DD7 - dyslexic, dysgraphic, problems with visual perception, fine motor and working memory - was supposed to have an AT evaluation done in September. It was agreed to last May in a meeting with our district's Director of Special Services in preparation for our June IEP meeting. It was the first item on the agenda at that meeting and agreed to without a problem. As some of you may recall, however, that meeting ended in an epic meltdown with the principal storming out of the room and both sides turning to attorneys over the summer. DSS left the district and temporary new DSS stepped in over the summer and after many hours and a lot of expense on both sides we got the whole program put back together. Still no AT eval, though.
Every time I have asked about it I have been told "It's been assigned to "K" - she's really good!" Everyone else in the room nods their heads, makes appreciative murmuring sounds and says "Oh yes, "K" is really good!" Still no AT eval. So about 2 weeks ago I emailed the new DSS asking about it. I was told it would be done in September, here we are well into October and still no date. Can I please get a date for the eval. About a week and a half ago I get a response that she is waiting to hear back from "K". Still nothing. So after discussing with our consultant I send another email the other day saying basically It has been 5 months since this was agreed to, 4 months since it was put into an IEP. If it will take another IEP meeting to get this scheduled then I am requesting an IEP meeting for early November so we can discuss implementing the results of the eval.
Yesterday, yes on a Sunday, I got a call from the new DSS. Apparently "K" cannot start the evaluation until mid-November. When pushed I get the following explanation: After that hellacious meeting in June no one did the paperwork for the AT eval. There is generally a 6 week lead time on them which is why I was told it would be done in September - with vacations, etc it would not have been possible over the summer. However it was discovered in September that no one did the paperwork. Rather than just telling me that (remember by now they were terrified of me - I had them dead-to-rights on IEP violations, civil rights violations, Dept of Ed practically on speed dial if needed...) they just started the paperwork in September. The case was assigned to "K" - who is an OT, works for the district part-time and is someone who everyone agrees is really good. They only would have been a couple of weeks late except that on September 30 both of their full-timers who do these evaluations resigned. Both. On the same day. Remember how all summer I was saying the district was in a shambles???
Anyway, now that they have gone from 2 1/2 down to only the 1/2 time person everything is delayed. However realizing that they have now been caught in yet another violation (remember that September date that came and went?) new DSS contacted one of the former full-timers and has offered to have her come in and start the eval this week. The problem is this person is a speech pathologist - not an OT. She was employed by the district at the time the assignment was being made and it was assigned to "K" instead. My DD has a very complicated profile and while she has some speech issues that would likely complicate the use of speech recognition software they are no where near the top of the hit parade in terms of what we need to have addressed.
So I think this was actually a very smart defensive move by the district - offering to have someone come in and do the eval only a few weeks late takes away any potential claim I might have for yet another violation. However I don't know enough about these evals to know if a speech pathologist can actually do a proper eval of a dyslexic/dysgraphic kid with visual perception, fine motor and working memory issues. Yes, I am sure that she is "qualified" but can I count on her to clarify things or will we just muddy the water?
I am thinking that we have waited this long we may as well wait the extra month or so for the "really good" person who also happens to be an OT and who was assigned the case when the district actually had 3 to choose from. On the other hand if the eval isn't started until almost Thanksgiving and we start having all sorts of holiday breaks, we enter "cold and flu season", etc it may not actually be completed until January. Does that matter? It is so hard keeping the long term perspective in place - trying to balance getting DD the best I can while also keeping an eye on the larger chess game going on with the district...
So - for those of you who have had AT evals - does the specialty of the evaluator matter? Does another month or 2 matter? Are there any specific questions I should be asking? Sorry but I need to get back to DSS today because she wants to schedule the former full timer for tomorrow if I agree.
Thanks in advance.
