Can I get some input on a school suggesting that my kindergartner have a neuropsychological evaluation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would do the testing. Early intervention for any issue is key.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll try to keep it short (newsflash: I failed). My son is in kindergarden. In the 10 or so weeks of school so far, he's had about 3-4 incidents where he's gotten disproportionately frustrated with things not going his way. 2 of the episodes involved playing with classroom toys, and he wasn't able to get the specific toys that he liked, so he apparently broke down and cried for awhile. 1 of the episodes involved playground activity where he is one of the slower kids and got frustrated and screamed/cried for awhile. My understanding is that he recovers within a few minutes and his day resumes as normal. We've seen some similar issues on occasion at home. At school these incidents seem on average to be once every 2-3 weeks. At home, it's probably similar frequency, maybe a little more frequent... every week or so.

The other issues involving handwriting. The school administers a test where one of the elements is they give the kid a sheet that has some shapes (square, circle, triangle, diamond, etc.) on it, and the kid is supposed to copy the shape using a pencil, on the same piece of paper, right next to the printed shape. My kid had trouble doing an accurate copy of the triangle and diamond but was fine on the 2 or 3 other shapes. And apparently he got a little bit frustrated when he wasn't getting the triangle and diamond correct (no crying, apparently, just a little visible frustration). Might be a fine motor skill issue. Might be an issue being able to see something and then reproduce it. Not totally clear at this point. I think on every other aspect of this test he did OK, and apparently his overall score on the test was pretty typical for a 6-year old.

Based primarily on those two things (the incidents of disproportionate frustration, and the poor ability to copy certain shapes), the school is recommending a neuropsychological evaluation. As far as we know, there has been so specific practice at copying shapes or specific attempts at remediating this behavior yet.

Do any of you have enough experience in this area to know whether the recommendation of a neuropsychological evaluation at this point is reasonable?

Essentially, I'm just hoping that somebody can give me a sanity check along the lines of "yep, totally normal for a school to request that you have a neuropsychological evaluation under these circumstances." Or perhaps "nope, totally premature to request a neuropsychological evaluation at this point. They should give you a chance to work on it and see if theres improvement first." Because I just have no idea.

Thoughts/input GREATLY appreciated!

Your line about “having a chance to work on it and see if there’s improvement first” reminded me a lot of my own thinking when my child was having some struggles early on at a K-8. (He graduated from 8th there btw). I always thought, well, he was tired that day or he hadn’t eaten well or he’s been sick or hasn’t been taught that. The thing is other children also are tired/sick or new to the material, but they have more ability to compensate, probably because they aren’t having to work as hard as he is normally. Not having that extra margin can be a sign of LD or neuropsych differences.

+1 I can so relate to this too.

[Anonymous]

Public or private, jumping to a neuropsych, based on what you've written here, is ridiculous. But I'm assuming this is a private school and they can recommend/ask for anything they want.

But here's the deal: most private schools know very little about typical/atypical development. They mostly have experience with more "advanced" development and then get flustered when there is a deviation from that. There is also a good chance that the person who recommended a "neuropsych evaluation" to you doesn't even really understand what that means.

The good news is that you can probably start with something cheaper if you are concerned and/or want to try to stay at the school. See if you can find a psychologist (doesn't have to be a neuropsychologist) to do a school consult for you. Meet with you, meet with your kid, talk to the teachers, and maybe observe at school. Not cheap, but also likely not $3,000.

Or, probably even cheaper, find an OT who can assess/work with him on fine motor and emotional regulation.

Or, do nothing and start looking for another school. I agree that they may want to counsel you out. Which, frankly, if this is their bar, your child would be better of elsewhere. Good teachers know how to teach all kinds of kids. If someone is getting squirrely because a Kindergartener is crying every few weeks, well, they should find a new job.

[Anonymous]

Is he a six year old in kindergarten? Is he one of the older kids in the class? Is this his first school experience? His first group experience?
As someone who has done psych testing, and who has also worked in a variety of school settings, a referral for neuro-psych testing would NOT be where I’d start for assessment and referrals given what you’ve described.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public or private, jumping to a neuropsych, based on what you've written here, is ridiculous. But I'm assuming this is a private school and they can recommend/ask for anything they want.

But here's the deal: most private schools know very little about typical/atypical development. They mostly have experience with more "advanced" development and then get flustered when there is a deviation from that. There is also a good chance that the person who recommended a "neuropsych evaluation" to you doesn't even really understand what that means.

The good news is that you can probably start with something cheaper if you are concerned and/or want to try to stay at the school. See if you can find a psychologist (doesn't have to be a neuropsychologist) to do a school consult for you. Meet with you, meet with your kid, talk to the teachers, and maybe observe at school. Not cheap, but also likely not $3,000.

Or, probably even cheaper, find an OT who can assess/work with him on fine motor and emotional regulation.

Or, do nothing and start looking for another school. I agree that they may want to counsel you out. Which, frankly, if this is their bar, your child would be better of elsewhere. Good teachers know how to teach all kinds of kids. If someone is getting squirrely because a Kindergartener is crying every few weeks, well, they should find a new job.

I don't think it is jumping at all. The DC is having episodes at school (the ones that are reported) every three weeks and same at home. It's time. My DD had her first around 3 or 4. It wasn't until the 4th neurospsych at 16 that we finally got the first clear picture of what we are dealing with: Aspergers/spectrum/anxiety/ADHD. The prior testers had missed the autism. Yes, we paid a bundle for both kids to be tested but we learned something every time.

[Anonymous]

I would go to a developmental ped, he's a bit young for a full neuropsych. And, maybe try an OT or just practice handwriting at home. Some of that behavior is normal, K. is exhausting for some kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would do the testing. Early intervention for any issue is key.

+1

-1

[Anonymous]

Full neuropsych is 5k

[Anonymous]

Even if you at a private school, free testing resources may be available through the county or city. You may want to reach out to early intervention program for suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is he a six year old in kindergarten? Is he one of the older kids in the class? Is this his first school experience? His first group experience?
As someone who has done psych testing, and who has also worked in a variety of school settings, a referral for neuropsych testing would NOT be where I’d start for assessment and referrals given what you’ve described.

-To add: If he’s new to school, and especially if he’s new to group experiences with peers and unfamiliar adult authority figures, I’d probably want more then a few months to see how he adjusted to the school setting, especially with fellow students who might be in their third year or so of some sort of structured school experiences.

— If he’s six and old for his grade, I’d wonder why, and the reasons for that, in addition to the other concerns that have been described MIGHT suggest that neuropsych assessment is in order. That wouldn’t typically be where I’d start though.

[Anonymous]

Get the testing if you can and be thankful that they were so helpful. We discovered ADHD in second and getting support and treatment have been so beneficial for my child. I wish we had understood there was an issue sooner. The poor teachers can’t say much because so many parents react badly. But I pushed and prodded because I didn’t understand what was going on and I’m so glad I did. Getting treatment has been such a boon to my child who was struggling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would do the testing. Early intervention for any issue is key.

+1
I had less reason to test my kids and I did it anyway. We did a neurodevelopmental exam - 8 hours at 4-5yrs old for each kid. It revealed so many things, among them was all my kids are gifted and high anxiety, one is 2e. This helped us to support them in school. One of my other kids had a sensory issue. Usually the remediation is minimal when you catch problems young. Just do the exam if you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private school? I assume so because otherwise they’d start the process of doing an evaluation through the school district (and that would be free!).

First, you have to do the neuropsych to show you’re taking the issues they raised seriously. They are not necessarily trying to get rid of you but you have to play ball.

Second, the suggestion is probably not unreasonable. Although ADHD (for example) might look like just being a little less tolerant of frustration than other kids, those differences are pretty apparent to people who spend all day with first graders.

I assumed this too, because in public school they would catch the problem unless he was failing or disruptive.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, my ADHD kid gets frustrated like this. Almost never in school, but he often loses it at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public or private, jumping to a neuropsych, based on what you've written here, is ridiculous. But I'm assuming this is a private school and they can recommend/ask for anything they want.

But here's the deal: most private schools know very little about typical/atypical development. They mostly have experience with more "advanced" development and then get flustered when there is a deviation from that. There is also a good chance that the person who recommended a "neuropsych evaluation" to you doesn't even really understand what that means.

The good news is that you can probably start with something cheaper if you are concerned and/or want to try to stay at the school. See if you can find a psychologist (doesn't have to be a neuropsychologist) to do a school consult for you. Meet with you, meet with your kid, talk to the teachers, and maybe observe at school. Not cheap, but also likely not $3,000.

Or, probably even cheaper, find an OT who can assess/work with him on fine motor and emotional regulation.

Or, do nothing and start looking for another school. I agree that they may want to counsel you out. Which, frankly, if this is their bar, your child would be better of elsewhere. Good teachers know how to teach all kinds of kids. If someone is getting squirrely because a Kindergartener is crying every few weeks, well, they should find a new job.

I don't think it is jumping at all. The DC is having episodes at school (the ones that are reported) every three weeks and same at home. It's time. My DD had her first around 3 or 4. It wasn't until the 4th neurospsych at 16 that we finally got the first clear picture of what we are dealing with: Aspergers/spectrum/anxiety/ADHD. The prior testers had missed the autism. Yes, we paid a bundle for both kids to be tested but we learned something every time.

This is kind of a lot.