In September we submitted private Independent evaluations with extensive fine motor testing completed by the University along with psych. ed. testing with obvious ld in reading and writing.
Our School bumbles it, loses it,….etc. etc.
Finally, in March (5 months), there is eligibility…..
IEP gets bumbled, and not made, ESE person quits.
After hundreds of mom pestering phone calls they finally do an O.T. eval 45 days after eligibility and declare him inelligible. They refuse to discuss eligibility prior to the IEP meeting and I have studied the IDEA act and refused to go on. They threatened to conduct the IEP and place him without my permission if I left. Therefore, I remained, didn’t sign and he has no IEP.
I got a private and it confirms earlier testing, they refused to look at the evaluation. He needs OT twice weekly and sensory-motor integration ( which I have not asked them to provide with). He is a NVLD classified LD with a writing and reading disability. The school used an assessment that may be used in the MH or EMH population to shut my son out of services. It is referred to as the Evaluation of Functional Skills in the Educational Environment. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is a local made evaluation. There are no published names or numbers on it. No grade/age level criteria. It is divided into to six domains ( learning environment, self-help, mobility, gross motor, fine motor/visual motor) and graded as Functional,S/P, P/A, E, U or N/A. It is used for OT and PT. It basically gives one - two paragraphs of info although it is 14 pages of minimal information. Does this test sound familiar to anyone, we are in Florida.
Re: An Occupational Nightmare unfolds.... please help!
Our experience is all to sadly similiar except that I speak from the experience of having older kids who never received OT and now really struggle. This guy is just a 2nd grader and it could help him alot. I have the evaluation in my hands, and yes, if you don’t crash your head into the wall and can use the john and eat a french fry independently, you will not qualify for OT.
Re: An Occupational Nightmare unfolds.... please help!
Thank you for turning the lightbulb on! I’ve been wondering for at least 6 months how in the world the OT thought my son’s skills were above average! I guess the “given adequate time” is the key. Given adequate time, my child can produce somewhat legible work. Given classroom time he produces illegible/complete work or legible/incomplete work.
Thanks for the insight!
Re: An Occupational Nightmare unfolds.... please help!
I’ve gotten this on a Psych. Report from the school well. Well, given enough time my son could dig a hole to China but is that reasonable. I think not!
Helen
I’m not familiar with the specific test, but we’ve had the same trouble getting OT services for our NLD son. He had OT in K and half of first grade, and then was released. We were naive enough to believe at that point that the school knew what it was doing. (he had no NLD dx at that point) A private neuropsych following 3rd grade (when we learned he was NLD) suggested an OT eval, and we requested that the school do one. When my husband read the report, his totally serious response was, “Do you think they had the right child in the room?”
The school OT eval said that his skills were at or above age level, primarily because the test was completely untimed. Given all the time he needed, he was able to copy a passage from another piece of paper. When I asked how long it took him to do this, as opposed to how long it took the average child, I was told that the task took him 10 minutes, while the average child took between 2 and 5 minutes to complete the same task. But because the TEST was “untimed”, he got an “above average” score, and, according to the school is not eligible for OT. We had an outside OT eval done that said he had significant deficits in this area. At 11, he cannot tie his shoes, cut even soft food with a knife and fork, or even butter toast. He does not coordinate the right and left sides of his body, and doesn’t willingly use his right hand for anything) but the school still says he doesn’t qualify.
From what I can see, if a child can hold a pencil, and walk through a doorway without bumping into it, they don’t “qualify” for OT in our school system. At 11 1/2, our son is past the point where he’d be likely to make great gains in terms of handwriting anyway. We have turned our attention to getting keyboard training for him. The school has been willing to provide this, and I think it has been a good direction to move in. In the long run, keyboarding will be extremely important to him.
We continue to work on the “life skill” OT issues in the home environment, when it comes to eating utensils. When it comes to those @#$% shoe laces, we’ve chosen to bypass them by going with slip-on shoes.
Karen