7yo anxious DD struggling in school - what kind of testing to do? Help!

[Anonymous]

It takes a month at least for Zoloft to really kick in because they give a small 25 mg dose and then increase every two weeks. Our psychiatrist suggests 100-150-200 for anxiety. We noticed a positive change after about 4 weeks with additional improvement after 6-8 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does she have an IEP? You could research neuropsychological testing and see if that makes sense for your daughter. If she doesn't have an IEP, you can request an assessment. It is likely that the school will then do evaluations, which may or may not be as thorough as you feel necessary.

OP here. Her therapist suggested trying the school first and then going for a full neuropsych/educational evaluation with another psychologist if the school A) wouldn't do an evaluation for whatever reason or B) it wasn't thorough enough. I'm almost willing to skip the school evaluation so that we can get it all done at once and sooner with the psychologist. Would there be any reason to go to the school first other than cost-savings? I really have no idea where to start with this stuff... so any info you have is much appreciated.

PP here. Cost and time. School is faster and free. Also, doing the neuropsych isn't going to stop the school from doing its own evaluations if it believes evaluations are warranted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does she have an IEP? You could research neuropsychological testing and see if that makes sense for your daughter. If she doesn't have an IEP, you can request an assessment. It is likely that the school will then do evaluations, which may or may not be as thorough as you feel necessary.

OP here. Her therapist suggested trying the school first and then going for a full neuropsych/educational evaluation with another psychologist if the school A) wouldn't do an evaluation for whatever reason or B) it wasn't thorough enough. I'm almost willing to skip the school evaluation so that we can get it all done at once and sooner with the psychologist. Would there be any reason to go to the school first other than cost-savings? I really have no idea where to start with this stuff... so any info you have is much appreciated.

PP here. Cost and time. School is faster and free. Also, doing the neuropsych isn't going to stop the school from doing its own evaluations if it believes evaluations are warranted.

This thread helped a lot (OP here). I'm submitting the forms tomorrow to start the school evaluation process. I suppose we'll see what the school says and then go from there.

[Anonymous]

You might also try a developmental optometrist who does vision therapy. It is not a quick fix, but made a dramatic difference for my DD whose very significant vision issues were not able to be corrected by surgery. She had vision therapy sessions weekly and did the eye exercises for several years in early elementary years and had almost a complete resolution of her issues. Dr. Wendy Garson in Mclean on Old Dominion is very good. She has Saturday AM or after school hours once you are established. My DD actually enjoyed it. It's important to know though that vision therapy is seen as controversial by some pediatric ophthalmologists so you might have to pursue independently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does she have an IEP? You could research neuropsychological testing and see if that makes sense for your daughter. If she doesn't have an IEP, you can request an assessment. It is likely that the school will then do evaluations, which may or may not be as thorough as you feel necessary.

OP here. Her therapist suggested trying the school first and then going for a full neuropsych/educational evaluation with another psychologist if the school A) wouldn't do an evaluation for whatever reason or B) it wasn't thorough enough. I'm almost willing to skip the school evaluation so that we can get it all done at once and sooner with the psychologist. Would there be any reason to go to the school first other than cost-savings? I really have no idea where to start with this stuff... so any info you have is much appreciated.

PP here. Cost and time. School is faster and free. Also, doing the neuropsych isn't going to stop the school from doing its own evaluations if it believes evaluations are warranted.

This thread helped a lot (OP here). I'm submitting the forms tomorrow to start the school evaluation process. I suppose we'll see what the school says and then go from there.

Hello,
I am in this field and here is some free advice. You must submit in writing that you suspect your child has a Specific Learning Disorder that is impacting her ability to access the general education curriculum to start IEP Process and timeline. The timelines is 90 days from the time you request the meeting until an IEP is completed. The county will not conduct a full Neuropsychological as you will want but a Psychoeducational, which is just cognitive and achievement. They will probably also do some emotional rating scales, but not go as in depth as a full Neuropsych. Just my two cents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. Wow, I had no idea. I assumed it would be quicker to have her tested privately. I e-mailed her school counselor this morning so we could get the process started. I read something on the FCPS website that the process must be completed within 65 days of the initial forms being submitted so that would definitely be faster than six months!

So the school will do the educational portion and then if we want a neuropsych we would still go private?

In MCPS they said no suspected issues despite teacher reports to the contrary and information from private assessments and therefore would not do any additional testing. It took months for them to do the meeting and turn us down. Lots of wasted time. After we got an advocate they agreed to do one test but it took them almost 8 months to do it.

[Anonymous]

We did an evaluation through Inova Kellar. We got an appointment within a week or two, and the testing and report were completed within a month.

We requested accommodation from the school, but they denied us until we got a diagnosis. Our dd was diagnosed with ADHD. We requested another school meeting, and got a 504. Finally almost a year later, we got an IEP. Now dd is doing so well with her accommodations and medication, that I'm afraid we'll lose her IEP on the next go round.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did an evaluation through Inova Kellar. We got an appointment within a week or two, and the testing and report were completed within a month.

We requested accommodation from the school, but they denied us until we got a diagnosis. Our dd was diagnosed with ADHD. We requested another school meeting, and got a 504. Finally almost a year later, we got an IEP. Now dd is doing so well with her accommodations and medication, that I'm afraid we'll lose her IEP on the next go round.

They cannot take away an IEP because your child is doing well as long as they have a disability that affects their ability to access the curriculum. So unless your child no longer has ADHD... Don't worry and enjoy the success!

[Anonymous]

Similar issues for my DD. In 5th grade, we finally started tutoring with a dyslexia specialist. No, my child does not have that as an "official" diagnosis but we have tried almost every test and medication listed above. The results were always ambitgious and called for trying this strategy or that strategy. In the end, anxiety meds plus this tutoring have resulted in huge gains in reading and writing in just a few months.

[Anonymous]

Does the school evaluate anything in regards to ADD/ADHD? Or do they say the results suggest it and say you need to do private testing? Anything like that? Or nothing at all... ?

[Anonymous]

Do not choose the fastest place for testing like this. Hospitals like KKI may have long waiting lists but that is because they are experts in this testing. This is not like blood work. These tests are subjective and have to be performed by experts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did an evaluation through Inova Kellar. We got an appointment within a week or two, and the testing and report were completed within a month.

We requested accommodation from the school, but they denied us until we got a diagnosis. Our dd was diagnosed with ADHD. We requested another school meeting, and got a 504. Finally almost a year later, we got an IEP. Now dd is doing so well with her accommodations and medication, that I'm afraid we'll lose her IEP on the next go round.

They cannot take away an IEP because your child is doing well as long as they have a disability that affects their ability to access the curriculum. So unless your child no longer has ADHD... Don't worry and enjoy the success!

That is not true. Your child has to require services in order the access the curriculum. If your child can access the curriculum without services but with only accommodations, then the IEP can go. Also, every third year is a requalifying year. This being said, I'm told that very few kids every grow out of their IEP. I happen to have one who did - and it was totally surprising that he did. He is doing just fine in school now with some accommodations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did an evaluation through Inova Kellar. We got an appointment within a week or two, and the testing and report were completed within a month.

We requested accommodation from the school, but they denied us until we got a diagnosis. Our dd was diagnosed with ADHD. We requested another school meeting, and got a 504. Finally almost a year later, we got an IEP. Now dd is doing so well with her accommodations and medication, that I'm afraid we'll lose her IEP on the next go round.

They cannot take away an IEP because your child is doing well as long as they have a disability that affects their ability to access the curriculum. So unless your child no longer has ADHD... Don't worry and enjoy the success!

That is not true. Your child has to require services in order the access the curriculum. If your child can access the curriculum without services but with only accommodations, then the IEP can go. Also, every third year is a requalifying year. This being said, I'm told that very few kids every grow out of their IEP. I happen to have one who did - and it was totally surprising that he did. He is doing just fine in school now with some accommodations.

Thanks for the correction. But "services in order to access the curriculum" does not have to mean just academics. I have a DS with ASD/ADHD who does very well academically and never needed supports for academics but needs Speech/social skills and OT in order to "access the curriculum". Just be aware that keeping an IEP is not only dependent on grades and academics and "accessing the curriculum" means more than just grades.

Just want PP to be aware that good grades does not preclude having or keeping an IEP.