Evaluation Consent Form

[ALLISA]

Hi all....

It is time for Erin's 3 year eval....and I got consent form from school that I need to sign and return.

They checked off that they would like to do for evaluations :

Speech/language, OT, and Educational Asssessment.

There were other options that they did not check off.....
Observation of child, Health Assemnet, Psycholigical assement and home assesment.

I'm thinkinf of asking for a psycholigical assessment on top of what the three they reccommend.....the description was as follows :

describes the students learning capacity & learnign style in relationship to social/emotional development & skills.

Sounds pretty okay to me. and seems like something that should be done....not sure why they didn't think it should be done.

What do you all think ? Have you had this ? Is it worthwhile ?



Home Assesment description is as follows :

details any pertinent family history and home situations tah may affect the students education and with written consent, may include a home visit.

not so sure about that one....but.....have had a home visitor in the past & it was helpful.....would this evaluation be a "first step" into getting some support in place at home ? By support I mean help with communication things.....

Just curious about what you all have done in past in relation to evaluation consents.....do you feel.....

Consent to anything and everything ?

Consent to NOTHING ?

Consent to only what you want to focus on ?

I don't recall signing this form when she had her first eval 3 years ago....pretty good chance I DID sign it....jsut don't remember it now,

Are there any advantages/disadvantages to giving consent ? Does anyone withold their consent ?

Thanks for any thoughts you have......

[damarasmom]

Sounds pretty confusing to me. I have not had this yet since Damara is still only in Pre-K....it will be interesting to see what other parents have to say about this.

[wrblack]

We just did this with Charlie. He was up for his 3 year review also. Have a new case manager from our school district. She wrote us and his special ed school a letter and set up a meeting.
Very short meeting. And not what she was used to, I don't think.
We basically said, sure, go ahead and evaluate him for whatever you like. And good luck. We didn't really see any point in any further evaluation at this time. Special ed teachers, therapists, case manager said, yes, they had already discussed this also and agreed that Charlie did not need any testing nor further evaluation at this time. His current placement and services are appropriate.
So, case manager from school district said, well, okay then, we'll all get together again in a couple of weeks for IEP meeting.
Just our experience. But, yes, I think it would be fine for you to agree to any testing, evaluation that school wanted to do and to ask for any additional testing, evaluation, like the psych eval, that you'd like to see.
Some people might object to an educational assessment if it included IQ testing. But I don't have any objection to that with either of my boys but can understand why some people worry about some aspects of that. -- Bob

[momofrussell]

My thoughts are like Bob's (I know, it's probably rare right? LOL)....

I personally think they should be done BUT, I do understand why others think otherwise... they can't do them without your consent though I say do it AND if you want other testing to be done put it in writing that you want it done... they either have to do them or give you a "notice of action" refusing what you requested.

We've never had a home eval..... Russell's 3 yr evals were up this year and we did all but the IQ and the Autism.... and Russell's educaitonal DX got changed from MR (or not the PC term "ID" ) to "multi-disabled" or something to that effect.

I am curious what the purpose of the "Educational Assessment" is? Is that something for the educational DX part of the testing? Or what is the purpose of that?

A.

[ALLISA]

Nov 14, 2008 18:20:58 GMT -5 momofrussell said:

I am curious what the purpose of the "Educational Assessment" is? Is that something for the educational DX part of the testing? Or what is the purpose of that?

A.

To me the educational assessment seems more like just a progress report and maybe is wanted due to her "out of district" status.....this is how the description reads:

"includes the history of the student's educational progress in the general curriculum and includes current information on the students performance."

they took her off PT a couple of years ago....I had agreed at the time....becasue we were "bargaining" for more speech time.....should I request a PT eval ? to see if one would be helpful.....there is a LOT she can't do ......though I'm sure none of it really relates to acadmics......

[Kristin]

I believe that knowledge is power, so if the testing helps you make better decisions as to your child's needs, I say request it. If you already know what is in your child's best interest and things are progressing in a positive manner, let it be. It sounds like you might want the PT eval if you're willing to put that service back on the table for negotiation. If the need for PT is shown to be significant by the testing, then it should be easier to argue that the services are needed.