Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional IQ test / vision evaluation - which one first

Hello,

My DS8 was diagnosed with mild ASD last summer. In the last year, he has improved tremendously and I worry less about his social interactions than I previously have the last 5 years or so. I'm not sure if this is due to the change in schools (attends gifted/ high achieving magnet). He has always been pretty good about understanding social interactions between people but had trouble carrying them out such as eye contact and saying hi to kids he knows but is very social with friends and family.
Anyway, I am thinking of getting him reassessed on the wisc. Reason being that the he was not tested on all the subsets on the DASII so I do not have a complete picture as far as processing, memory and vision issues. His DAS results showed him to be MG in perceptual reasoning and superior in verbal but he scored average in block design.
He does have vision issues and received VT for convergence insufficiency but I have been told recently by a dev. Opt. That he still has intermittent exotropia.
He is doing very well in school and reads very well, but is disorganized, distractable, and wiggles a lot and has a strong need for daily exercise. I'm not sure if this is due to vision or sensory or ASD.

Do you recommend having the VT evaluation first or the IQ test? I guess I'm confused and unsure of next steps. We have kaiser and they will not pay for any of this so i am concerned about costs esp. as my DD6 will start sensory ot this summer.
Do I need to think about seeing a neuropsych? What sort of tests will they do?

Thanks so much!

ETA: I am somewhat doubtful about VT for intermittent exotropia. We never see his eye pull out but apparently he has this issue. Has any of your DC had VT for this and have seen improvement? Apparently it can impact him academically.

No question VT first. My ds8 was born with visual deficits and SPD. He had vision therapy between 4-6 yrs old. We saw huge improvements and developments then. In Dec, I had him re-evaluated with another behavioral optometrist since we moved and ds is two yrs older but still has some residual visual deficits.

My ds8 is a very advanced reader too, but he, too, is disorganized, gets distracted, and wigges a lot if he's forced to sit and do 'schoolwork' for long stretches. I'm un/homeschooling him though so ds can take a lot of breaks or learn in much smaller chunks of time.

I definitely would do the VT first because I found that we're likely to get inconsistent scores again and not a true picture of his abilities until the visual/sensory issues are addressed. With ds, it's just a matter of time and maturity for him before things come together more. It could be a similar situation with your ds.

I really believe some kids just need more time for the senses to be fully integrated more. I've seen neurotypical developing kids taking longer too until things start to come together.

I'm not saying to just ignore concerns but do remember that at 5.8 wiggling, disorganisation and distraction are normal behaviors.

Definitely vision first, and if you don't have hearing, hearing first too.