Ed Psych assessment...what should it entail???

[OverflowingMum]

So...having waited endles months and having fought a long hard battle with school and lEA we finally got the Ed Psych to come in and assess DD3
In brief she has diagnosis of Aspergers. She is really struggling with reading and writing at school. Her performance is well below her intelligence levels as demonstrated by WIPSI.Several people (clinical Pysch, teacher, LSA) have mentioned that she has "dyslexiuc triats" we were hoping Ed psych could provide a definitive diagnosis on this.
According to DD he just sat in the back of class for a while. Never even spoke directly to her. (i am fairly certain that this is an accurate account of what happened, but am waiting fir HT to get back to me to confirm)
Is this all an Ed Psych assessment would usually entail???? I was expecting some further pyschometric testing TBH along with observation in class?????
Any views???
tried to see HT on Friday but she was busy...left message, but will try again Mon morning.....

OM,

EP will not be able to make any formal medical diagnosis. EP only advises on educational needs and support. Usually EP makes observations in class during lesson time and also speaks to the child.

EP should have spoken to you after the obvservation - poor practice if this was not done.

If you want a diagnosis the person that does this would be the developmental paediatrician. Is she also being seen by the occupational therapist?.

Did you not manage to speak to the SENCO?.

If you are looking to have DD statemented (and I suggest with AS you apply for a statement) I would make the application to the LEA personally. Do not let school do it, make the request yourself and asap as these things take months on end (at least 6 months) to set up. IPSEA's website is helpful www.ipsea.org.uk

ime ed psychs do observation on it's own but don't call it assessment If I was told assessment then yes, I'd have expected some sort of testing and direct contact with the child as well as observation. And with either I'd have expected a meeting shortly after or before unless agreed otherwise with me first. Hope you can get things cleared up on monday, sounds like she needs to go back in if that was what happened. Don't let the school fob you off with the, well we only get so much ed psych time each term and there are other children . . . however cruel it may sound, the other dcs are not your responsibility.

thanks both
attilla DD has a diagnosis of Aspergers, made by Developmental Paed after 2 day multidisciplinary assessment almost exactly 1 year ago.
I have been told by both the clinical psychologist and the LSA who have assessed her that the ONLY person who can DIAGNOSE dyslexia is the Ed Psych.....
We are trudging down the statementing route! have recently been turned down for SA...did however manage to scare LEA and school have miraculously suddenly found funding to provide her with 3X weekly 1:1 support as suggested by LSA report...was going to appeal against refusal of SA...but due to timeframes I have decided not to, to allow Ed Pysch report first, and a trial of the 1:1 sessions, but am already planning and gathering eveidence to re-apply in 4 weeks or so....
oh and OT did see her, not much use really, no follow up planned...sigh

Will need to go into school again on Monday I feel and stomp a lot and demand some contact form Ed Psych to discuss...

Am feeling very low today....just sooooo tired of it all being such a struggle...and meanwhile DD falls further and further behind
I've been looking into some private tutoring for her, have found a lovely lady....but it is so £££££ and our budget is tight...but I am really begining to panic about what sort of life she is going to end up with if we dont at least manage to get her to learn to read and write
very fed up today....

bigcar yes, school do often try the "well we have x m=number of dc also needed x,y,z" but as you say that is not my problem. I do feel desperately sorry for them though, as I have fought tooth and nail to get this far with DD....and I very much doubt all the other parents even know how to go about fighting ...it just shouldnt be so hard
although as a result of my fuss making all 3 DC at the school who were waiting for the special intervention recommended for dd have now got it...so thats good for all!

"I have been told by both the clinical psychologist and the LSA who have assessed her that the ONLY person who can DIAGNOSE dyslexia is the Ed Psych....."

LSA - what does that acronym stand for?. I think I know but I don't want to be wrong here. They are both misleading you. As said before EP cannot make any official medical diagnosis and can only comment on educational needs.

"We are trudging down the statementing route! have recently been turned down for SA...did however manage to scare LEA and school have miraculously suddenly found funding to provide her with 3X weekly 1:1 support as suggested by LSA report...was going to appeal against refusal of SA...but due to timeframes I have decided not to"

What timeframes are we talking about here?.
No, you need to appeal. How recently as well were you turned down?. Turning down people is the LEAs usual way here initially, you have to appeal immediately and show them you mean business. You are your child's best - and only - advocate after all.

"to allow Ed Pysch report first, and a trial of the 1:1 sessions, but am already planning and gathering eveidence to re-apply in 4 weeks or so....
oh and OT did see her, not much use really, no follow up planned...sigh"

On what grounds did they refuse to assess initially?. Her 1 to 1 sessions can all too easily get pulled earlier.

Certainly go into school Monday, see the SENCO and or Head Teacher and insist on answers.

Atilla - LSA = learning Support Advisor, she comes from LEA learning Support team, and did fairly thorough assessment with DD. I'm not sure how good she is though...but was definitely under the impression that DD was dyslexic

As a child and adolescent pyschiatrist, I would say that dyslexia was not a MEDICAL diagnosis in that sense, certainly in a CAMHS team we would never confirm this, and would think it was possibly reasonable that an Ed Pysch should confirm this - I would consider it an educational need rather than medical diagnosis. I have however just emailed head of local Ed Psych dept...to confirm if this is the case

wrt to the statement ....
they refused to Assess mostly on the grounds that they felt what DD needed could and should be reasonably provided by the school without the need for a statement...they suggested that school was at fault for not providing what they should have...
it didnt help that school did a cr*p job of filling in the forms the LEA sent and so LEA had little idea of what help she had so far received.
I wrote LOTS of letters, quoted LOTS of SENCOP, and had meetings with LEA...
I actually think LEA bloke was quite scared LOL when I told him I was considering appealing!
But then they did put in place the things requested for DD...
I have now missed the deadline for appeal (was turned down Dec 6th)....but decided I would have a stronger case if I waited a coule more months, whilst gathering extra eveidence, and gave school chance to try their extra interventions (which I dont imagine will be enough) and will then definitely re-apply.I know what you mean about appealing - but wieghing up the options I decided this route give me most chance of success.I have since gathered LOTS of additional evidence from school, and other people and will really leave them NO chance but assess next time round

it is all just sooooo tiring though....sigh...

I am also wondering what should an EP assessment entail.

Because Autism to me has been a bit like an iceburg (You don't see most of it) I would prefer him to have as many tests as possible to learn about G therefore I am making the criteria fit to get an assessment without lying of course. I am stuck on the idea of early intervention.

G has no friends, happy enough in school, relatively well behaved in school his autism does make him shout out wander off etc follows rules to the letter, he will stand on the periphery of a group wondering how to join in then usually give up when he is ignored by the group. He does not show appropriate behaviour when he does interact with other children - his play is very one sided and all about him and his interests so it only works when the other child is prepared to go along with it. He therefore needs support with social skills groups, teacher supervision in the playground to try and ensure he is then applying some of the group skills he can learn etc.

His gap between him and his peers is getting larger I was hoping there would be some kind of intervention to teach him skills he could use to keep up not just reading, writing and spelling.

I worry alot that "she said she would not assess her as the class teacher thinks my daughter is no different to anyone else in the class." the teacher says this so that she does not have to do any work such as differential teaching or social stories. Or am I just OTT now, like my husband says.

I also worry that County Council staff do seem to have standard answers (eg you have given him a label now) brainwashed to them to save money or avoid timewasters or whatever this is why I feel I need to do research to get my child assessed.

H

I am in similar position to OP. Finally got diagnosis of AS, despite school. Finally got EP in, despite school. But her report was awful and thus hasn't done me any favours.
EP did an observation initially. Then she did the assessment - tests: IQ tests, verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, processing speed, reading skills, and emotional.
Op, hopefully your report will be similar. I insisted on meeting with EP, post assessment, pre report, to get her findings, and make my comments, but to be honest it didn't change much unfortunately.

This is totally confusing me, some people saying Ed Psyc doesn't give diagnosis yes my DD's pediatritian keeps telling me it's my Ed Psyc who will be responsible for driving us from here on out everytime we ask for diagnosis she mentions Ed Psyc saying it's her job? System is utterly confusing Swear i'm lost :P

OP OverflowingMum your not alone x Our Ed Psyc gave us a quick run down over the phone, since then info I have gotten has made me more and more confused about what she said and we still don't have the report just my jots from phone call, they seem to leave you high and dry don't they? This is after a memory test done, which gave daughter well below average marks on working memory / verbal memory / and Short term. System is one big mess x

I was told by BDA yesterday that Ed. Psychs seem to be reluctant to diagnose dyslexia at present and I should push her to say that effectively my ds is dyslexic. I rang because I feel her report is incomplete ie. some sub-tests were not done, she did not assess processing speed. Has diagnosis of poor working memory. Apparently difficult to get Ed. Psych. assessments in school. She spent an hour with him and so I am thinking of extending by going privately. There is no explanation about the significance of her findings and what they mean. Also as yet no follow up with me. Frankly I think standards all round are slipping. Physio's who don't do hands on or take ROM's, OT's who leave parents to choose their own orthopaedic seating, professionals who turn up to meetings with no agenda's and plenty of therapists who provide crappy reports and don't feed back to parents and many who don't do reports at all. They are all hiding behind heavy case loads, but I am not convinced that is the whole story. Not enough accountability and monitoring I think. Sorry needed a moan today.

I think each professional does different things in different areas. In our area you won't get a dx of dyslexia at all.

DS had a specialist teacher (as opposed to ed psych) observe him one day, then spent a lot of time doing tests with him on another 1-2 weeks later. We had no feedback from them directly (not even SENCO got verbal feedback) and had to wait 6 weeks for report. All we were told was about "specific learning difficulties in writing, spelling and fine-motor control" which I am assuming means he is dyslexic. I am not allowed to contact the team directly, having to direct any queries through school...