Please help - ed psych tomorrow and she doesn't want parent there

[prufrock]

Can anybody that is further on in the awful process that is diagnosis/statementing help my friend. Her ds is 5, and is "spectrummy" which has caused considerable difficulties at school. He was originally suspended after half a term as the school could not cope with him and since then has been gradualy going back - he's now up to doing half days. The school have handled the whole thing appallingly and been incredibly unhelpful.
They have finally got an assesment with an ed pysch tomorrow, and my friend has been told tonight that the ed psych does not want her present when she has her interview with her ds, alone in a room with him. Is that normal?

She thinks it will mean that the ed psych will not see the extent of his problems - he is normally excellently behaved when in one on one situations with adults but has big behaviour problems when dealing with any opposition from his peers, or when having to cope with change within the classroom. So without her there to tell this woman stuff she will probably make a completely inaccurate assesment. It also seems a bit wierd for a 5 year old to be "interviewed" without a parent present. The EP has said it's because children are sometimes inhibited when parents are around, but that is definately not the case with him.

So firstly, is a solo assesment normal/helpful, and if not, can she insist that she is present

It is normal for the ed psych to see the child alone(normally done by watching the child in the classroom situation and then when ed psych wants to speak to child they will be together in a quieter area of the classroom)
i would find it surprising if the ed psych didn't want to talk to parents and i would suggest the parent makes an appearance to talk to the ed psych at the end of the assessment, either by arranging through the school or through ed psych directly.

thanks both - and shameless bump for more views

It's not unusual - both of mine were assessed alone with the ed psych - ds at four (nearly five) and dd five I think. Part of the assessment is usually an IQ test and that needs to be done per fairly careful clinical procedure - eg child asking parent for help (even if child can do whatever it is) would distort results.

If the assessment is within school there will very likely be an observation as well, of the child in a group situation - like playtime, where the extent of problems is usually at its most obvious, sadly.

Then, typically, there will be a chat with parent and EP (child may or may not be present at that).

I think this all sounds sensible.

Ds2 was a little younger (4yrs) but the Ed.Psych asked for me to be there when she arrived. She then went through what she was planning to do, asked if it was okay, and then asked if I wanted to stay.

It doesn't sound normal to want to speak to a 5yr-old and insist that the parents aren't there. Will another staff member be there or just the Ed.Psych?

The EP that saw Ellie last month watched her in the classroom then tok ehr to the salt room to do her 'testing' on her

Ellie would have been to distracted in the classroom

I wasnt there. She wouldnt have done the things asked of her if I were there

I did get a chance to chat with the EP before she saw Ellie

I cant really see how 'proper' tests and observations can be done with a parent present

When my ds was being assessed for a statement, the EP first observed him in the classroom, and then took him into another room and asked him a few questions on his own. She then completed the assessment by talking with his teacher and myself for a good hour.

Of course

I know Ellie would have some strops if I was there

Plus I would have been itching to say "Ellie hold your pen properly"!! and "Of course you can do that"

macwoozy, thats how it was for us also

i agree with electra.
when DS was observed at home by the Ed Psych i was there, i was able to hear what was going on, although i was in the front room with the door ajar, and i was able to tell the Ed Psych later when she phoned why he said/did certain things, she phoned me before and after the asessment and was very thorough.

However, the Ed Psych or should i add the Principal Ed Psych went into nursery, didnt tell us she was going in, didnt phone us or ask us for our input and concluded that DD didnt need asessing for a statement
cue 2 very strongly worded letters "advising" her of the code of practice and she went in AGAIN to see DD but this time she "found" a language delay, even the cleaner knew that dd has a language delay and she granted us a 10 minute meeting afterward in which she said dd wasnt severe enough to warrant further input from the ed psych service and she was discharging her.
but then dd has been accepted for an ICAN place so i dont know how she works that one out.

I think the procedure for the visit should vary according to the age/needs of the child. If the school asked for an Ed.Psych to assess ds1 (7yrs) I would be 100% happy for it to be done without me there. With ds2 (4yrs)I would at the very least expect him to be able to have a familiar adult in the room with him, even if not necessarily me. At his pre-school assessment the Ed.Psych started off asking ds2 the questions designed for 4yr-olds and got no response from him. She was about to give up when the pre-school teacher said that ds2 wasn't answering because he was bored. The Ed.Psych moved on to the harder questions and ds2 suddenly started answering her. Ds2 just needed someone who knew him to 'interpret' his silence.

Thank you all so much for this advice - the EP was actually much nicer in person than on the phone and it went very well - she saw A by himself for a barrage of tests, then observed in class, then met with my friend and the head for an hour - so yet again stress could have been avoided if the school had just communicated properly
A behaved, well, as A does - he was just above or below average in most tests, but 99th percentile in maths and spatial awareness. He was briliantly behaved throughout the tests, then threw a huge tantrum at the end because he didn't want them to finish - I think it was probably the first time ever he'd really been stimulated by anything at school. The EP said he needed a statement and full time one-on-one, which can hopefully be reduced as he gets older.

So onto my next question. I know from the awful struggles some of you have had that it's not going to be as easy as that. How likely is it that he will get what the EP recommends, and how can my friend increase the chances of that happening? I do know (from secret sources) that the school have recently advertised for 2 LSA posts for children with existing statements and have had 27 applicants, so they can't try to say it is impossible to get the staff. But I am also not naive enough to think that her battle is now over and we will go in on the first day of next year to find a competent one on one and a decent plan in place to address his issues.

The ed psych saw ds alone (ds has dyspraxia). The ep got me to fill in a questionaire before, and all 3 of us had a chat at the end. ds was 6 at the time.

And this was done external to the school (who suggested that I get ds seen), and we paid. (school is private)

So even though I was paying, the ed psych wanted to see ds on his own.

oh, ed psych sent a form to the school for their comments too.