. difficult child usually does very good with adults but not good with his peers. So I want to think his social skills are BELOW the stated 48-month level.
*Complexity of play: 42-month
*Adaptive behavior results: 82 which place him in the below average range (85-115 being average)
*Educational: within normal range
*Gross motor: on the 48-54 month age range
*Fine and visual motor skills: 54-60 month level
*Languag comprehension: 45 month level. 10% delay
* Language production/pragmatics: 45 month level. 10% delay
*Articualtion and phonology: no concerns
*Voice and fluency: no concerns
*Oral mechanism: within normal

They also have set some "next steps" that V should be able to do within the next few months:
Label age-appropriate quantitive and descriptive concepts (first, last, less, full)
Produce ppast tense approprietely
Follow 2- and 3- steps directions without cues (I don't believe that one will come easy!!! he REALLY stuggles with it)

I guess, right now is the same old "wait and see".

 

[TeDo]

If he is displaying behaviors, he should qualify for services under EBD if nothing else next year in Kindergarten. If you get a diagnosis of any form of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), that should also qualify him. For now, that is the best they can do. The behavior will really come into play once he starts Kindergarten. If nothing else happens before then, a new written request for evaluation for behaviors should be ready to go the day he walks in the door the first day. It will be interesting to see what the psychiatrist evaluation says. When are you supposed to get that or is this the "psychiatric Evaluation" you refer to in your sig?

 

[InsaneCdn]

There's this major gap between "early childhood' and "school-age"... where the milestones stop (about age 2) on one set of criteria... and the expectations start (grade 1) on the other. Neither the schools nor the medical community knows what to look for, what all the milestones are.
As a result... many things don't even begin to show up until they encounter problems at school.

At least YOU know that problems are likely to be encountered, and are armed with the requests for testing etc. as the problems show up. This should shave a couple of years off the evaluation process....

 

[Ktllc]

Psychological evaluation has been canceled! The doctor is on sick leave and nothing has been reschuled yet. I had made phone calls to other neuro-psycholgists, but most don't take insurance.... Now that I have a whole year (on the school end), I think I'll wait until the original doctor can evaluate him. I know she is good (recommendation from local group), she takes our insurance and is not that far from where we live.
The school report confirms everything we suspected. I will keep on working with difficult child as far as everyday functioning, academics (he has a very unique way of learning) and therapy is a lot of helps when it comes to recognizing emotions and meltdowns.
We are all learning here and although the school won't help now, I feel they understand his issues.
The Special Education director also reminded me not to "forget" about Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). That as soon as he is old enough, testings should be scheduled.
We live in a small rural school district. The population here is very poor. Therefor, the district gets a lot of extra funding to tackle academic and behavior needs. I believe it does help the schools to stay on top of things.
My oldest son starts Kindergarten on Monday. I will try to volunteer as much as I can. If I give today, it will be easier to take tomorrow! I even thought of voluntering for creating a French class. Afterall, it might be fun and I know the elementary school used to have foreign language class but not anymore do to budget cuts.
Oh, I also asked what they thought about holding him back in case the "gap" gets bigger. They don't believe it would be a good idea in his case. They think his cognitive skills are too good to do that. I need to have faith in my little guy and stop worrying too much. Ok.. I'll have faith but I might worry a little though! lol

 

[TeDo]

It sounds like you have a very good plan. You know your son best and I know you won't "let it go". You're doing a great job so far. Keep it up.

 

[JJJ]

At least the school now has a baseline to go from so that they can track growth or lack of growth from age 4 to first grade. I think it is a good idea to wait for the right doctor to do the evaluations, a poorly done evaluation is worse than none at all.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) - things to watch for in Kindergarten...
- Not following directions "directly"... Does he listen to the teacher and start when the others do, or does he wait for the others to start and then copy what the other students do? If he is a "wait and watch", he may not be getting the verbal instructions. This can either be language processing or background noise processing...
- success when being worked with one-on-one, but not when being taught in a group - more likely to be background noise processing
- You won't get Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) testing - or at least not valid testing - until ADHD has either been ruled out or medicated, because ADHD inattentiveness can "mimic" some Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) problems.

 

[keista]

Does sound like you have a good plan.

One thing to remember about social skills. They are not the same as being social. Son was always very social and sought out other kids, and sometimes still does. He just didn't/doesn't know HOW to relate appropriately. That is the big defining difference. The sad part is that as they get older they do realize this and start isolating themselves or just backing off situations that require those skills.

I think the French class thing is a great idea. If they don't allow you to do a class, you might be able to teach French in the form of a club. One of our school's clubs is for ASL (American Sign Language). The teachers that do the club incorporate ASL into their regular curriculum, but haven't been able to get it as a permanent enrichment class, which I think, is a crying shame.