During the transition process, the evaluations are important to determine if a child will be eligible for services through the school district. In our case, things turned quite different due to Tommy being sick for many days so he couldn't attend to the evaluations. The school was also close for many days due to the winter storms. Therefore, the School district decided to take information from the progress notes and interview to our current therapists and us.
The eligibility meeting was held yesterday, February 16th, at 2:00 pm with the school district coordinator, the school psychologist, the school speech-language pathologist, a special need educator, a friend of mine, my husband and I. We went over the results of the Tommy's evaluations to determine what services he qualified for and how he qualified. It took about an hour and half to go through everything. The meeting was smoothly thanks to the pastries our friend brought to the meeting. The pastries broke the ice and honestly, they made feel more relaxed. I am thankful and please with the School District team for keeping everything according to the state law and beign flexible in gather as much information as the could even when Tommy was ill.
The psychologist who did the Developmental Assessment of Young Children (DAYC) got enough information from the progress notes, the developmental summary my husband and I do every 6 months and an interview with our current Developmental Therapist. Due to Tommy doesn't cooperate with his Development Therapist during her visits twice a month, some cognitive skills were considered inconsistent forcing the evaluator took points out. But due to my blog and videos I have, I proof he has these skills. Even the evaluator didn't give him points for the skills Tommy showed inconsistency with our Developmental Therapist, he didn't qualify for services in the area of cognition.
The Physical Therapist and the Occupational Therapist in charge of the physical evaluation got general information for the Peabody PDMS-2 and DAYC tests from our current Physical and Occupational therapists. According to the physical evaluation, Tommy needs services for gross motor skills because he has a significant delay in gross motor area. Meanwhile, Tommy's fine motor skills qualify in an average range. This means, he is not eligible for services in the motor area because he has to qualify in gross motor and fine motor together to get services in the physical area. But, the evaluators requested a re-evaluation because they need more specific information to complete the Peabody test. This left the door open for Tommy to be eligible in the coming weeks.
The Speech and language evaluations were measured by the REEL, GTA and PLS4. According to the results of the REEL test based on a questionnaire we did with the evaluator days before Tommy got sick, Tommy's language comprehension is in the average range. The evaluator was needing more information to complete the GTA and PLS4 tests; therefore, the speech and language evaluation was complete with Tommy a day before the eligibility meeting. Tommy didn't cooperate with the evaluator even she tried hard. Therefore, his combined score for receptive and expressive language skills went down making him eligible for Speech and language therapy services. Tommy's scores according to the REEL were consistent with a private pay evaluation we did when Tommy was 13 month. The REEL were used in both evaluations, so the evaluator realized the gap between Tommy's receptive and expressive language is consistent by keeping almost the same score, which is good.
Tommy will be re-evaluated for gathering more specific information about his gross and fine motor skills. He will also be re-evaluated for oral motor macanism because the speech and language pathologist couldn't gather any information because he didn't cooperate with her. The school district will also evaluate him for sensory issues because the evaluator concern on Tommy's odd tongue movements. Even, we did a private pay evaluation about a year ago and it shows he doesn't have sensory issues, I know deeply in in my hear he does. I am glad the school district pay attention to the possibility of Tommy having oral sensory issues.
We are happy with the results because they show how capable and smart he is. It is not my love to my son that talks about the many skills he has. But we are hoping he doesn't pass the fine motor re-evaluation, so he can get services in the gross motor, which is the area where he truly needs services. We are thrilled Tommy is doing so well!
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