Educational psychologist assessment

[MrsMartinRohde]

Apologies if this is a stupid question or if it plain can't be answered (I guess procedure varies around the country)

But - DS(9) has ASD, diagnosed almost 2 years ago. The report from that diagnosis assessment said the next thing needed was an EP assessment. Cutting a long story short, school claimed to have made this referral but they never did, so it's only last month my son was seen. He's in yr 5, which is going ok so far but last year was awful (behaviourally, socially, academically), culminating in two half-day exclusions for violence/threats of violence in the playground. It was after this, school agreed to actually refer him.

So, before the EP saw DS, she had a meeting with the SENCo and me, which went well. I told her my main concerns, which are high school, and might he need an EHCP (which school won't apply for, since they are "meeting his needs"), and my opinion he may have undiagnosed ADHD.

From how the meeting was left, I was under the impression that I'd receive a copy of the report and that would be it so far as my input went. Now I've been invited to a further meeting with the SENCo and EP to discuss "the next steps". And I'm now so anxious. I am scared, mostly, because I can't get out of my mind that another face to face meeting must indicate bad news of some sort. Am I being ridiculous or is a further meeting with a parent a perfectly reasonable scenario? EP had said, at the end of our first meeting, before she met DS, that she'd be happy to talk to me on the phone to discuss things later if I wanted.

I know, I have to wait and see... but I'm a ball of nerves these days. :(

My son has only had an independent ed psych in but she met with us and his teacher afterwards so it sounds reasonable. Maybe she wants to drum it into the school that they really do need to get their act together as they don't sound great. She obviously feels he needs support so it sounds like a positive step. Definitely give her a ring though.

Thank you :) My mind is all over the place, jumping to every possible conclusion, including the notion that she wants to see me in person to tell me my kid is actually fine but he is just lazy/doesn't try/inherently naughty/bad. which is obviously nonsense - I mean, he has the diagnosis and nobody has ever ever questioned it, but I feel like I'm primed for a fight and a struggle at every step. and on this - it really has been a long wait and you can't help but question yourself. the thought that he might now have his actual educational needs identified and meaningful supports put in place - it's immense.

I don't blame you! The school sounds absolutely horrendous, you must be in permanent fight or flight mode. It really does sound positive though.

It may very well be a feedback meeting where the EP will discuss her observations and together you will all generate a list of outcomes and strategies to put into place for the next 6-8 weeks at which point there’ll be a review meeting.

It’s becoming to be increasingly regarded as bad practice for EPs to ‘assess and go’ - that is, one hour consultation, assessment and then a report.

Don’t blame you. As a mom I dread going to meetings with therapists and doctors increasingly now. No one wants to share bad depressing news. Definitely contact her.
My son’s first ever assessment for benefits was not a useful or helpful experience. I sighed when I read the final report that came in the mail. Despite me giving as much information on the form as I can they didn’t read it. So frustrating sometimes dealing with all of the paperwork and the systems.

loveandstuffing, thank you. meeting is tomorrow... I've been wondering if perhaps what might be "easier" face to face would be to answer the questions/concerns I had IF these don't feature in the actual report? Like, she wouldn't be officially allowed to speculate on a possible ADHD diagnosis but she could give me her unofficial opinion? IDK. CLutching at straws, possibly.

And I know I wouldn't be this anxious if there'd been any suggestion at the previous meeting that we'd have a further session, post assessment. You'd think she'd have said?

Of course what now concerns me is that if she does have a list of strategies and outcomes, school can feel free to ignore any/all of it. Sigh.

April2020mom, thank you. It sucks to have to deal with the paperwork and the hoops to jump through. I've been waiting for this report so as to have extra evidence when applying for DLA, not to mention possibly EHCP as well. I'm competely on tenterhooks.

How did the meeting go?

It was ok thanks Streambeam :) a bit odd since the senco didn't show up, when both the EP and I were expecting her (some emergency must have come up because she was in school), so although the EP and I had the meeting anyway, I had many questions left unasked because I wanted school's response/opinion/suggestions.

the report hasn't been done yet though. we went through the tests she did with DS. very mixed results on them, some he was at the higher end of the expected range of scores, others he didn't get into the expected range at all. she highlighted particular issues with responsive language, noting he couldn't answer (because he couldn't undertand) some of the questions she asked. he frequently said he didn't understand and that he has problems with his memory. as for ADHD, she's unsure as he was focused enough during the one-to-one time, though less so in the classroom situation, and she questions whether it's the responsive language issue that's behind him being unfocused (because he frequently doesn't understand what's going on).

we had a long chat anyway. very interesting but too much information for me to take in let alone understand or remember. her opinion of the sort of support he'll need at high school was particulary useful to hear. also, she mentioned following up with him at the end of yr5, which I am really happy about, because I was afraid it was another assess and finished situation. looking forward to getting the report now. :)

So, did she recommend an assessment by a speech and language therapist, because they are the people who assess receptive language (comprehension)? The question is does DC have problems with receptive language (and he may not have very good attention as who pays attention to stuff we don’t understand); or does he have attention problems, which mean he does not pay attention long enough to get comprehension of what is being said? That is what hopefully a speech and language therapist can tease out?

Saltpans - she didn't make the specific recommendation overtly to me, but I'm hoping it will be in her report.she talked about "groups". I assume at school? I went back and looked at the report we had when DS was assessed for ASD in Jan last year, and it did recommend SALT assessment. I feel awful now, thinking I ought to have been pushing for both (I was led to believe school had referred him for the EP assessment about 18 months ago; the-then senco lied to me; they only did actually refer him when they sought input on his behavioural problems). and yes, this is what I want and need to know, the reason for his attention problems.

this is all making me think I should just bite the bullet even though I don't think DS would qualify for EHCP right now (but maybe?) and apply for a needs assessment, because even if he didn't wind up with a plan, he'd have to be assessed. and I can request he sees a SALT in that, I believe? gah. I have no idea how much a private SALT assessment would be and if school would take its recommendations seriously anyway?

It could be like our school, where we applied for EHCP and it was refused because the school had done fuck all and so there was no evidence.

You can self refer to the NHS speech and language therapy service. You don't need the say so of the Ed Psy or the school. Obviously, an NHS SALT report would quite likely, not be as comprehensive in its recommendations as a private report; but if you can't afford a private report, then its better than nothing - and would hopefully show if DC does have receptive difficulties or not, for a start?

thanks SaltPans. I did look into this but as far as I can gather, locally, they work with children up to age 8 but the referral has to have gone through before the child finishes reception year. for those older it goes through school. DS is 9 and he's never seen a SALT (he was on the late end of the scale in terms of speaking, scraped 50 words at 2yrs, his speech was very indintinct up to age 5) but was never flagged as needing intervention; TBH I had no idea of the extent of his difficulties until DS2 came along, when DS1 was 2yrs; he's NT and obviously developed very differently).

I could maybe afford a private report, but I would only be prepared to do that if it was certain it had value in terms of school support etc later.

There is no guarantee that a SALT would find a language problem, and then they might not have any recommendations to make, for school support.

I know a SALT, and she is willing to spend half an hour with a child for free to see if an assessment is warranted. You could try asking an independent SALT in your area, if they do the same. ASLTIP should have a database of independent SALTs in your area.

If not, you could try as you said, making a request for an EHC plan assessment, and request a SALT assessment as part of it.