DeeDee, our original diagnostic work was all done at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. When I brought up IQ testing with them at his last follow up at 4.5 they indicated that we would generally go through the school system for IQ testing. They also didn't seem to think it was necessary at this point. It seems no one thinks there is any need to test until 7 or 8.
That's surprising to me. Our ASD practitioners have always seen IQ and achievement testing as a normal part of the diagnostic workup for autism.
I am concerned that he is already very bored in preschool. We can't rule that out as a possible reason for acting out unless we determine if he does in fact have different educational needs.
We did find that subject-accelerating DS removed some sources of stress in school. It was not a cure-all, but it was a necessary step. That said, we couldn't get it done till late 2nd grade, even with IQ and achievement scores in hand.
They would be all over a suspected case of low IQ, but in the other direction it's all let's just wait and see what happens in 2nd or 3rd grade. Which is probably when they actually have gifted program.
Right. From their perspective, there's nothing to do about it until then, if there's no program in place.
Subject acceleration is a really useful tool. Not the only answer, but useful.
I don't even intend to use the public schools. I just want to get a good idea of how to help my son by understanding every aspect of him and anything that could be a factor in the behaviors we are seeing.
I think you could go along for quite a while without standardized testing if you are homeschooling, e.g. pretesting units in math and just teaching the missing bits, moving at his pace in all subjects, while also keeping services in place that teach him to be flexible and remediate the autism.
Teachers and outpatient therapists we see and many others, including complete strangers, ask if we have had his IQ tested. So far I just tell them, no, they don't test this young.
You might get good information by saying instead, "how would I go about doing that?"
The private tester I have been in contact with says he is not too young for testing. She is listed on the Hoagies website, only about an hour or so from us, and has experience with testing kids on the spectrum. I don't even want to know how much she costs!
Full workup is probably $2000. But it may be less if you don't need *everything*. And if you do not need testing for school negotiations, you really can probably wait. You can likely get a rough working idea of levels from other kinds of assessment.
My son does receive 30 minutes a week of speech to work on social language. That therapist is the one who completed the celf test. I don't actually get to talk to him other than IEP meetings because he sees my son at school.
Excellent.
You could request an informal meeting near the end of the school year and pick his brain about your kid.
It's great that this is in place.
Oddly I think that the lower amount of academics may be better for him than a ton of academics that is way below his level like they would have in public K.
See if you can go and observe in the different settings: very revealing.
Also find out if he is kept in preschool an extra year, how hard it is locally to gradeskip. Because, yes, that K may never be a good fit.
The school is convinced I have been using flashcards since the day my son was born. Never mind that we don't even own flashcards.
Yep. It took a long time for people to understand that DS needed to learn. School's ability to understand him did turn a corner for him in 3rd grade and has gotten steadily better since. Those early elementary years are really, really tricky for a 2E.
I've adapted, but I'm sick of dealing with professionals who think I've over-educated my child.
In later grades (7-8-9...) the teachers tend to be subject matter specialists who are genuinely excited when a kid has expertise and interest.
Not all elementary teachers are dismayed by a kid who is out of the box-- we have found that there are teachers who will never get it, and some who will go to any length to accommodate. The hard thing is making sure the placement is right every year.
Just like any other parent, what's important to me is my son and I just want the best for him. It's very hard sometimes to know what that is.
Yep. Make a plan based on how things are now, and what skills are most urgently needed. Then: the plan will change a lot, and you'll just keep up.
The interface with the world gets easier later, IME. Hang in there.
DeeDee
