Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion GT + other issues (social/emotional)

It is so difficult to watch our kids struggle and it is doubly difficult when the parents are not on the same page. Big hugs to you, cln1812.

I hope that your DH can change his mind. Anxiety should be treated. Why let your DD suffer without help?

The school IEP process will include a psych eval, if you ask for one, which, in this case, should be easy enough, simply by listing the hypersensitivities, rigidity, and anxiety on the letter requesting evaluation for special education eligibility. Depending on the way your district writes consent forms, it may have an item labeled "psychological assessment", which encompasses cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioral (including attention) assessment.

DS10 is like this; you are definitely not alone.

Regarding triggers, be aware that meltdowns may have more than one trigger. There's the Event that preceded the meltdown, but it's highly likely that there were other triggers beforehand, and the Event was just the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. In our case, this makes deciphering the triggers difficult, because sometimes an Event goes unnoticed or is brushed off, other times the exact same scenario results in a full blown meltdown. Sometimes the "pre-Event" triggers are obvious (hasn't had lunch yet, didn't sleep well last night), but other times it's a mystery.

DS just completed the triennial testing for his IEP. This included IQ and achievement tests, and some testing for ASD and speech. Almost nothing about sensory issues and anxiety, even though these are huge components in his life and seriously impact how he would handle attending school (we homeschool). The testing they do is still valuable, but not at all comprehensive.

What is included in special education eligibility testing depends largely on

a) referral question(s): if you state anxiety and adapting to changes in routine as concerns, you are much more likely to have assessments in those areas (social-emotional, executive functions, ASD). If they don't know your concerns, there's no reason they would or should waste your child's time on what they would believe was unnecessary testing.

b) assessor(s): good evaluators will add assessments (if a relatively open-ended consent was signed) to follow up questions raised during the course of the evaluation, or request additional assessment during the timeline, or as an outcome of the evaluation. I know I am not the only professional who does this routinely.

c) available instruments: certain instruments are outside of the budget of the typical school system, or infrequently needed in schools, and thus less likely to be accessible to school-based evaluators (e.g., DKEFS, TOVA). I would ask for the assessment anyway, and let them describe available alternatives.

In order to maximize the probability that the school will assess in your areas of concern, make sure you list them with some specificity on the letter requesting evaluation. When the consent form comes, you can also write on additional assessments (the signature options are: consent in full, consent in part (list), consent with additions (list), reject in full).

I am sure they will assess in anxiety as it is an area both her teachers brought up repeatedly in the teacher conference. They each notice she has a lot of anxiety, and her kindergarten teachers said the same thing. We actually had an IEP in kindergarten, but they decided to forgo testing that year and see if DD would improve in first grade. First grade was an extremely chaotic year (hubby was out of a job), and the teachers did not do an IEP meeting though I thought they would (next thing I knew, it was summer). But it seemed like DD had fewer meltdowns in class that year and she had improved tremendously from beginning of the school year to end of the year, and I'm not sure of the reason for the increase in meltdowns this year though of course, one of her teachers brought up a good point saying soon hormones are going to be in play too if they are not already (and I have noticed DD is beginning to develop a little physically).