Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Neuropsych eval next week

So, we finally went ahead and scheduled a neuropsych eval for DS9. We have been struggling for years to figure out what is going on with him and I am very hopeful that we will get some clarification. I am specifically concerned that he has been complaining of headaches at school which he says are a result of having to listen and pay attention to boring things the teachers say. In first grade he had regular meltdowns (but only in a particular classroom) and his teacher last year complained that he would wander the room when he should be working and always put in minimal effort in his work (his gifted and accelerated math teachers, however, did not experience this). He resists writing, I suspect dysgraphia. He also reads well above grade level (not sure exactly how high since they don't test beyond 5th but based on what I've seen him read at least 3-4 grades above that) but rarely reads for pleasure (which is so strange to his bookworm mom!).

I guess I am just looking to hear other people's experiences with these evaluations. How useful was it? Did it clarify what issues were going on? Did it give you something concrete to bring to the teacher/school in order to get a more appropriate learning environment for your child? What exactly do they test for? I am looking forward to hopefully getting some answers but also anxious about what those answers might be, iykwim?!

My DD9 was tested and diagnosed with dysgraphia last summer. I'm sure that every evaluation is different, but you should get IQ and achievement testing, and probably a Beery VMI. Ours also administered the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch) and the Test of Language Competence- Expanded (TLC-E). The report started with nine pages of history and test results, then 5 pages of suggested accommodations for her 504 plan and therapy suggestions.

She also changed to a different school this year as part of a restructuring of the gifted program in our city. The new school was very helpful with setting up a 504 plan right away for her and using it. I'm not sure how much of that was differences in the counselor as opposed to differences in having a written report vs. not having it.

Of the various therapies and interventions we have done, this was hands-down the most useful and cost-effective (and it wasn't cheap).

Thank you, ElizabethN! I am so glad to hear that it was informative and useful for you. I have high hopes that this eval will give us the missing pieces of the puzzle we need to get him an appropriate learning environment at school. Hopefully, an official report from an expert will be taken more seriously than mom's word that he needs some accommodations. I am especially worried because the gifted pull out is increasingly writing intensive, but yet the regular class work is mind numbingly boring which he does not tolerate well. He is also a very intense perfectionist and beats himself up over things he is not good at right out of the gate.

LNEsmom, my experience with my 2e kids has been that the neuropsych eval was far and away the best thing we've done - it didn't give us all the answers, and in some instances just gave us more questions, but the broad sweep of the eval gave us an understanding of both the challenges and how they impact our kids, as well as good intuit on how to move forward with school, accommodations, etc. We were also given very local-specific advice about school choices etc, and although having the report and diagnoses didn't make advocating at school a cake-walk, it was tremendously helpful to have both the info and to be able to say to the school - are you disagreeing with a trained certified professional neuropsychologist when our school tried to argue with us

I used to get worried before evals (still do) that maybe I was going to be spending too much $ for nothing, that maybe I was imaging the existence or depth of my kids challenges, or that maybe I should wait a little longer or try something else first. I was given some great advice early on - the eval is worth doing, even if urine out everything is fine, because then you'll know everything is fine. If there is something you need to address, it's possible you won't get all the answers you need or you might disagree with the findings, but if you look at it all for what it is - data - data that you take back and compare/correlate to what you know about your child - every eval is helpful.

Best wishes - let us know how it goes!

polarbear

Thanks, Polarbear, that is very reassuring! We go on Monday and Wednesday. I filled out all of the parent questionnaires and history last week. That was hard! He is such a contradiction and asynchronous, I felt like I was answering "sometimes" to everything!