Update to our IEP meeting - HORRIFIC experience

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We had our last IEP on Thursday, and it was HORRIFIC as all the rest have been. I need some desperate advise now

The school psychologist who had only met him twice (one at his play school for about 1 hour and the other during his evaluation) is the ONLY person who says that he has mental retardation. She observed him about a month after his BDI was done in February and has no other OBJECTIVE data to back her up, aside from her notes from these "observations". He scored poorly on the BDI and on his OT assessment, but both his case manager and his OT (who had both worked with him for about 6 months prior to conducting this testing) issued disclaimers in their reports, stating that given his non-compliance and poor attention span to non-preferred tasks, his scores are not indicative of his skills. BOTH are from different agencies and conducted and wrote their assessments independently of each other.

At his exit from Early Start, his case manager wrote up a report, in which she stated that his skills in the areas of cognition are above 24 months. I confronted the school psychologist at the IEP and she claimed that it must be a typo and that the case manager had gotten the signs (greater than and less than) mixed up ! She claimed that he had no adaptive skills and there is no way his peer interaction capabilities were above 24 months. It must be noted that she observed him only once in a group setting and he completely refused to cooperate at the BDI with her. We taped the IEP, so I have her claims on record now. BTW, her claims are completely false. My son is able to dress and undress himself with minimum assistance, and can feed with a spoon with some help with scooping. He also drinks from an open cup, but is not potty trained. He has very poor fine motor skills and so his lack of self-help may be a function of his fine motor deficiencies. Also, he is very social and approaches peers and interacts with them with help. He is non-verbal, so obviously cannot communicate with them verbally, Furthermore, all his peers are on the spectrum, so what are the odds that his attempts at social interaction would go anywhere, given the combination of lack of expressive language and ASD peers ? When I told her that he does approach his peers and looks into their faces and babbles, she claims that a child with social skills above 24 months must do much more. So, of course, he is mentally ret*d, never mind that his Inability to have social transactions may be largely due to his lack of expressive language !

She insisted that my son has intellectual disability and cognitive impairment - and this is her PROFESSIONAL OPINION in the matter. She is a DISGRACE to her profession. Anyway, I need to know how to attack this woman's SUBJECTIVE assessment which has ZERO objective data to back her up. I am going to get a letter from his case manager, categorically denying the presence of typos in her report. Given her personality, I am sure that she would be pissed to find out that she was accused of getting her signs wrong on tape.

In addition, his case manager and former OT actually worked with my son and had observed him for MONTHS, which was why they were able to clarify that his test results not be taken literally and that his skills are truly much higher than the results would have one believe.

I am frustrated and angry that one idiot's subjective opinion can have such a devastating effect on a child's future. Please help.

To maybe take the focus off of this woman's personality; what will be the impact of her opinion? She is just one member of the team, right? What outcome do you want for your son that her opinion will prevent or what outcome will her opinion cause to happen that you want to avoid? That's where I would try to focus anyway, on the goals, accommodations and placement I want to see for my son regardless of the label that this person wants to use. More than likely as he matures and develops language, her error will become obvious and her opinion will become obsolete.

The problem with this woman's opinion is that it may affect his placement on an ongoing basis. She initially wanted my son placed in the county program for kids with mental retardation, as opposed to an autism spectrum disorder placement. I resisted, so they agreed to place him in an autism class with the caveat that he had BETTER show program OR ELSE...

I am angry ... The county's programs are usually programs of last resort, and it is very rare for a child to be back in the district placement once s/he has been referred to a county placement. Furthermore, placement in a county program affects my son's insurance as he will immediately be deemed eligible for Medicare - whether he deserves it or not. This can affect his entire future, and this is all because this disgrace of a loser decides that he has MR ? Why ? This bothers me. Furthermore, I do not want our insurance company getting their hands on this report. Are there agencies to which you can report school psychologists who do shoddy jobs and act like doctors ? His pediatrician does not believe he has MR, his previous clinicians do not believe that he has MR, and quite frankly, it is too early to say. What do I do next ?

I am not able to give you advice on how to proceed, other than for you to consistently say you do not agree with assessment. But, I can give you validation:

Not having good adaptive and social skills have nothing necessarily to do with MR. You can have issues with social cognitive issues (ToM) and motor skill problems and be really smart. Autism does not equal MR. I do not even understand her argument.

My son has a ton of social and motor skill and adaptive issues and is in the gifted program. He does not dress himself (He can undress himself because he does not like clothes : ) He cannot do buttons or anything like that. He is not close to MR.

As she said its an opinion. Facts are better of course. I would video the behaviours you describe in your son and present that as evidence that contradicts what she says. She may still say he is impaired, but may modify her opinion.

You probably should also get another opinion from a developmental paediatrician. The last thing you want is your son to be in a programme that is below his capabilities.

Good that you got the placement you want. The fact is IDEA says that a child should be placed in the LEAST restrictive environment. As you say the class for more severely effected children should be a last resort. I am not sure how your state/county school system is structured but there should be an administrator who is the psychologist's boss. I would write to that person and state your concerns. I probably would try to use their language in this statement. I am no expert here but citing the least restrictive environment clause I just mentioned would be a good start. Keep the focus on the impact on your son. I guess I don't understand why Medicare qualification would be a bad thing. I would be glad for it myself because then my son would be able to easily get an aid in the classroom. Without this, I have an uphill battle to get him any individual time with an aide. I also would think that your insurance company would have to accept your actual doctor's opinion over this school psychologist's opinion. I can't remember if you said previously if you had an advocate working with you. if so, he/she would be able to advise you about going over the psychologist's head.

If you can find a good local advocate, get one. I didn't go that route and in the end it is more costly.

Demand an IEE...independent educational evaluation. Essentially, you get to choose someone in the private sector to do a reevaluation, and they have to pay for it. As for an IEE on any of the evaluations the school has done that you disagree with. If the psychologist did a educational and psychological evaluation, find someone good and redo them. You aren't trying to discredit her as a person, you are simply trying to show that she is wrong about your child.

If everyone else is in disagreement with her (doctors and therapists), she shouldn't have final say in the IEP meeting. Did the IEP team consider those other reports as they are supposed to? Generally (not knowing more) I'd want to get a full psych eval from someone private and good, and then if they aren't budging, file a due process complaint present your data and have your demands.

How old is your child? They should be striving for least restrictive environment/mainstreaming/inclusion. If your child's peers are non verbal kids on the spectrum, maybe some other placement is better. I put my son in a great preschool with typical kids instead of the DD class they offered. Also, my understanding is that counties can typically use the very general developmental delay label for IEPs until kids are somewhere around age 7.

I had a similar experience in which a person who only met me for two hours told me that I had an NVLD (which I know is incorrect) in conjunction with my AS (but he did get the OCD right), I couldn't go to university and that I would never be employed. Not only did I attend university, I graduated with honors and I have a career. These people are paid to make a diagnosis and some of them enjoy making someone out to be far more disabled than they actually are, as if it is some sick game for them. There are good ones out there, but many of the experiences others I know had are negative. I am glad he didn't know about my interests or he would have likely labeled me a threat for having an interest in weapons. I can definitely understand the concerns regarding placement (which can also lead to problems seeking employment). I would get a second opinion, especially if others who interact with your child on a (nearly) daily basis disagree with the diagnosis.