Thanks, everyone! I've contacted Early Stages and have the initial screening phone call tomorrow.

My older child has ASD, so I'm familiar with IEPs in general. My younger child may or may not have learning disabilities, but I'm certain he doesn't have ASD.

I agree that you should ask for an evaluation - don't define the need yourself. I would simultaneously take him to a developmental pediatrician at Children's National and have him evaluated. Share those results with the school if they help make your case.

You may hear them talk about your child's issues being "developmentally appropriate" but, do not buy it! My child was the same way at 3 and 4. He would only scribble!

Still mostly scribbles after a year of OT. Turns out that in addition to a fine motor delay, he has ASD. He has issues with executive functioning and motor planning.

My child does need specialized instruction, and from what you are describing, I imagine your son may as well. So, do not approach them as just needing OT services. Get a full eval to make sure all areas of needs are assessed, as required by law.

Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got OT.... PT and speech. Social skills classes. All in prek. Was not behind academically and could read three grades above in English and do multi digit math in his head. But could not tie his shoes, use utensils, zippers, stairs, write legibly, or climb the playground equipment.

DS has ASD but got an IEP under "developmental delays" which is the designation commonly used for IEPs until K. This is why it is easier to get an IEP before K.

Contact Early Stages, ASAP. They will tell you whether they do the eval for your school or if you need to contact your charter.

Even in order to qualify as DD, the child needs to require specially designed instruction, in order to get an IEP.

Speech is considered a type of specially designed instruction, but OT and PT aren't.

OP is in DCPS, not charter, so Early Stages is the right place to refer. It's worth getting an eval, but unlikely that it will lead to services. Even if it doesn't, having the opinion of the OT who does the eval might help the OP decide whether to pursue private therapy.

Early stages will evaluate speech. They may find issues. DS gets help with pragmatics. Most people would never guess he has any speech issues at all.

Anonymous wrote:DS got OT.... PT and speech. Social skills classes. All in prek. Was not behind academically and could read three grades above in English and do multi digit math in his head. But could not tie his shoes, use utensils, zippers, stairs, write legibly, or climb the playground equipment.

DS has ASD but got an IEP under "developmental delays" which is the designation commonly used for IEPs until K. This is why it is easier to get an IEP before K.

Contact Early Stages, ASAP. They will tell you whether they do the eval for your school or if you need to contact your charter.

Even in order to qualify as DD, the child needs to require specially designed instruction, in order to get an IEP.

Speech is considered a type of specially designed instruction, but OT and PT aren't.

OP is in DCPS, not charter, so Early Stages is the right place to refer. It's worth getting an eval, but unlikely that it will lead to services. Even if it doesn't, having the opinion of the OT who does the eval might help the OP decide whether to pursue private therapy.

DS got OT.... PT and speech. Social skills classes. All in prek. Was not behind academically and could read three grades above in English and do multi digit math in his head. But could not tie his shoes, use utensils, zippers, stairs, write legibly, or climb the playground equipment.

DS has ASD but got an IEP under "developmental delays" which is the designation commonly used for IEPs until K. This is why it is easier to get an IEP before K.

Contact Early Stages, ASAP. They will tell you whether they do the eval for your school or if you need to contact your charter.

FWIW, my kid was similar and MCPS would not give him OT services -- he was considered within the range of normal for K kids (I think the normal range goes down to basically nothing at that age, in their view). The ended up giving him some services on a spotty basis, based on when the therapist had free time.
There's a lot of threads on this forum about this, but OT for writing/fine motor is really hard to get services for.
Good luck.

Our charter did not route us to Early Stages for an evaluation at that age; they did their own as they are their own LEA. But OP should contact them right away and ask for an evaluation of everything. How are his skills with self feeding? Going down steps? Going on playground equipment? Playing with Lego? Some things to think about.

Oh, a note on Early Stages/making a referral - seriously, mention everything under the sun that you think could be an issue - trouble dressing? Eating? Opening food containers? Drawing too hard/too soft? Other concerns beyond fine motor? Anything. Let them judge what is actually an issue and what actually impacts him in school (and you'd be surprised at where you can be "behind" even just at K, or sometimes even just not "behind" now but will definitely impact). But if you don't mention it, they won't evaluate for it, and it won't be considered.

Yes, as PP said, it's more typically seen on a 504 as a stand alone (though also as PP said some schools won't do) and wouldn't be stand alone on an IEP. That said, 5 is still within the developmental delay category age range, where one potential area of delay is motor skills, and a delay here could actually very well be impacting him - in writing, adaptive tasks (self care, dressing, other things like that, sort of functioning skills), etc - he's still young enough they should be looking at a much broader definition of "academics" than you might typically think of.

Anyway, either way, at 5 they're going to route you to Early Stages, for an evaluation (Early Stages does evals for ages 3-5, regardless of whether a kid is enrolled at a school). Early Stages will do a fuller eval - cognitive, educational, OT, (more if you have more concerns in other areas), which lets them see if there are any delays, if there's an impact on participation/academics. So you might as well just call early stages yourself, now, to get the ball rolling. I suppose it's theoretically possible that there's some way to try to get it via a 504 dealing only with the school, but usually they put you through the whole special ed eval process even for that, and frankly you want an IEP if you can get one, over a 504 plan.

I'd call now - it's a long timeline (120 days), you want to start it now. And then follow up on your call with a request in writing, as often they insist only a written request starts the timeline. Or do the request in writing initially (via the link below, I'd do by email so you have a record). But somewhere in there make sure they interface with your kid's teacher, after he starts school, so they have a good picture of whether any of this is impacting him in the classroom.

http://www.earlystagesdc.org/for-families/make-an-appointment

Ask for an evaulation. Have an evaluation yourselves. He might have other issues that have not manifest yet. You don't ask for services--you ask for an eval to try to get the IEP (or potentially 504).

In order to qualify for an IEP, one of the criteria is that the child must require "specially designed instruction". OT doesn't meet this criteria, so it is impossible to get an IEP with OT as a sole service.

Some schools will write OT into a 504 plan, while other schools don't consider OT to be a "reasonable accommodation" as defined under that law. It's worth asking though.

And, if it matters, we're in DCPS.

DS is starting kindergarten this month, and I'm virtually certain he has delayed fine motor skills. His drawings are still 95% scribble, the only word he can write is his name, and he doesn't seem to have the same finger strength that his peers have. He's not academically behind, though, because it's just kindergarten, and doesn't need special education.

What's the best way to go about asking for OT services at school?