My ASD son's Psych-Ed Scores...

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I am concerned about the lack of actual "remediation" help my son is getting from his school. He was diagnosed over the summer with Asperger's. He has always been atypical, but it wasn't until he entered middle school and was severely bullied that I stopped saying "he's just socially awkward" and started saying "what the heck is going on?" So these tests were all done last year. He is scheduled to get all the tests redone. I also requested they do executive functioning tests to see if those are an issue as they seem to be. But I am a bit lost that if they had these scores last year, why are they only NOW offering accommodations? I am a bit confused too because his IQ indexes are more NVLD than ASD? Or no?

He is getting 1 c, and a few Ds, and an F. This is even with them NOT grading in-class work and using just tests. He is getting an F in Lang Arts, which worries me as last year I originally requested an initial evaluation because I had run across dysgraphia. He has a horrible time writing, takes him soooo long and his handwriting is ridiculous. He is a very very very slow to go kid. If I tell him to hurry up, he slows down because he is processing why??? LOL When he was a baby I could set him on the porch and he'd stay on the blanket and just watch. He never was the baby who put things in his mouth. He ran so funny as a toddler and pre-schooler that you couldn't help but laugh, but now that I find out he is 4 years gross motor delayed... he used to walk on his tip-toes and I took him to the Dr who told me I was worrying about nothing. At 2 he had a rolling suitcase that was his best friend, and even slept with him at night and mommy had to kiss it good night too )) At 3 the suitcase was thrown over for a 2 x 4 piece of lumber that had a face drawn on it. He was sent home a lot in kinder to 6th grade, not suspended per say but because the school didn't know what to do as he would withdraw and either fall asleep or just be staring through anyone who tried to connect to him. At 1 he was SOOOOOO articulate. People thought he was 3-4 years old. He was a post-due date born 17 days late. I had gestation diabetes with him (read today that babies born to a GD mother are at double risk for language development problems as those born to mothers who did not have the condition) , and he was born at 10 pounds. perfect apgars, no cord wrapping, etc. He was OBSESSED with human body books from 1-9y, now he is a little more diversified? But he talks of his vet practice, and animal shelter he will have as an adult (but he does get into more specific breeds, like the Scottish fold kitten or box turtle breeding, rather than all animals LOL).

His scores are all over the place. I don't even know how to accurately get his GAI (my youngest son's are a way bigger discrepancy.) But with some of the discrepancies, should he be getting services for LD? He has advisory in ASD classroom, and 3rd period for Social Skills class. But... the teacher has been just letting my son go to both A & B lunches instead of attending the social skills class. My son has a friend finally, and is being a bit intense about it.

FSIQ: 112 (Notes say it is NOT a valid indication of his overall cognitive ability??))

VIQ: 124
PIQ: 135
WMI: 86
PSI: 78

Similarities: 14 91st%
Vocabulary: 15 95th%
Comprehension: 13 84th%
Block Design: 15 95th%
Picture Concepts: 16 98th%
Matrix Reasoning: 16 98th%
Digit Span: 11 63rd%
Letter-Number Sequencing: 4 2nd%
Coding: 3 1st%

TAPS-3
Overall: 109

Phonological: 121
Memory: No number listed?
Cohesion: 110

Discrimination: 10
Segmentation: 14
Blending: 18
Number Forward: 6
Number Backward: 10
Word Memory: 11
Sentence Memory: 14
Auditory Comprehension: 10
Auditory Reasoning: 14

Beery VMI:
102

WIAT-II

Reading: 110
Mathematics: 126
Written Lang: 105
Oral Language: 124

Word Reading: 118
Reading Comprehension: 98
Pseudo Decoding: 113
Numerical Operations: 111
Math reasoning: 134
Spelling: 94
Writing Expression: 117
Listening Comprehension: 126
Oral Expression: 113



No alternate subtests were given.

I did the GAI indicator for his WIAT scores.

Significant discrepancies with a .01 are Reading Comprehension, Pseudo-word decoding, Numerical Operations and Spelling.

Reading is a -17 difference
Written Expression is a -20 difference

It's pretty common for the full scale IQ to be deemed not reflective of a person's true intelligence when there are factors like Asperger's, poor working memory, or other "wrenches" that make the numbers inconsistent. Usually, it means that the person is probably brighter than the full scale IQ test number suggests.

As far as the school's accommodations go - it sounds like there are some additional supports needed. If your son has dysgraphia, he should probably be using a keyboard for any significant writing assignments. Depending on his degree of dysgraphia, this could be anything from all writing to anything more than a few sentences; this needs to be determined based on his individual needs. For children who have severe dysgraphia, and can't, for instance, line up their numbers when doing math, some can work successfully using graph paper but some need to do their math on a computer using programs such as MathPad Plus in the lower grades and FXmath in upper grades. If the dysgraphia is less severe, and keyboard support is needed only for essay-writing and the like, a word processor may be all that is necessary. In elementary school, children are generally provided with a Neo - a portable, sturdy word processor. In middle school, some districts still use the Neo, but many prefer real laptops since the Neo has only an 8-line screen, and editing essays can be much more difficult. The Neo is also strictly a word processor and has no other software capacity, whereas a middle school student is likely to need other functions.

I was a little confused about the lunch issue regarding social skills - is your son refusing to go to his social skills group because of this new friend? Is the new friend someone who he spends time with during the second lunch period? Clearly, school needs to be responsible for sending him to his class, but if the budding friendship is causing your son reluctance to attend, maybe this can be used as incentive to attend, instead of reason not to. Could your son's new friend be brought into the group? Could your son "earn" free time with him (maybe if he goes to x sessions and participates, he gets to skip or leave early so he can spend second lunch with his friend)?

Have you, or his teachers, been able to figure out what is causing the difficulties for your son? Are his poor grades due to his difficulties in writing? If he isn't writing lengthy answers to questions, that could cause problems in many subjects, not just Language Arts. If that is what the problem is, he may need to have an alternative method of conveying his understanding of the subject matter - that could be by way of dictation or scribing; having multiple choice, true/false, matching tests instead of essay or "short answer" tests. It is critical that you and the teachers figure out whether the problem is that your son is not learning the material, or whether the testing materials are not accurately assessing his knowledge. It is also possible that the tests pose questions that he finds confusing - that he simply does not understand what the teacher is asking. For smart kids, this can be an extremely difficult situation, and can cause them to shut down.

One other thing - there are two aspects of problems with writing: one is the physical issues of writing, the other is the getting thoughts onto paper. The physical part involves the poor handwriting, hand fatigue, etc. The thoughts to paper involves the problem of getting the thoughts from the brain, into words, out the fingers, onto the paper (or the keyboard). There are many ways that this gets logjammed. Poor working memory, which your son appears to have (compared to his other capabilities), will be one of his struggles. His brain is working faster than he can remember the details of what he's working with. Working memory is needed for writing - for forming letters on paper, as well as holding thoughts in one's head while manipulating data. Much more working memory is required for physically writing than for typing - that is why it is recommended, for people with these kinds of needs, to keyboard rather than write. It will ease some of the logjam, which will help (not eliminate, but help) with the "lock" that occurs when they are trying to write. The bonus, for the teachers, is that they will be able to read what he's written. Make sure to have these accommodations written into his IEP - not all teachers will accommodate without it, and you need the paper trail so that when he reaches high school (I know, it seems like a long time away), he will have a lengthy documented history, and may be able to establish a need for using a computer for the writing portion of the SAT.