DD is 7, 1st grade, has been a complete mess all year. We just had her evaluated and the dr ruled out ASD, but said she is anxious, OCD, etc. So the school wants a 504 plan for her, separate from her GIEP. The primary problem she has is that she will raise her hand in class, then just go mute or start crying if they call on her. A bit of a disaster, I guess?
Was your dd evaluated by a neuropsychologist or an education psych? Were LDs ruled out? The reason I ask is that learning challenges first looked like severe anxiety for my ds when he was the same age/grade. It wasn't at all obvious from any of his school work. While anxiety may be the core issue behind things such as raising her hand but then not answering the question, there might be something more going on - for instance, maybe she has a challenge with expressive language and can't get the words out. Recognizing LDs can be really tricky - our ds, for instance, could (and did) talk at length using huge words and complicated sentences - when he could talk about something factual that he had experienced. When he had to answer open-ended questions for teachers at school, he couldn't do it, but we thought it was just shyness or part of his personality for quite awhile.
polarbear
This is EXACTLY her. Almost all meltdowns are related to a struggle to express herself. Open-ended things stress her out to an extreme.
We had her evaluated by an ed psych who is extremely well-respected in the area to rule out ASD.
While children with ASD sometimes struggle with expressive language, it's also possible for children who are not on the autism spectrum to have expressive language challenges. Our neuropsych had a graphic that showed three circles, one representing ASD, one representing ADHD, one representing Dyspraxia, with the symptoms of each listed inside each circle - so many of the symptoms overlap between diagnoses. Not only expressive language, but sensory and others.
She was going to be tested by a panel of neuropsychs, but we put the brakes on that when the guy she was assigned to made her so uncomfortable she just growled at him. I was given the option to switch her to the dr who runs the program. Maybe I should just go ahead with that?
Is the dr a neuropsych? If so, I'd want to look at what testing your ds has already had - did the previous evaluation include ability vs achievement testing and a review of development history + current academic work. If it did, were there any discrepancies in subtest scores or were they close to the same across all tests?
Was any additional testing done other than relating directly to ruling in/out ASD?
I'm just so worried about ending up with an ASD diagnosis when my gut tells me it's probably not that. She is joyful with other kids. So thoughtful, loving, patient, etc. with people. She just struggles so much with expressing herself.
Your gut is telling you it's not ASD, and one psych has already ruled ASD out - chances are it's not likely ASD - and chances are, she's not going to get an ASD diagnosis from a neuropsychologist. OTOH, if it's expressive language you're specifically concerned about, you'll most likely need a speech/langauge evaluation (through an SLP) - whether or not you pursue further neuropsych testing.
You can request a speech/langauge eval through your school.
Best wishes,
polarbear
