Jelani's psych eval

[jelanismom]

Jelani's psych eval was last week and I didn't tell this to anyone...but it went badly because he didn't answer any of her questions... she "went super fast" and she kept shooting them out like bullets... ...nope doesn't work well with our kids. He has words (one -two word stage) and he's 5 yrs old...I always say " use your words Jelani"...but he uses them minimally... to almost "never" sometimes... unless it's something he wants like milk or spongebob or icecream, bath and elmo. So the psychologist asked him to point to the red ball in a book of colorful balls...and to stack cubes...(all of which he does at home) but didn't do it for her. So she asked me alot of questions about him and ended the eval with a very important word to the wise for me....she said ...(now get this, you guys).... " It was thought that your son may be higher functioning...but you're son has Mental Retardation"...........I was just silent thinking oh she didn't...and then left. AMAZING frikin AMAZING. I didn't know that I needed a psych eval to determine my son's cognitive function and have a psychologist fill me in on her latest findings!!!!I'm astonished that nobody told me my son had MR, wow.... because I'm certainly not involved in my son's life because I've been living in a cave here and I have little or no contact with the outside world.... So glad we had this eval!!!!
A.~ this must be one of those weeks...

[momofrussell]

Dawn, what was the purpose of the psych eval? Who requested it? Why was it needed?

I hate to tell you but that IS what a psych eval is.. they will determine what cognitive level a child is at and IQ kinda stuff... MR is included with that. I am sorry that hit you wrong.

Sorry you had a rough go with it!

A.

[jelanismom]

Good question A~ I called his Regional Ctr. service coordinator to ask who referred him for this eval...seems it was the school who asked for it, w/o telling me...I just get a postcard in the mail from RC to bring him to an appointment.

I'm joking about "not knowing about MR"

Since his IFSP days w/RC at 6mos old it was listed MR and I questioned it then...how could they determine MR when he was a baby still?.....but once it was explained to me about MR being listed to qualify him for services (Ds alone won't)...then I
understood. LOL I just felt that the Psychologist should not have assumed I was ignorant of my son. (harsh to say but my really my feelings of her) There are parents that are new to this that she can lay the news on...I just would have appreciated respect for my knowledge thus far on this road of Ds discovery I've spent 5 years building all by myself (boo-hoo) I pat myself on the back now and then because no one else does! ;D

[Googsmom aka Jennifer]

Do our kids HAVE to have this evaluation? When does this happen? This is a new one for me. I've never thought someone else besides mom or dad could really tell what their child could do.
Brook almost always won't do what her teacher asks at that minute. I do alot of video taping to show them she can do it. The first 15 minutes of school time is spent right here at the computer watching Brook do what she won't do for the teacher

[Emilysmom]

Dawn,
I understand..........not sure I would have liked the "it was thought that your son may be higher functioning, BUT" comment at all either. Maybe there really are parents who are totally stunned by the test results, but I think most people totally get it! Just give us the results and help us to help the kids!! (You know...........give us ideas on types of activities, therapy will help.)

Jennifer,
No..........you do not have to allow your child to have IQ testing. When you go from Early Intervention to the school system, they will want to do a number of tests (anyway, that's when Em had her first tests). For us, that was when she went from being "classified" as "Developmentally delayed" to "mentally deficient". (Long story, but THAT tore me to bits!! Where I work, if we get a "deficiency" from the state surveyors, we have done something WRONG......so I honestly preferred the term mentally retarded because that just meant SLOW to me.) But, usually the purpose of the testing is usually to qualify the child for special services. I had read that ALL children with Ds had mental retardation.....to some degree. So, did we really need an IQ score??

Emily has never ever tested well. She has always been fairly uncomfortable around strangers.......and especially strangers asking her questions and expecting an answer! So, I've never thought her test scores were a true reflection of what she knew or where she was developmentally. They give me the results and we just move on.

[naomid]

Dawn, maybe she really thought you didn't know!! I do get that they have to do the test in a standard way, even if it isn't the best way for our kids.

Jennifer, In california (at least in the la area) you do have to have the IQ test in order to keep receiving regional centre support after the age of 3. Without it your child looses regional centre funding which is for things such as respite care, summer camp and later on job help, etc.

[laurasnowbird]

This is apparently where the determination is different from state to state. In Michigan, Ethan qualifies for special education (in other words, services under IDEA) under POHI (Physically or Otherwise Health Impaired). No other testing is required to maintain his designation, and to date we have resisted efforts to do any IQ testing.

If I believed the testing would give an accurate representation of his abilities, I would allow it, but after extended conversations with experts in the pediatric psych department at Michigan's university hospital, it was apparent those tests are biased toward people with good language skills. They are unable to determine ability if the person being tested is unable to verbalize what they know. That didn't sit well with me....and I was unwilling to allow him to be penalized for his inability to verbally express all he knows.

The federal guidelines (IDEA 2004) give individual states some latitude in determining the standard they will apply to receive services. It would probably be helpful for you to find a copy of your state's administrative guidelines, or special ed regs, whatever they call them where you live.

Believe me, I've had experiences with our district telling me that things were in the regs that DID NOT exist, or that they interpreted very broadly to our DETRIMENT. Only the fact that I knew Ethan's rights kept them from running roughshod over us. In what state do you reside? Perhaps we can find them for you!

Laura

[Pat]

Sometimes psy evals can get you other services in the county. I had a psy eval on John-John once & it was not the test the county wanted. He wasn't a bright psy as he wrote things down that did NOT happen in the interview. He never even tried to ask John-John any questions. He also asked me if my 6 yr old could wait in the waiting room for 1/2 hr by himself.!
It was understandable as he was leaving the school district in 2 days & could have really cared less!
Pat

[naomid]

Laura,
It doesn't effect special education in california (although they prefer you to have the test). It's "other" services such as respite that are not provided through the school system. We had the test as a means to an end (ie getting services) and didn't really care what the outcome was. We already knew that there was no way that Callum was going to "perform" for a complete stranger in a strange environment and took the results of the test with a pinch of salt.

[Chris too]

Dawn, I gotta say ROTFL!! How hilarious that she thought that she was "informing" you of something new. I think I would have laughed in her face & said "I'm pretty sure we could've saved a lot of time here, 'cause I could've told you that." Really!

[jelanismom]

thanks all...I live in Cali. And I'm really just starting out getting my feet wet so to speak with all this IDEA stuff....it's bad mommy of me to not refer to this and KNOW how it applies to so many of my trillions of concerns. I know the link to wrightslaw is right here to read....but it's like when you are in highschool and wait to read the "book" for the book report...till the night before! I know I'm just venting alot here...I thankyou all for your support. You're always so supportive and now I'm spoiled rotten ;D

Oh and MR....hmm..... I have an abreviation for you...DS is "Dawn's Son and MR is "My Rugrat"...so there

[momofrussell]

Dawn... read "From Emotions To Advocacy" from Pam and Pete Wright... that book will help you A LOT...it's a very easy read and it's a MUST have for ALL parents... I truly feel all parents need it and I push the darn book LOTS...

It's always my shameless plug LOL

A.

[jelanismom]

LOL...thanks A.~ I'll check it out, maybe purchase at Amazon.com?

and you are shameless...

but maybe you get kickbacks? ;D

[Googsmom aka Jennifer]

Try half.com too. I find alot of great deals there

[momofrussell]

No... no kickbacks but I should! LOL I push that book like worse then a dope pusher LOL

Amazon has them and used ones too..BUT... make sure it's the IDEA 2004 version...lots of the used ones are pre 2004 with IDEA.. which is my book.. I've had it since before IDEA 2004.

A.