I am going to give you an example of why it is important to get outside/independent evaluations completed and how it can make a difference for your child in receiving the appropriate services and/or placement. I will also show you how in getting the independent how you can demonstrate that the school is wrong in the progress they are alleging your child is making, which will actually support your claim that your child is not making gains. Recently, I had a student independently evaluated by a trusted neuropsychologist. The district insisted that the student was making gains, their evaluators said so. Upon reviewing the independent neuropsychological evaluation I became physically ill. I compared what the district said, compared the tests they used, compared their comments and recommendations, to the neuropsychologist evaluation and found that the school staff were teaching the student to the I.Q. score. So for years this poor kid was not being challenged by the teachers and the student was so frustrated that the teachers were not listening to the student had to say, that the student contacted me to tell me that the student wanted to to go another school that could help in getting the education that the student needed to be more independent. The neuropsychological eval was so detailed and the recommendations were spot-on, that at the team meeting I made all types of requests and one of them was to place the student in an out of district program specifically designed to meet the issues the student was suffering from. The district of course said they had such a program, but funny thing the teacher of that so-called program, never attended the team meetings. Understand this, the evaluations are very important and the independent evaluations are even more important. Once you have a diagnosis, then you can determine what the student needs are. Without a diagnosis the district get to wing-it with your kid. Do not give the school district that much authority over your child. Remember, they are just the first stop not the last as they would have you believe.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 12:52:45 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015