Ed Psych. assessment can u help.

[supermum98]

My second son has just been assessed and he seems to have below average short term auditory memory and working memory. Can u tell me the difference between the two and what strategies can we use to help him. The report doesn't make that clear. This was a hour visit at school. Is it worth me going privately to get a full diagnostic Ed Psych. assessment with more detail? The tests seemed quite crude and not that comprehensive.

Sorry - I don't know what the differnece is between the 2 types of memory.

It's a bit disappointing that the Ed Pysch didn't take the time to explain to you what this meant or how you can help your son.

LA Ed Pysch's assessments do tend to be rather cursory.

A private Ed Pysch will spend a lot longer with your child and will produce a comprehensive report detailing their findings, how that affects his learning and life, and will also give you clear advice as to what support he will require.

Defintely worth it.

I do know the difference but not how to help. I have issues with my working memory due to my dyslexia and have never been able to find a way to improve it, sorry.
Working memory is the type of memory you use when taking notes, copying things, for example when I copy down a piece of writing I have to look up at every word, more than once on longer words as my brain doesn't hold the information long enough. Auditory memory is a similar thing but for words.
I have no experience of private EP's so can't comment on that.

Auditory memory is how well you can remember what you hear.

One test for this is to find out how many digits he can repeat back to you. Google forward digit span.

Working memory is how many things you can hold in your memory.

One test for this is how many digits he can repeat back to you in reverse order. Google reverse digit span.

There's is loads and loads you can do to help this. I have cured DDs memory problems, but I doubt anything useful will be recommended by a private EP.

The main things I've did with DD which helped her memory were:
Tinsley house clinic
Auditory integration training.

Your DS also has dyslexia. If you have enough money for a private EP I highly recommend using that money for Tinsley house instead.

If you don't want to do therapy other things you can do are Earobics and jungle memory.

Honestly Inigo I have never read such crap advice on here before.

You are seriously suggesting that the OP spends her money on a dietary programme rather than on a full private EP assessment?

Words fail me.

I beg your pardon!

How bloody rude.

I haven't recommended a dietary program.

I have very kindly recommended what worked for my DD who had the same problems as the OPs.

I'm trying to both help and save her money.

You owe me an apology. Your post sounds very much like a personal attach which I vert definately don't deserve.

The majority of EP reports are crap. I don't know anyone who is unhappy with the therapies I've recommended - but I do know people whi regret wasting money on EP reports.

I'm not gonna get into a personal spat.

However Tinsley House's dietry advice isn't personalised and they have written a very good book about diet (don't shoot me!). The physical part of the programme is the part that really interests me at this point.

The single best thing I ever did for my own son was get in a private EP. However it is VERY important that you get the RIGHT individual in as they aren't cheap! Do your research. The lady I used specialises in HF AS and related disorders & has 30 years experience in that field e.g she knew her stuff on the stuff relevant to my particular child's special needs.

Some EP's are like S$^$ off a shovel in a few areas (NO individual is ever gonna be an "expert" in every sen out there - it's way too vast an area which is an issue for the poor LEA bod who IS experted to be master of everything). Other EP's are frankly just crap and money is no indcator of quality.

My own private EP report joined the dots between all the diverse specialisms from audiology/SALT to CAHMS and OT in a way that noone else had ever managed to form a coherent understandable whole, written in plain English that even the dimmest town hall jobsworth could understand.

A GOOD EP report should contain within it signposts to the professional specialists that can help your child, and include very relevant things like the ideal pedagogy for your child (the national curriculum and teacher training have actually become incredibly restrictive in terms of government approved pedagogy's compared to when many of us were young).

Do your research. A good place to start is by asking one of the legal teams rec'd on here who THEY use for tribunal cases for children with similar issues to your own child. Or by asking here and on similar forums elsewhere. If you can get a RL personal reccomendation, that's even better. The best private EP's still have a waiting list - another clue.

The best private EP's still have a waiting list - another clue.

That is very true. In fact everything you wrote is absolutely spot on.

Our private EP was recommended by our solicitor and would be available to attend Tribunals.

She had a 6 month waiting list.

She was based 120 miles from where we live.

Her report was in excess of 30 pages long and was a very comprehensive assessment and contained detailed strategies to assist DS.

It was used in our Tribunal bundle and secured DS his specialist residential placement at a Priory Group FE College.

Total cost £800.

Value - priceless.

You are unbelievable WA.

What gives you the right to tell me what advice I should or shouldn't give?

I am very happy with both DS and DDs progress, thank you very much. Yes DS had a blip this week - that doesn't mean the program doesn't work. In no way does that imply it at all. He hasn't finished the therapy FFS.

You can get dietary supplements from Boots - and indeed I do. But they won't cure auditory and working memory problems.

I'm going to bow out of this thread now.

Sorry OP.

it all depends on what stage of the process you are at, imo.

EP reports for dd1 were an interesting read, but not really all that useful before we were in Statementing. there was not an awful lot that could be implemented without the school being onside (and they are nto always)

otoh, having one of the best EPs in the field onside and reporting on dd1 was probably one of the major factors in our clinching an almost-impossible-to-get place at ABA school.

before we got to that stage, we did a lot of dietary work (as it was the right thing to do for dd1) and this has helped her no end, with just about everything, but certainly with working memory and auditory memory.

another thing that helped these things immeasurably was sensory integration therapy. again, this was line dup for tribunal, and helped dd1 enormously.

most of what has helped her has been things I have researched and implemented myself, unfortunately.

Suggest you before you recommend a certain course of action to others you make them aware of these:

Guardian - Bad Science

Protected Titles

oh god, not Ben Goldacre, please.

this board is all about recommending things which we, as parents, have tried, and which have helped our dc.

my dd1 would not be nearly as functioning as she is if it were not for the things I have read and tried over the years.

if your ds does not need dietary help (and believe me, it is a LOT more than buying some generic supplements in Boots) then that's very nice for you (and him)

but do not rubbish what you have not tried, or needed to try. or even something you have tried, but which has not necessarily worked for you and yours. please. this is supposed to be a supportive place.

PECS was worse than useless for my dd. but that does not mean I can't see the value of it, or the point of it. same for other interventions I have tried.

others have been the making of her.

each to their own, and all that.

but this is a board to mention things - to let other parents know that there are other things to try, other ways to do things.

it is not all snake oil.

My own personal circumstances is perhaps influencing my view of Tinsley House tbh. My own child was under a superb NHS clinical dietian from 4 months to 4 years due to serious dairy intolerance so perhaps I got access to good dietry advice early. There's a very strong family history of AS and the lady we saw was very up to date imho. Since then all I've done is "tweaked around the edges" with supplementation etc as the core dietry work had already been done. I'm very keenly aware that our situation is not the norm.

I have always envied you your fab nhs dietician, bochead

the one I saw aske dme why I was keeping the dds on a low fat diet (had to be doing that, as they were dairy free ), despite the copious amounts of breastmilk, avocado, etc on the diet sheet!

29th April 2010, 10:56 AM
Robin Pauc has been found guilty of unprofessional conduct by the GCC - and admonished. Full details here:
www.gcc-uk.org/files/hearing_file/Notice_of_Findings_(Pauc).pdf

Another "Wakefield"?

It's not just Ben Goldacre. The second link is quite informative.

No problems at all with anyone personally trying whatever floats their boat.

Huge problems with what Inigo was suggesting.

In my opinion Drs should be Drs and Chiroprators shouldn't be referred to their professional body.

Oh dear Bochead - naughty.

That's why I suggested that Inigo should give the full facts when making recommendations.

I haven't used Tinsley House, and haven't really read a huge amount about them.

I thought Indigo's post was quite helpful - explained what the terms were, and mentioned several things she has tried (and used successfully in some cases) with her own dd.

most of dd1's auditory delays/memory issues were (and continue to be) dealt with via ABA, and so I have not really researched individual therapies for that. currently I do not need to, as she is doing well. but I do have a 'must read up about' list, and the things Indigo mentioned are on it.

all in the name of passing along info and experience, surely?

all in the name of passing along info and experience, surely?

Only if you pass on all the information.

Otherwise it's misleading.

hmm, I;m not sure, Wet.

I dont think Indigo set out to deliberately mislead - she posted what had helped her dc.

I do think that boards like this can only ever be the tip of the iceberg - it is up to the reader to ask more questions, and do more research, if a particular intervention looks like a good bet (for them, their dc, their circumstances, whatever)

posts here don't really ever go into the nitty gritty unless asked - it would be a huge amount of info, and a a first off way too much to take in (imo).

am still trying to track down bochead's link - it won't open for me. but I do think that any contrasting info can be posted without open aggression - imo there is not often a need to attack. questioning is always fine. but it can be easy, on talk boards, to misread tones of posts.

You won't be able to open Bochead's link because the information has now been archived however you can see the outcome of the Hearing by scrolling down the discussion board link I posted.

The trouble is that desperate people don't always investigate things fully. They would grasp at anything they were told might help.

My approach is totally different - I've posted on here before that I go as far as looking up the GMC Register to see the credentials of a medical profession that DS or I are referred to.

That's why it's important that when making a recommendation you give the full facts.

oh, I agree with your approach - I am almost obsessive in my reading and research

but I disagree that it is up to (in this instance Indigo) the recommender to post absolutely everything.

I have used several 'controversial'/non mainstream therapies for dd1. I post about them andhow they ahve helped her. if asked, and if I know, I am happy to talk about the downsides/bits that are naysayed/whatever is pooh-poohed.

but some of what I did was years ago - the research I did to enable me to decide whether to try it was done from a personal angle, and of course my own personality/opinions/outlook on life meant I dismissed some concerns or took others more seriously than other people.

it is what the disclaimer at the top is about, isn't it? posters here are not experts, and may not always even know the negative sides to something. up to the reader to research to a level they are comfortable with, imo.

OP, as you can tell, different things have worked for different people and you will probably be given quite a bit of conflicting advice according to people's personal experiences.

Obviously, what works for one child may not work for another - even with the same diagnosis they can be so different and have wildly different needs in terms of support etc.

For us the Ed Psych - who we were lucky enough to get via the LA, although through a crisis team rather than via the school - has been the single most important professional involved in ds's care and assessment. I refer both other medical/psych professionals and the school to her reports regularly and being a well respected EP, her words do carry a certain amount of weight. We have been lucky enough to get her again for ds's Statutory Assessment and again she has been brilliant.

Other people haven't been so lucky with the professionals they've seen and as a result prefer to take alternative routes towards helping and supporting their dcs.

If money isn't a problem, personally, I would say go ahead and get a private EP report, but only go to someone who comes highly recommended by more than one individual - go with a clear idea of what you want out of it and make sure the EP is aware of those requirements before things get going. If nothing else, the report will be another tool in your toolkit and will hopefully back up, reinforce and expand on the original EP's report.

Bochead - I dream of a dietician like that. The one ds was referred to knew a lot less than me - and I know very little. She told us it was fine for him to eat oats on a gf diet!

Ok I'm gonna go out on a limb here - the majority of the posters to this board are here BECAUSE conventional approaches to all aspects of special needs are not working.

We ALL step "outside the box", the day we first say "but" or walk out of yet another GP's visit, school meeting, HV appointment, thinking "there MUST be more out there, somewhere, that can be done to help my child please god"

On here we all share all sorts of ideas that would probably have the usual town hall jobsworths cringing in terror if they only knew (and there is a poster on here who can confirm that when she was stalked in this very location the "official response wasn't positive!).

In the outside world much of what we as a board, get up to such as ABA is regarded as beyond the pale(the social worker's reaction to my doing a 2 day intro course in this was "interesting" shall we say). Running out of patience and asking for a second medical opinion or making a parental statement application are fairly standard responses on here that are seen as pretty daring to the outside world.

The cutting edge of science, is always experimental and sadly without a time machine our children are the guinea pigs. Neuroscience in particular is in it's infancy.

Due dilligence is the term I think we need to apply as all our kids are so different and the range of issues we are dealing with is so vast. This board acts as both a sanctuary for our turbulent emotions as we negoiate the labyrinth of the SEN system, and an amazing source of ideas, to research.

I said ideas - 'cos that's all anyone on an anomymous forum can give us at the end of the day. I think there are some of the brightest minds I've come across on this board, and as such would hate it if people became put off suggesting ideas in future.

Sorry for the essay

There's the cutting edge of science and there's quacks pretending to be doctors.