IEP Report Help

mamantraining

Background: DS is turning 3, diagnosed with moderate-severe apraxia.

He was assessed by the district and I just received the reports. I had quite a few questions/concerns, but will just list the main ones.

His main hurdle is articulation and the report indicates the articulation screen couldn't be completed due to inattentiveness. My question: do I request another eval in this area? Seems her findings in this area are based on observation and interviews. She does report he is highly unintelligible.

She then goes on to report that his nonverbal pragmatic skills are adequate to communicate socially, but that he can't maintain conversations. Is it just me or this doesn't match up?

The psychologist is reporting he doesn't have a 25% delay in atleast two areas or 50% in one area. My question: how do they know this without formalized testing ESP in the area of articulation? (Some rating scales were given for other areas of speech).

Final question: If indeed he doesn't qualify for a district preschool I would like to see him have some services in a private preschool in addition to some one on one. For example, a therapist works with him one on one on his articulation and then also works with him in the school environment to generalize those skills. Is this arrangement realistic?

Thanks for any and all input!

funchicken

That's so frustrating. We had a similar experience when I had DD1 evaluated by our district just after she turned 4. Even though an OT had evaluated her fine motor skills at a 20 month level, she didn't qualify for any services. She couldn't button clothing, string beads, or use scissors, and her grasp was extremely immature. They said that at that point it didn't interfere with her ability to access the curriculum ( yeah, right). We ended up sending her to a private preschool and working with a private OT. Her teachers were fantastic about working on skills with her. Anything that the OT suggested, they tried to put in place in the classroom. I was lucky that her lead teacher had previously been a special education teacher for EI, and she had a niece who was in OT, so she really saw value in the therapists suggestions. She also had a magical ability to keep 18 four year olds in line without ever raising her voice . So even though we had to go the private route DD still made huge progress. Hopefully Auntie or someone with more IEP experience will have some good suggestions for you, though.

mommytoconnor

My DS started preschol thru the district in Aug. He has SPD and speech delay. In regards to the whole nonverbal pragmatic skills are adequate to communication socially just means he can get across in some manner what he wants eventhough he can't specifically say it.  So those do actually match up.  Lots of kids can get across what they mean without saying the words. When my son was evaluated they showed a lot of different numbers and percentages.  They told me not to worry about the numbers so much on an individual basis.  For example my son showed that he was "average" in one area and below average in another.  They have some sort of model they use to show if he meets "developmentally delayed" criteria.  When I first saw the numbers they said if he rated below 70 % it was a delay, well 2 of his numbers were in the 80's. My ehart dropped thinking he wasn't gonna get accepted.  But they said that the other areas had enough of a delay to qualify him.  I do find it very odd if your child was diagnosed with moderate to severe apraxia, that this alone wouldn't qualify.  Have they told you he doesn't qualify or are you just thinking what if kind of scenario? Cause based on what you are describing you should qualify. I don't know in your area how evals are done, but in mine, its a series of 5 appointments, the next to last is the decision making meeting where they tell you what the decision is.  Have you had this appt yet?

 

mamantraining

Hi mommytoconnor,

We actually had all 3 assessments (ot, psych, speech) done at the same time during a 2 hour period...hence why he didn't cooperate the whole time. There is just that meeting and then the IEP. It's a huge and poorly run district IMO. The psych report states he doesn't qualify as a developmental delay and he can be educated in general Ed. This was after I have spent all this time looking at and contemplating different district preschools

mommytoconnor

It sounds to me as if your eval wasn't optimal, I mean a 2 hour session for a toddler is unrealistic at best. I wouldn't want to sit and cooperate for a 2 hour interview myself, much less expect my child to. I don't know about your district so I wouldn't be able to comment, but it doesn't sound like a great program to me, if that is how they run their evals.  I would go with what you think your child needs and if that means being the squeaky wheel then so be it.  I have gotten over the whole, "Oh I don't wanna make em mad" attitude.  So what, you are your childs advocate, no one else is.  It is important to try to work together but ultimately you are the best advocate.  If your child is being "dx" as moderate to severe apraxia then that should mean some special ed.  Period. Any delay that is moderate to severe should qualify for some sort of services. Go with your gut and appeal if needed.

mamantraining

Hi, yes his EI SLP diagnosed him around age 2.5. He has verbal apraxia. In the school district report it states that his articulation delay is moderate-severe and based on assessments his symptoms indicate apraxia. I know it's overdiagnosed...but out of all the 4-5 SLPs I know and/or my son has been assessed by they all say the same thing.

And it looks as if the psych delivered a summary of all findings plus academics, etc in her report. She included a "language" section but there was no formal testing included, just parent scales.