Reply to IEP for emotional disability vs. OHI?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. The testing we did was a combo of private neuropsych that we provided to FCPS and their own internal testing. The speech testing was done by the school and it was very brief. All testers and even teachers have noted that her lack of speech fluency and slow processing does create anxiety for her. And she will occasionally stutter when trying to get the words out. I do exactly the same thing, but was able to "train" myself as a young adult to consciously slow down my speech patterns. I will think about specific speech testing. Who would do that type of testing? Any SLP or is there a specific type of tester? What do I even ask for?

I feel like I need to clarify that the relationship with the school in our case is not at all adversarial. I could not be happier with the school or their responsiveness to my DC's needs. They are the ones who actually suggested an IEP to us. Academically DC does very well, but there are definite classroom issues. She often has to leave the room or the counselor or school psychologist has to be called. We've had a 504 in place since third grade and would never have considered an IEP was feasible but they really are the ones who pushed for it. The school is also an ED center, so I do wonder if part of the reason they suggest the ED classification is because they have more resources to support that.

I really am just trying to understand if there are specific advantages or disadvantages to DC having an IEP under the OHI vs. the ED classification.

[/quote]

PP with the MERLD child here.  Again, the speech issues raise a major red flag and an even bigger one given that your child is in honors classes.  For GT kids with impairments (LD, speech, ADD, etc.)  The mismatch between what's going on in their heads intellectually and what they are able to produce academically causes a LOT of anxiety, depression and lack of self-esteem.  This can start building as early as the written and oral demands of class start increasing which is usually around 3rd grade.   The lack of speech fluency must be addressed through treatment/therapy.  The "slow processing" can be an issue with word-finding and difficulty with expressive language, semantics and/or pragmatic language.  Speech/language therapy can help with these, but likely not SPL provided through school if all the school has been willing/able to do is brief testing.

Any SPL should be able to do testing, but, frankly, with a GT kid I would look for someone very experienced in testing and writing school reports.  The specific tests differ depending on age, but I would guess the following -- testing to check articulation and physical formation of speech, assessment of the stutter, receptive and expressive language testing such as the Comprehensive Expressive and Receptive Vocabulary Test, the Test of Language Development, Language Processing Test, Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, Social Language Development Test, Test of Narrative Language Test of Word Reading Efficiency, Oral and Written Language scales, etc.  Some of these may overlap or be appropriate for a different age, but you can look them up and read what they test.  We used the Lab School in DC, and I thought they did really good with both the testing and report writing.  Several former Lab SPLs have moved to Continuum in McLean, Virginia to provide services, so you might check there.

What language testing did the neuropsych do or did they only do achievement based testing like the WJ or WIAT?  Do you have a WISC or other IQ test and some achievement testing like WIAT or WJ? Did they do any Oral Expression testing?  Common is the Test of Language Comprehension which has various subtests for oral expression, ambiguous sentences, figurative language, etc.  If task completion is a problem, there should have also been neuropsych testing like the OWLS--II Listening Comprehension or WJ--III Understanding Directions.  If writing is time consuming there should have been a VMI and the WIAT Writing including subtests in spelling, sentence composition, writing fluency, alphabet writing, etc.

You are looking for disparities of more than 15 points (aka 1 standard deviation) between IQ and Achievement or speech testing.  Such gaps indicate problem areas.  Anything 2 or more standard deviations is indicative of a "significant discrepancy" which could qualify a student for an SLD (in oral or written expression or other sub-categories).  Commonly in school meetings, a kid with a 99% IQ and speech/language scores (or any scores) at the 50%ile will be referred to as "average" or having "no problem", but in reality the difference between 99%ile IQ and 50%ile language testing is 3 standard deviations and indicative of a big struggle for the child.

Has she always had the speech and expression issues?  I'm guessing "yes", since it's not really normal that these issues arise for the first time in middle school.  I know you said that you have a good relationship with the school and they have suggested the IEP to you, which you feel makes them proactive, but IMO, your situation is a common one where a child struggles in elementary school, but the school initially only provides a 504 which does not address the real underlying issues/lack of skills that are causing problems, and then the problem worsens over time to the point at which even the school finally admits that an IEP is necessary.  I don't really view that as being "responsive to the child's needs".   GT kids are often victims of this cycle because their strong intellectual functioning allows them to compensate for their problem areas for a long time and the school often says, "but their grades are good" in denying or refusing to consider/suggest an IEP.  It's very common for anxiety issues to increase as it becomes harder and harder to compensate for the disordered areas and the ability to compensate often breaks down either in 3rd grade when academic demands increase, or in the beginning of middle school when the organizational and academic demands take another leap.

As a matter of principle, I object to an ED label when there are clearly underlying issues caused by non-ED problems like speech, ADD, executive dysfunction, etc.  By law, a label cannot be used to deny particular services.  There should be nothing "more" or "extra" your child can get if he/she has an ED label instead of OHI or SLD, etc.  Once a child qualifies for an IEP, he/she is entitled to all necessary services regardless of IEP code.  For example, if a SLD child also has anxiety and/or depression and needs emotional services, psychiatric or psychological support, those must be provided.  I agree with what other PPs have said -- the coding is a short-hand way of understanding a child and many teachers never read the full assessment profile to get beyond the ED label.  I also think it sends the wrong message to the system.  At a systemic level these codes are used to understand the county-wide profile on special needs.  When kids are coded ED when they are really SLD, OHI, or SLI, it is sending the wrong message to the system about what the needs are for teacher training, support staff, etc.  [/quote]

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