Ed psych-what to expect?-help ladies

[pink4ever]

Ds1 was flagged up as having major problems at school about 18 months ago-he is 8. I have an appointment with the ed psychologist next week-school keep mentioning gdd.

So what can I expect at this meeting? what kind of questions will I have to answer-do I need to take anything with me?. Also someone mentioned on here that they might refer to a paediatrician. If so why?-tbh I would not be happy about this as my ds has no behavioural/social problems etc so I dont really see the point?

What will be the outcome if ds is confirmed as gdd?-school has already given us the option of putting him in the add needs unit which we declined-Our choice. So what else can they do to help our ds? He already has an add needs teacher twice a week for his reading/literacy.

Please give me some clue so I am not going into this meeting looking like I know nothing. Thanks.

Hi pink

Ed Pysch can ONLY advise you and school re any additional educational needs your son has. Schools do not get the EP in on a whim; those appts are like gold dust so school has concerns. He cannot make any medical type diagnosis (that is what the developmental paediatrician is for). Developmental paeds often see children who have social/communication difficulties along with many other types of conditions. It is not a stigma to see such a person!!!. School also should not be saying GDD because they cannot diagnose either.

It may be as well Pink that the school is really frustrated with you as his Mum because you have blocked his access to the add needs unit. That was your perogative but was that really the right decision to make in hindsight?. He could have received more support in there than in his classroom. Actually to my mind school did you a favour by flagging up problems 18 months ago; not many schools would have actually cared that much to inform you of same. Work with them.

They may not be able to do a lot else without your permission and if you keep refusing it won't help you or your son.

You sound very fearful in your posts and you perhaps don't want to admit to yourself that your DS is somehow different and requires more help because you will then blame you. All that fear/guilt you carry whilst understandable is totally misplaced on your part. Denial of the situation on your part neither helps you (denial just gives you a false sense of control) or importantly your son. It is NOT you fault that your son has additional needs, its nothing to do with parenting.

If you really want to help your son and I think you do then you must grab all help offered with both hands. It shows you as being co-operative on your part as well.

In 3 years time too your DS will also enter secondary school. That place can be a living nightmare if he has additional needs and he is not adequately supported.

Act as his advocate - you are actually his best and only advocate here.

My DD is 5 and seen the Ed Psych three times over the past twelve months. I can't praise ours enough - she has lots of ideas through vast experience and knows professionals she could recommend to help - just giving us ideas. I found our meetings very helpful as she has seen many children and had experience different from us or the teachers.

We have been asked about home life, milestone achievements, concerns at home, things DD is particularly good at and likes/dislikes.

And must say IF your son is needing extra help then I think go with it - there are big education cuts and if your son is lucky enough to get extra help the school clearly believes in it. I would never knock extra support to help my child achieve. The EdPsych is definitely a support towards your son achieving. And schools are only allocated a small amount of time with them.

Pink

Labels should only be seen as a signpost to getting more help.

BTW my son was diagnosed initially with developmental delay and it is a label that is NOT to be bloody fearful of ultimately. The only way up for you is to deal with the realities of this head on and not bury them under heaps of denial and defensiveness. Its a position that will not help you or your son.

My dd1 (10 very severe SLI) her ed psy is a total waste of time, iv never met such a patronising cow in my life, thanks to her my dd1 is 5ys behind because it took her 4yrs to even listen to us, and even now she still wont aknowledge that dd1 has other issues still to be addressed, but she is now statemented and moves from ms to ss nxt year. but then my ds1 ( 13 ODD, CD) his edpsy is brill he is helping us with everything to support ds1, but since iv been very persistant and kept at them in the end iv prooved to 2 schools that i was right all along.

pink, I don't think it's what you want to hear but I have to agree with attila. A visit to a developmental paed sounds a very good idea, they're not there just for social and behavioural issues, they look at development as whole so they'd ask about that yes but they'd also check for any physical issues, speech issues, learning, the list goes on. They would be the one to say if your ds has gdd, that's not a dx, it's just a label that signifies a delay which means your child with the correct input will catch up or possibly go on to get a dx of something more specific. They may of course say no issues at all in which case that's one thing crossed of the list and will stop school nagging about gdd! Between the developmental paed and the ed psych you have the opportunity to find out exactly where your ds' strengths and weaknesses are and you can then find out the best way forward from there. There is a lot more support they can offer, it's just reliant on getting as much information as they possibly can on your ds.

Schools really don't offer additional help if it isn't needed, of course it's your decision to turn down anything you don't feel appropriate, you know your ds better than anyone but do make sure it's an informed decision. Dcs move around all the time, a move to unit isn't necessarily forever, something they often don't mention when going through all this but you'll find a number of parents on this board who've moved from unit or special school back into mainstream.

the ed psych will probably ask for a potted history from birth so maybe a good idea to have a list of when he reached his milestones (so you don't sit there umming and erring a lot like I did ), when he sat up, when he spoke, when he walked, rode a bike, started reading, how many friends he has, all that sort of standard stuff. The ed psychs job is to advise the school on what strategies and support they will need for your ds so they will probably want to do a few assessments when they see him and then make recommendations from there.

Thanks for the replies so far.

I am sorry but I disagree about the add needs unit being the best for my ds. I am sure it is the best for lots of dcs and if his problems had been highlighted earlier then I would have seriously considered it. He has been in ms for over 4 years and I fear it would knock his confidence terribly to be told he has to go in there and set him back even further.. Also I fear he would be bullied/teased by his peers. At the moment ds is a happy wee boy-he has no social issues-eg making friends.

Again I am struggling to see what the paed could pinpoint? Ds does not have any behavioural problems for examply he is not autisitc/adhd etc. He is not dyslexic-are these the kind of conditions that they access for? I am really in the dark.

I have accepted that ds does obviously had additional needa when it comes to learning. Of course I am hoping that he will eventually catch up but ultimately I can accept that he may never be the brightest academically.

Will my ds attend this meeting also?-again this is not something I would be comfortable with. I dont want him suffering any anxiety over this.

Just wanted to add-all though it may come across in my posts as if I am being a stroppy cow I am really not. Have done nothing but work with the school to try and help my ds.

The school did not push for ds to go to the add needs unit-there was no pressure or well we think its for the best-it was merely a suggestion and they accepted over decision quite readily and certainly didnt appear put out by it?

Again re the paed-some posters have said they can dx gdd and other conditions-can someone explain in more detail what other conditions you mean please?

bump.

pink, if school are suggesting gdd (which they shouldn't have, it's not their place) then that would indicate more than just a learning difficulty, what are your feelings on that? As to what could be the cause, the list of things is as long as your arm and then some, the developmental paed is the one that can dx or pass you on to someone more specialised should that be necessary. In our case the paed referred dd3 on for physio, OT and to genetics, turns out she has a genetic syndrome which is causing all her difficulties. Of course I'm not saying that's the case with your ds, dd3 was in the system from being tiny with a number of issues but just trying to say you really don't know until you try. It's really not just about asd/adhd.

Thanks for the reply ninja-do you mind me asking what other issues your dd has? My ds has no speech or hearing problems. He does seem to struggle with fine motor skills-is left handed-so things like writing in a straight line,using scissors are the things he has difficulties with.

Surely if ds had a genetic condition or syndrome it would have been picked up before now?

What do you mean about gdd not being just a learning difficulty?-from what I have read online that is exactly what it is?

it's a bit of a list hearing, vision, learning difficulties, speech and language, physical difficulties, digestive issues amongst others. I am by no means medically trained so whether something would have been picked up by now, I don't know, as with most issues there's a huge spectrum from very mildly affected to profoundly affected. I only mentioned it as an example of how things can turn out and to try to explain why people may be suggesting you see a paed with your ds, rather than suggesting that this may be the cause. Do you get any input for ds on his fine motor skills?

global developmental delay is just that, global, so you'd expect a child with that label to have difficulties in more than one area, this explains it quite well I think.

Thanks-that was the website I was looking at! On that list I would say the things that apply to my ds are some of the motor skill issues and the cognitive one-obviously he has trouble processing information. However as I said previously he has no social/behavioural problems/speech issues etc-so am even more confused!

Sorry forgot to amswer your question-the only thing that they have said re motor skills is to encourage him to keep practising things such as trying to write in a straight line,cut in a straight line etc-which I do of course. His teacher at the last parents evening said his handwriting has improved dramatically-admittedly is was terrible so has probably only improved to poor but still!

Also at the meeting I had with senco teacher last week-she dropped the bombshell that ds current teacher-supply I think? his own teacher who is great is sadly off sick long term-is now 3 years behind! I get so flustered that I forget what to ask but I remember at the last meeting I had with this teacher-less than a year ago-she said ds was 13 months behind in his literacy skills and 9 months behind his reading age. So again I am confused!

What are the pertinent things I should ask in the next meeting?

.

The Ed Psych won't label gdd - that is a diagnosis a paediatrician would give. It is possible the academic problems are emerging much later than physical difficulties but be linked iyswim. Having said that, while the school equally cannot/should not make any diagnosis , I suspect they believe he has traits in common with that umbrella term, perhaps specifically such as may be identified as dyspraxia(motor skills, slow processing if physical and thought) or auditory processing(can't easily absorb verbal information, remember and act upon it). If several areas are affected it may becomes gdd. You really need to get out of the mindset that they are trying to compartmentalise your ds and even marginalise him in the special unit. Try to stay positive and work with them. He needs support, you have admitted that he is "behind" academically and had issues as a baby/toddler, and this is the route to getting further help. Do you have a dh/dp and what is his opinion?

Have you engaged the Ed Psych or the school ? The brief may differ slightly as to who the "client" is. If you can when you arrive set out what you hope to achieve - highlight strengths and weaknesses in his learning, possible reasons behind it, strategies to help him overcome the difficulties, suggestions for future (I think one possible option was to drop a year?) However to get the most out of the appointment for your ds you need to be frank about the difficulties you see at home and will probably be gvien a questionnaire about his early development, milestones and how he might react in certain scenarios. Meanwhile the EP will ask your ds to do various activities and talk to him. Given the differing opinios on hwo far he is academically delayed a single objective opinion would be beneficial.

Feedback is likely to come later once he/she has evaluated the "scores" from the activities and read through the different sources of information (you, school, observations etc). It is possible it would be suggested that he has a further referral, possibly to an OT and that may be via a paediatrician rather than direct. Please don't rule it out yet if that is in the best long term interest of your son, early intervention is better and could yet set him up well for secondary and beyond. fwiw ds was always really grateful and cooperative at assessments because he could see that it was an opportunity to get help, and he(then 6) was already more aware of his issues than we realised, so no real anxiety, almost relief.

the ed psych should be able to give you a better idea of how far behind ds is after his assessments, they can do quite detailed assessments to find exactly what needs working on. Do mention the fine motor control issues and find out whether you can self refer to OT in your area, it's something worth getting checked. I always find it useful to make a list of questions before I go so that could be an option of you feel you may get a bit flustered.