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I sent a written letter requesting a psychoeduational assessment to the school last week and the scheduled an amendment IEP meeting for my son (he currently has an IEP for speech). A little background info: He was referred to his pediatrician for ADHD. He met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD but his ped did not diagnose him because she felt that he may be gifted and having a mismatch at the school. However he is struggling in school. He is not failing and is meeting grade level academic standards, but I don't feel he is reaching his potential. He is slightly behind in spelling and handwriting. He is at to a bit above level in reading. I really suspect that he may be considered what the Eides (Mislabeled Child) call stealth dyslexic. At any rate his pediatrician requested that I request a psychoeducational assessment with the school. However at the IEP, the school psych said that they do not test for giftedness that I have to do it privately. Also, they say if he would just "slow down and attend/focus" he would be fine. They said that they have to do accommodations first before they can do testing. I feel like I am getting the run around. They originally say that they can't assess or diagnose ADHD that it is medical and to go to the ped. I did that. She didn't diagnose ADHD but requested the psychoed testing and thought he might be gifted. I brought up the stealth dyslexia issues and they aren't getting what I'm trying to say. Also I clearly addressed his sensory related difficulties (maybe ovexcitabilities?) I felt that they didn't really address my concerns and maybe even were not particularly truthful in that they can't evaluate for giftedness and can't do testing until accommodations are made first. I am totally frustrated. I am not sure that I even want their assessments/testing at this point and would be better off doing it privately, but upset that I feel that they are giving me the run around and basically saying in not so many words that he has ADHD and you just need to give him meds and he would be fine. What should I do at this point? I would appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance!

Thank you so much for your responses. It is really helpful. I have another question. They kept on basically saying that if he could just slow down and attend that things would be better for him school-wise. However, the doctor did not diagnose him with ADHD. During the IEP there was some talk with the OT that possibly his distractibility and need to slow down could be due to not being able to filter out sensory stimulation (auditory, the fidgeting(need for movement), etc.) I feel that it would be helpful to have him fully assessed by an OT. Could I make a case with the school district to have him privately evaluated for an OT and them pay for it. What I'm saying is if the school is saying his going too fast, distractibility, etc is a factor in hindering his academics but he was not diagnosed with ADHD then do they have to help pay for assessments to figure out why he isn't slowing down and attending (ie: O.T. assessment or other). They already told me that I would have to have gifted testing done privately. However, I am wondering if there is a case to have them pay for a private OT assessment. Or should I just bag the whole idea of trying to get help from the school and pay for it and do it all on my own. Any thoughts?

If he is on a speech IEP they can also do an OT assessment and then add goals as necessary. It is the philosophy of current education practice to try intervention first to see if the problems can be addressed. Tell them you want an IAT meeting convened so that data can be collected to show that there is a need for further assessment. Also if your son is up for his 3 year reevaluation you are asked to sign a permission form and told which test will be given. State that you want a complete ETR done with ability and achievement assessed using accepted standardized test. This is playing the legal game.

I love, and echo, MON's post! A private tester who understands about your child's level of giftedness will be able to help you make these important parenting decisions. Even if the school tests, and recognizes the gifted aspect, and offers gradeskips or whatever, you are still going to have to make a parenting decision, and a good private tester is in a much better position to do this than most schools.

Grinity

Vicam - it's great to get the inside scoop on this stuff. I had no idea! What types of intervention might be useful in this situation? What is a ETR? Can't a person request an evaluation for learning disabilities in writing at any time?

And that's a good point - school usually don't test for 'giftedness' but they use the same tools to test for disabilities as a private tester would use to test for giftedness: a IQ test and an achievement test.

Smiles,
Grinity

Thanks again for the replies. They are really helpful. This may be silly question or concern. I want him to be tested but I am nervous because what if he doesn't test as gifted and/or learning disabled. Does that just mean by default that then he is ADHD or that he has sensory issues that create some of his attention issues at school. I guess what I am trying to say is I'm confused how the testing will be able to point out what is what when the behaviors for gifted, ADHD, and sensory can be so similar. Since he is more of a visual/spatial type learner and smarts will he not test well? Any thougts? Thanks in advance!

I'll second or third or fourth that advice to do private neuropsych testing. Having more than one 2E kid, and having done testing both through our school district and privately, there was NO comparison. For example, in our case, the school psych had no explanation when I observed that ds7's achievement scores last year were significantly higher (by more than a standard deviation) than the IQ scores. Several months later, when we did private testing, the psych explained that my children are "complicated" and she saw specific issues based on how they performed on particular subtests compared to other subtests. Now we're working on fixing those issues. Due to those issues, their recent verbal IQ scores are not necessarily an accurate indicator of their intelligence levels.

It's also a whole lot easier to lay all your cards on the table with a private tester. I'm always a tad uneasy with the school district's psychologists; I have a hard time describing the vibe, but I find myself less than confident in their analyses of my children.

By the way, in our state (though it may be in the minority), no IEP services except for speech are available unless the child is performing below grade level.

just my two cents. good luck!!

I am leaning towards just having him privately tested. What is the difference between neuropsych and psychoeducational testing? I was considering going to Dave Palmer in Laguna Beach. He was recommended on the Hoagies site and he seems to know his stuff and familiar with 2e kids. In fact he wrote a book about gifted testing for parents. And his fees seem to be reasonable on top of that. Is this the way to go? Oh, I'm still not sure if I should have him evaluated privately by an OT as well . Any thoughts? Thanks again!

An ETR is the new Name for MFE, multi-factored evaluation, I think it stands for evaluation team report. There are alot of hoops that the school has to jump through. In the past if a parent put in writing that they request testing it had to be done within 60 days. I'm not sure if that is the law still everywhere, but worth looking into.

Also it can be tough knowing the inside track. We write my son's IEP tomorrow, strange to be on that side of the table.

some of the accomadations could be giving him extended time, chunks of assignments, letting him keyboard, scribing, orally answer,
My son's speecl/language person also gave my son the "Comprehensive Assessmet of Spoken Language" test. It was very informative in identifing if his difficulty in writing was due to not knowing how to form the ideas or physical difficulty. This test is not given often, but due to my son being HG/tourettes she did. It really gave me some great info.

prayforsnow, I sent you a pm