Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Need some more advice/suggestions..

I am really leery of FBAs and the people that do them (I forget what they are called) and I have mentioned that before here (and was chastised for not getting the terminology just right so I won't make that mistake again!) Very leery of them. I know with my kid, they often do not really understand what is the antecedent/cause of behavior and make up their own story based on their bias. They also do not understand the "function" of his behavior. I have a number of examples of this and I'll share two. In one observation, my son who had been eating at the peanut free lunch table (because he is fatally allergic to peanuts and has gone into anaphalatic shock more than three times now so he is exceedingly anxious about peanuts), was told several times to go to his classroom lunch table to sit there and then the children would be lined up to go out. (this was the schools procedure - all kids return to the specific class table then are filed out). My DS refused. He dilly-dallied and found other things to do in order to get there at the very last second. If he were forced to the table, he would not sit. Of course, this was "evidence" of either adhd and/or ODD (and since often they go together in boys we all have those colored glasses on now). No one bothered to find out the real reason, which I knew right away. People ate peanut butter at that table every day and he was petrified he would be contaminated and get sick or die. Such a conclusion is not delusional in his case. So educated in observing and none of them could figure that out? There was another observation where my son was sat a keyboard and was having great difficulty typing on it. All the other kids were successful and finishing and moving on, he was not. When an aide approached she did so in what he felt was a patronizing manner (and she probably was were because they (teacher aides) were always rolling their eyes about him) and he was already upset at looking stupid. He stated he hated the stupid task and computer. Again the big speculation being that he is defiant, oppositional adhd. I knew right away it was his visual -motor integration issues. He STILL has trouble dialing a phone. At the time he was just getting ready to start vision therapy because he had strabismis which caused his eyes to cross intermittently making that particular task really hard for him even though it should be easy and he knew it should be easy and that he looked stupid. None of those that do FBAs seem to understand the impact his low tone and writing difficulties had on his behavior and the function of his behavior in alleviating the physical discomfort caused by both. It seems to me (and I am bias, and only have anecdotal stories) that they were all about adhd and autism and ODD. I'd never have another one ever look at my son again. That's just my experience. Maybe it's just my district but I stay away form that whole FBA thing. I would probably feel entirely different if my son did have the actual condition s that seem to be good at such as autism and adhd, though.

I feel for your son. I'm glad he has you as his advocate.

I am so sorry you have had these bad experiences. You are probably correct that the people doing the FBAs (and they're not called anything in particular, because they could be school psychs, BCBAs, special ed teachers, SAC, SSW, or GCs, among others--often they are behavior specialists, which is not a specific field) are used to doing them with ADHD, ODD, ASD, or emotional impairment as the lens. One of the issues is that many 'behavior specialists' without any certification just have a bachelor's in some education or psych-related field, and one more course on behavior. And since there are no specific qualifications necessary to do an FBA, districts can put whomever they want on it. Where I've worked, they've been done by school psychs or BCBAs (who are sometimes the same person). Sadly, this is not the case everywhere.

The tunnel-vision resulting from training narrowly-focused on the top few situations that call for FBAs is one of the big reasons that I would inquire about the specific qualifications of an assessor before agreeing to an FBA. When I conduct them, I always seek input from the parents and the child, rather than going only on my own or the teachers' perceptions. And I absolutely consider medical factors as a possible setting event, including asthma, allergies, medications, sleep hygiene, etc.

I have a follow-up question: if the child has organizational challenges, who helps (within the school district) ? Is it a "organization specialist", or someone else ? Also, my child's teacher mentioned that a resource teacher should be present at the Student Success Team meeting. Why is that/what is the purpose of the resource teacher ?

Irena, thanks for sharing your experience. It sounds horrendous. AEH, I wonder how to go about asking for their qualifications -- any tips ?

Wondering if anyone had any ideas about my follow-up question.
Thanks in advance.

In our experience, the classroom teacher addresss organization.

DS has "organizational skills" in his "Physically Impaired" IEP and there is a POHI teacher that works in a lot of different schools. POHI stands for "Physical and Other Health Impairments". So DS fits under that category with his developmental coordination disorder, and Other Health Impairments includes kids with ADHD. She is supposed to be monitoring what is going on (a couple times per month) and working with the teacher to come up with strategies. Whether there is someone like this in all districts, I have no idea.

We've had organization as an IEP goal, under the purview of the special ed teacher (=resource). For a while we had a check-in at the end of the day for DS to learn how to look at his planner, figure out what books and papers needed to come home, etc. He still has daily planner check-ins in middle school.

IMO this should be done not as "here, let me organize that," but as methodical teaching of a repetitive skill, aiming for gradual independence.

The special ed liaison usually works on organization.

Re: qualifications. I would start by asking which role conducts the eval, then contact that person directly and chat up their background, if it's not clear from their title. Good chance to convey your concerns, gauge the range of behavioral profiles in the evaluator's experience, and put some alternative hypotheses on the radar.

I only know what happens in my school district, so it may be different elsewhere. Here, a "resource teacher" is a teacher or aide who works in the school's SPED department. We usually also have a district SPED representative present at team meetings. The resource teacher is a potentially valuable team member because he/she brings knowledge of SPED resources, ideas of how to work with students and knowledge of how to address specific types of challenges. Depending on the reason for the meeting, who represents the SPED department for the meeting at our school changed. The district rep always *had* to be there - their role was to act as a source of information (informally) but in reality they were present to make sure the school staff followed appropriate SPED policy. Which did *not* always happen with our SPED process. In our case, the district rep would not generally speak up about something that wasn't right, but if a parent caught it and mentioned it the SPED resource person would become very happy and excited and let you know that yes, you the parent did indeed catch the school team trying to pull something over on you. Sorry… I'm diverging from the question lol.

The lead SPED teacher at our school came to almost all of our team meetings. When the meeting was about eligibility etc she was the only SPED person from the school who attended. Other meetings, where there were specific questions over one specific pieced of the IEP etc, or if there was a question in general about one of the goals, the SPED staff member who actually worked with the student in that area also attended the meeting.

Hope that helps!

polarbear