F. A. Q.
Q: What is a psycho-educational assessment?
A: When a child is not doing well in school, parents may hear a number of things from the school, or they may see changes in their child at home. The school may tell them that their child is not doing homework, is restless, doesn't pay attention, reads below grade level, or is being recommended to repeat the grade, or go into a special class. At home, their son or daughter may be bad-tempered, might avoid doing homework, say they hate school, seem sad or be difficult to get to school in the morning. The assessment usually consists of a number of tests of different kinds, as well as observing the child in the classroom. The tests include a detailed assessment of intelligence (usually the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV), memory, attention, executive function, behavior, and emotional status. The assessment may also include measures of achievement.
Q: What does a psycho-educational report consist of, and what kind of recommendations should I expect?
A: A typical psychoeducational evaluation of a school-age child may assess these areas:
• General intellect
• Achievement skills such as reading, math, and spelling.
• Executive skills, such as organization, planning, inhibition, and flexibility
• Attention
• Learning and memory
• Visual-spatial skills
• Behavioral and emotional functioning
• Social skills
Some abilities may be measured in more detail than others, depending on the child's needs. A detailed developmental history and data from the child's parents and teachers may also be obtained. Observing your child to understand his or her motivation, cooperation, and behavior is a very important part of the evaluation. Ideally, the report will provide you with a description of your child's strengths and weaknesses, suggestions for what you can do to help your child, and recommendations for educational programming. This will include suggestions to help your child improve weak skills and suggestions on how to use your child's strong skills to get around problems created by the weak skills.
Q: Are there any tests that schools routinely perform that may help us pinpoint where my son's inability to process information correctly lie?
A: All tests are just instruments, tools of the profession. Nevertheless, all testing procedures remain instruments that provide you with some data: it is up to the professional who uses these instruments to give an interpretation and explanation. There is no "magic test" that will find the "sure" answer to your questions, "why?'
Q: What should I tell my child to prepare him/her for the psycho-educational assessment?
A: For school age children, it is appropriate to describe testing as being like in school. You can tell your child that he/she will be doing many different activities. Some activities involve listening and talking, while other activities involve looking at pictures, building things, and drawing. Parents are not typically allowed to be present during testing. Let your child know that you will be close by while he/she works with the psychologist. Reassure your child that she/he can have breaks to use the bathroom and to eat lunch. For preschool children, you can describe psychological assessment as playing games involving listening, talking, and remembering. Let the child know that the psychologist will have toys like blocks and puzzles that he/she will get to use. Your preschool child may wish to bring a toy along to the appointment. Try to choose an object that will not be too distracting for the child (e.g. a small stuffed animal as opposed to an action figure or toy with many small parts). You can help your child get ready for the assessment by making sure that he/she gets a good night sleep prior to testing. Make sure that your child has eaten so that he/she will not be hungry during testing. Make the assessment day a special day for your child by leaving brothers and/or sisters at home.
Q: How long does it take?
A: Two or three sessions of about two hours each, plus one to two hours in the classroom are usually required. Part of the assessment includes an interview with parents. This is to gather developmental and background information that may be helpful in determining the reasons why your child is experiencing difficulties.
Q: Can the school refer my child for an assessment without my permission?
A: No, before any psycho-educational assessment can be conducted you must sign a permission form authorizing the assessment and you must also be fully informed about the assessment and what it involves.
Q: Can I refer my child for an assessment or is the teacher the person who can do this?
A: You can refer your child for an assessment however you are encouraged to have the referral implemented through the school.
Q: What happens to information gathered on my child?
A: The information is kept in a confidential file at the school and the Department of Education. Parents receive a copy of the report. Copies of the assessment cannot be released without written consent from the parents.
Q: Will someone explain the results of the assessment to me?
A: Yes, the psychologist is responsible for explaining the results of the assessment. This will occur in a meeting with the teacher, parents, and others who work with your child.
Q: Can anyone at the school read the report?
A: The classroom teacher as well as the learning assistance teacher and counselor are usually the only people who read the report. Frequently the principal will read these reports. However if you have a private assessment conducted outside of the school you decide who can read the report.
Q: Am I allowed to see what is in my child’s school file?
A: Yes, you can read your child’s complete file and have access to all information relating directly to your child.
Q: What are the costs of a psycho-educational assessment?
A: A flat fee may be charged for the psycho-educational assessment or an hourly charge may be applied.
Q: Do I have the right to request a damaging and inaccurate psychological or any other report be removed from my child's school record?
A: Yes and no. You have the federally guaranteed right to inspect your child's educational records maintained by the school. You also have the right to request that any records that are inaccurate or misleading be changed.
You can have the report removed (or amended), but only based on an argument that it is inaccurate or misleading. The school may choose to disagree with you. You then would have to file a complaint and have a hearing.
If you lose at the hearing, you have the right to add a parent-amendment to the record with your explanation of why the record is inaccurate or misleading. By law, this amendment must remain with the record.
Q: What is an Individual Education Plan (IEP), why does my child need to have one?
A: AN IEP is developed to accommodate your child’s learning strengths and weaknesses. It will serve as a teaching and learning guide with teaching strategies and performance goals clearly indicated.
Q: Will my child have to be on an IEP throughout school?
A: No, not necessarily, it will depend on your child’s progress and performance at school.
Q: Who is responsible for developing the IEP?
A: The IEP team, which must include the parents. The IEP is a legal document and cannot be implemented unless the parents sign it.
Q: Who is responsible for implementing the IEP at school and how do I know if my child is progressing?
A: The classroom teacher is responsible for implementing the IEP. It is important that you attend IEP meetings and reviews. This gives you the opportunity to look at the IEP and to see if your child is improving. Improvement should be noted by your child successfully reaching the instructional goals written on the IEP.
Q: Can I refuse to have my child placed on an IEP?
A: Yes, you can refuse.
Q: Is an IEP revised during the year?
A: Yes, IEP’s are usually revised three times a year at specific IEP review meetings that you will be requested to attend.
Q: What are adaptive behaviors and why are they important?
A: Adaptive Behavior includes the age-appropriate behaviors necessary for people to live independently and to function safely and appropriately in daily life. Adaptive behaviors include real life skills such as grooming, dressing, safety, safe food handling, school rules, ability to work, money management, cleaning, making friends, social skills, and personal responsibility.
Adaptive behavior assessments are used in evaluation of students with learning disabilities to determine what behavior strengths and weaknesses should be addressed to improve the learner's possibility for success in school and life. It is not uncommon for learning disabled students to require specially designed instruction to learn adaptive behaviors.
Adaptive behavior is usually assessed using questionnaires completed by parents, teachers, social workers, students (when possible and appropriate), or adult learners. Adaptive behavior can also be assessed based on observations of the child's actual performance of a specific skill
Q: What is the difference between FAS and FAE?
A: The difference between Fetal Alcohol Exposure (FAE) and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is that children with FAE often look normal and have normal IQ's but have very poor behavior, subtle and multiple learning disabilities, weaknesses in attention, memory, judgment, and difficulties primarily in verbal reasoning/auditory processing. These kids often look "normal" on superficial exam and tend to go unnoticed by the schools. It is hard to get the child the special services they may require to function adequately in school. However, if you have a FAS or FAE diagnosis from a qualified physician, the schools must provide the services, no matter how good the child may look otherwise. This is very important in these days of inadequate funding for special education.
Q: What are the major approaches in treating FAS-related difficulties?
A: A timely and correct diagnosis is crucial because it leads to early and appropriate intervention that may reduce some of the psycho-social manifestations of this disorder. Your first line of defense is special education and psychological services (consultation and therapy). You may go back to your physician to ask for pharmacological intervention, if the need arises, but your main partners in remediation should be a special education teacher and a psychologist. Children with FAS/FAE may qualify for special education services. Some of them may need as little as Resource Room tutoring and school-based counseling. Some may need a self-contained placement and a number of services, including speech, OT, and specialized counseling. At different age levels FAS has somewhat different manifestations, but what stays with FAS children at any age are behavior problems (ranging from restlessness/inattentiveness to serious behavior conduct disorder). Different degrees of "learning disability" are found in almost all children diagnosed with FAS/FAE. A psychologist with a cognitive-behavioral background may help you with managing the child at home (through consultation and/or therapy, if needed) and monitoring his/her progress in school. The real problem is that many symptoms of FAS may be found only later in the child's life: the absence of "classical" features of FAS does not mean the absence of the disorder.