[FEAT BC Admin]

This area is for discussions in general topics.

Topic

[Danielle Cross]

Michelle,

You wrote:
"Its interesting that the school tells you the assessment is fine for 5 years when the government requires us to re-assess every 2 years to receive funding!"

Funding for what? This is something I"d be interested in learning more about. I think it's outrageous that they're trying to tell me his previous assessment is good for 5 years. They keep saying that they aren't qualified to test him because of his behavior (previous testing was done at Sunny Hill), and I keep saying "If you can't test him, bring in someone who can!". I suspect a big part of their reluctance to test is that if it shows he's made insufficient progress, they will have some accountability.

A very large part of why I want the assessment is to create some accountability. If they have an assessment that shows D's current level of functioning, then they can set, real, appropriate, measurable goals. If D then doesn't meet those goals, they will be accountable. As they should be.

Right now, his goals are ridiculous. He doesn't even have a current IEP – they're working off last years, which is sadly outdated, vague, and completely inappropriate. Our next school meeting isn't until November.

One last thing – can anyone recommend a reasonably priced tutor who will work with an autistic child? I'm doing some homeschooling in the evenings, to try and make up for the joke that school is, but, as I'm sure you can relate to, being OT/PT/SLP, counselor/therapist, behaviorist, teacher, teacher of the school staff, and mom all adds up. I'm tired!!!

[walkerc]

Danielle We to have had trouble with our School we live in langley. Hang in there it will get better. Our School did not want to test our son till he was seven. But we were able to get his teacher on our side she pushed for testing. Allso talk to his slp speach person at school ours has helped us to get retesting. Our son is only 8 years old and this will be his second school testing. A friend who is a teachers aid told us if you can show he can show he has potential but has trouble with behaviors you will qualify for more suport from the school. It worked for us. You said you were thinking of using Pivot Point. We tried them they said our son was to old for ABA therapy. Hope this helps. E mail me if I can help awnser any other questions. charsupermom@hotmail.com

[Deleted User]

Danielle

I would highly recommend that you call the Able Clinic. My experience has been with Dr. Davies, and he is fabulous but I have heard great things about all of the staff at the Able clinic. You will be in highly qualified hands regardless of who you see.

When you call, you will speak to a very informed and helpful woman whose name is escaping me at the moment, but she is well informed on accessing extended healthcare to cover the costs. She will point you in the right direction and if she has dealth with your extended healthcare provider will know the process to go through.

Its interesting that the school tells you the assessment is fine for 5 years when the government requires us to re-assess every 2 years to receive funding! I have to say, regardless of the child's progress or lack thereof, five years is an incredibly long time and no child should go five years without re-assessing their progress! And if the school is still working off of a 3 year old assessment then there is significant pieces of information that they are missing. No child should stay working at the same goals year after year. NO child is untreatable. Every child can achieve goals and learn providing they are taught using effective teaching strategies with goals that are individually designed for them. Perhaps your school might need to be reminded that your child has a right to an education. And remember, you do not have to stay at one school, even changing to another school within the public system can result in great changes.

I would highly recommend that you explore finding services from a highly qualified consultant as it sounds like there will be numerous complications in the initial set up of D's program. I say this because a program is often more challenging initially for an "older" child. An 8 year old child has spent a significant amount of time establishing patterns of behavior that need to be changed when a program starts.

My 2 cents on what makes someone a qualifed consultant:

-Higher education, preferably a Masters in Psychology, Special Education or Applied Behavior Analysis. There are a few really good consultants out there who do not have this but have EXTENSIVE experience and training. I emphasiz a FEW.
-THe ideal is someone who has been trained in an ABA clinic or school situation where they have been supervised by those with PhD's in either psychology or ABA (or Special Ed)
-Training should have occurred at a reputable clinic
-They should have at least 3 references they can give you who can speak about their quality of work

Signs your potential consultant is less than qualified:
-they are on the government list but no one has actually heard of them before… you can always post on the feat board, asking people to email you about their experiences with so and so.
-they have a bachelor's degree only and several years in the field. Its hard to put a number on the number of years of experience… but if a consultant did not have a higher degree (MA, Msc), i would not hire them unless they had numerous years in the field with extensive training in a clinical setting. There are some "consultants" with a bachelor's degree or less and I kid you not, 3 years of experience in the field. I find this frightening.
– they worked in a related but not this exact field (i.e. they were a teacher, a SLP) and then attended a workshop or week long course and then declared themselves to be a Behavioral Consultant. You can not learn all you need to learn at a workshop. NO matter who is teaching it.
-They say that they use an eclectic approach. ABA is scientifically based and proven, time and time again, and part but not all of its success is its intensive approach. Beware of those who decide to do a little of this and little of that. ABA only works when it is intensive. A few hours of ABA a week is not going to benefit D, at least not the way a consistent, intensive approach would.
-THey spend much of their time trying to sell you on how great they are. A good consultant is usually overbooked. They don't need to sell themselves to you. You might luck out and find one that just happens to have available time, but expect to wait a few months for someone of quality.

ABA is an extremely powerful tool that when used correctly can accomplish what may seem unthinkable, but when done incorrectly it can also achieve unthinkable results… unthinkable because you might never have imagined someone could mess up your child so quickly.

If you need more information on qualifications, I would recommend contacting one of the FEAT parents as they can provide you with much more detail on what makes someone qualified to program for your child.

I did want to end by saying that it is NEVER too late to start a quality ABA program and never too late for a child to make progress and experience phenomenal growth! There are parents who participate on this board who started much later than D and who have seen tremendous changes occur. D is a very lucky child to have found such a great family to love. Good luck with your program start up and in battling your school.

[Colleen]

Has anyone had a bad experience with the shots given in grade 6 at school? My son will be getting the Hep B and meningitis ones but I'm wondering if I should go ahead and have him vaccinated for chicken pox. Neither him nor I have ever had it but his sister had it when the kids were both little and only had 18 spots total so I'm concerned about him getting it as an adult but I'm concerned about the whole "shots" thing anyway. Any advice would be great thanks!

[Danielle Cross]

Thanks for the quick responses!

Dave – the reason I'm pushing for testing is to "prove" that my child IS capable of learning, and that they need to aim for him graduating on a normal diploma. I'm not afraid of losing supports, as D's behavior and communication are at such a level that he clearly needs support. A big problem is that D never received early intervention, and has a lot of behavior/trust issues from his placement history, on top of the autism.

We're currently trying to get Pivot Point onboard and paid for through MCFD (D is a child in care for another month, when we're getting our adoption Notice of Placement), so that D gets some ABA. A big issue is that while he's bright, his compliance is very low, and so his skills are rather disorganized. He can read, but is just learning to make requests. He can answer questions about physical properties of items that aren't present, but can't tell me what he did in school today…

I've been battling pretty heavily with the school so far this year, and am alternating between being encouraged that they seem to be trying, and bordering on rage because they just don't "get it".

I think their belief that D is mentally retarded and unable to ever achieve independence or a higher level of learning really contributes to their unwillingness to teach him. If I can provide test scores from an independent professional which show that D is in fact intelligent, then perhaps they'll feel motivated to try and teach him?

Right now he's being kept busy doing dot to dots and spelling out three letter words – stuff he could do two years ago. There's not an appropriate IEP in place. I keep being told "it takes time", but all I feel is time racing away from us, as he falls further and further behind

Kandi – I think I will call you! I'd be really interested in hearing your opinion of the testing, and how you managed to get it paid for by your extended health. We too, have extended health, which will cover D roughly 4 months from now, and I'll have to look into whether it will cover psyched testing. I know it will cover a visit to a naturopath!!!

Danielle

[Dave Collyer]

Hi Danielle,

Sorry I don't live in your area. It was my understanding that Psych Ed assessemnts (WIAT and WISC and the like) are only good for two years. I suppose this might be different on a case by case basis. I now some local Psychologists and I will ask for some clarification if you like.

One parent I know once remarked that once you have an assessment and a level of support assigned based on that assessment NEVER have your child re-assessed unless they will score in such a way so as to obtain additional supports. I suppose the fear was/is that support is withdrawn when children "test higher". In a local school here in the Greater Victoria area I know of a child who has just had aid time reduced as a result of her doing so well… Little regard was given for the role that the aid was playing and the need to continue the support in order to continue the progress…The message I took away from that conversation was to take care when initiaiting "re-testing" requests… the product of the "re-test" might be a reduction in support levels which are, often, the very root or catalist for the child's improvment.

If you show them the quality of work your son can do now at home how do they account for it? Is it an issue of home skills and environment being more "friendly" then the classroom? Skills failing to generalize into the school?

DC.

[Kandi Kilgour]

Hi Danielle

I used the Able Clinic in Surrey for my psych testing. I saw Ron Schmidt but I hear Glen Davies is supposed to be the best.

We paid for it privately but were able to claim it under our extended medical.

Hope this helps.

Feel free to call me

Kandi
604-607-0701

[Danielle Cross]

Can anyone recommend a person or group to do a private psychoed assessment for my son? "D" (diagnosed with autism) hasn't had one since he was first diagnosed at age 5, three years ago. He tested very poorly. This is no doubt in part due to his placement at that time (was in an abusive foster home – D is adopted). I've been pushing for a new psychoed assessment to be done by the school district, so that we can find out where D's at academically, etc., and then make appropriate goals for his IEP. The school has refused, saying that "for autistic children, the psychoed test stays good for five years", compared to other children, who often need retesting every year. They insist that testing would be irrelevant and unsuccessful anyway, due to compliance issues.

The school currently has D working on tasks far below his ability, which I understand is necessary while they build compliance. However, when I ask to have work at his level sent home, to be done with me, they say that they don't believe he's above the stuff he's doing. It's completely ridiculous. I feel like I'm getting nowhere with the school.

I'd like to have an independent psychoed test done, by a qualified professional who can see past the autism, so that I can show the school that my son is NOT retarded, CAN learn, and deserves an education!

I'm sooooo tired of being looked at as though I'm a lunatic when I say I expect for D to be performing at grade level in most subject areas by Grade 7…

We're located in the Fraser Valley. If anyone can recommend someone, lend some advice, or even just some support, it would be greatly appreciated.

Signed,
a VERY frustrated mom

[anonomous]

Hi,

I was given the names of some local consultants that were recommended by the families of FEAT,but I do not know how to contact them. If anyone has contact info for Rachel Russel, Sharon Baxter , Loreli Dake could you let me know? Thanks so much in advance. It is greatly appreciated! Please email mccaula81@shaw.ca.

[anonomous]

Hi,

I was given the names of some local consultants that were recommended by the families of FEAT,but I do not know how to contact them. If anyone has contact info for Rachel Russel, Sharon Baxter , Loreli Dake could you let me know? Thanks so much in advance. It is greatly appreciated! Please email mccaula81@shaw.ca.

[Author]

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