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BabyFever10
St. Gianna Pray for us
Member since 9/09 1326 total posts
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Help - laws and CPSE - part 200
So my previous post about getting testing for APD I followed up on the Dr. Geffner recommendations. She does screening at age 4 but does not take insurance and my insurance wont cover it.
When I read the NYS laws concerning SE on Part 200 - it says you can, as a parent, obtain an independent educational evaluation at public expense if you disagree with the evaluation.
Would I somehow be able to get an apt with Dr. Geffner (shes an audiologist and SP) paid through the school? His current SP did his testing and the scores are only showing borderline and not really showing his true weakness (partly because he has strength in areas that bring up total score). And they most likely wont approve more than 2/week speech. His dev ped also agrees that he needs more speech and most likely has APD - but the school unfortunately has disregarded that.
We haven't had his meeting yet for next year - so I am trying to figure out what to do. Has anyone had the school paid for outside evaluations. How does it work? Do you have to get the schools approval first then get the evaluations done? Do you get to decide who does the evaluations or do you have to choose from their list?
Thanks for any help - this is so confusing
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Posted 5/5/15 10:18 AM  |
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iluvmynutty
Mom to E&M
Member since 12/08 1762 total posts
Name:
D
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Re: Help - laws and CPSE - part 200
Does he have an actual diagnosis of ASD? What are his areas of strengths and weaknesses? What type of classroom setting is he in now and how is he functioning in That class? What other services does he receive? How are his attending skills? Is he distractible? Have difficulty sustaining his attention?
I'm trying to get a picture of what his overall functioning ability and How much support does he need in order to function and learn. I think you'll have a hard time going the APD route with a 4 year old because it's difficulty to assess if that is the sole cause of a 4 year olds difficulties. There are so many other confounding variables at that age. Test scores are only a piece of info that is utilized to determine frequency and duration of services.
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| Posted 5/5/15 11:07 AM |
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sapphire
LIF Adolescent
Member since 6/06 568 total posts
Name:
Elizabeth
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Re: Help - laws and CPSE - part 200
Normally, you have to have the 'district' do the evaluation. Auditory Processing Disorder evaluation has to be done by an audiologist, not a SLP... Dr Geffner is both which is a huge asset, when it comes to creating IEP goals and for her to actually do the 'therapy". Finding a SLP that works within the schools that has a deep understanding of APD is rare. (in my experience)
The process is usually BOCES does the auditory processing eval if you request one via the district, it comes back and you disagree, you request an IEE at the public's expense. Do they have to pay for it ? NO, but most districts will, if the independent evaluator is in a certain amount of miles from the district. However, at age 4,...I don't think this will happen. I know my request letter is going out in June when my daughter turns seven.
You also have to ask yourself, what are you trying to accomplish with the diagnosis ? Are you interested in a FM system ?
Feel free to PM me....
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| Posted 5/5/15 11:18 AM |
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BabyFever10
St. Gianna Pray for us
Member since 9/09 1326 total posts
Name:
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Re: Help - laws and CPSE - part 200
Posted by iluvmynutty
Does he have an actual diagnosis of ASD? What are his areas of strengths and weaknesses? What type of classroom setting is he in now and how is he functioning in That class? What other services does he receive? How are his attending skills? Is he distractible? Have difficulty sustaining his attention?
I'm trying to get a picture of what his overall functioning ability and How much support does he need in order to function and learn. I think you'll have a hard time going the APD route with a 4 year old because it's difficulty to assess if that is the sole cause of a 4 year olds difficulties. There are so many other confounding variables at that age. Test scores are only a piece of info that is utilized to determine frequency and duration of services.
My son just turned 4 and is receiving services at home of P/T & Speech 2/week and O//T 3 times a week. His main diagnosis is Sensory Processing Disorder with low muscle tone; poor coordination etc. His main SPD issues are vestibular and proprioceptive. He receives speech because of low scores on some of his initial evals that led everyone to believe he had trouble understanding what was being asked of him. His speech evals had been borderline b/c he has a lot of strengths but mainly when their is a visual item he scores much higher than when he is just asked an open ended question etc. He has great vocabulary.
Everyone from his SP to his dev ped has suspected a possibility of APD but I was led to believe that nobody would screen/diagnosis this early and either way he would end up with speech services which he is already receiving. His dev ped did want him to get 3/week of speech but the school denied since his scores weren't that low.
As a parent - we see his communication skills are getting worse or not improving at all and are frustrated. We feel the services he is receiving for speech are not helping him improve and are trying to get him the right help. Trying to get him to do anything new is a huge struggle because he doesn't understand what we are trying to explain to him (from using the potty to getting dressed etc.) Communication has become a huge barrier from him accomplishing things in his life and his "life skills" are no where near a 4 year old. His O/T & P/T are having the same difficulties when working with him.
As far as why we believe he has APD - he repeats himself a lot. Even after I acknowledge what he says he continues to repeat the same comments. He mishears words often - and repeats things he mishears and doesn't seem to realize they make no sense. Hes also mispronounces certain letters in certain words (ie says REB instead of RED and doesn't hear the difference when we correct him) He struggles to understand very simple things - and really struggles with multi-step directions. He has trouble paying attention to directions but much more so when hes in a group setting. He has a lot of trouble understanding stories when you read a book - pretty much no comprehension at all. If you read him a page of a book and then ask him a question about something he doesn't know the answer.
Hes had his hearing checked and it was normal. I worry that hes not receiving the right speech therapy and maybe there are other types of therapy that would be more helpful. When I spoke with Dr. Geffner she was very much a believer in early screening and said that the type of therapy he gets is important depending on where his weaknesses are, and without proper screening you wouldn't know that.
Of course the school district wont pay for APD screening until he is 7 - but waiting 3 years seems very long if screening him now could give us some idea of the kind of therapy that would help him more.
Unfortunately I am not an expert in any of this and just trying to get my son the help he needs - I don't know what he needs all I know is hes not getting it right now.
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| Posted 5/5/15 2:00 PM |
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MaggieRay
LIF Infant
Member since 7/14 161 total posts
Name:
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Re: Help - laws and CPSE - part 200
I definitely suggest you call Colleen Parker who is a mother of a special needs child as well as a special needs attorney. Your initial call is a free consultation and you may get the information you need during that call. A friend recommended her to me and I am so glad I called. She is very insightful and kind and a great contact to have. All the info is here on her site - Colleenparkerlaw.com
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| Posted 5/5/15 5:33 PM |
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Porrruss
Nya nya nya
Member since 5/05 11618 total posts
Name:
Amy
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Re: Help - laws and CPSE - part 200
If his speech pathologist suspects CAPD, then she should be writing goals and treating as such. Just because he doesn't have a formal diagnosis, there are most definitely treatment methods to help with auditory processing of speech sounds in therapy!
We treat children based on their symptoms, not a diagnosis.
I will say, you will be hard-pressed to get an eval paid for. The reason is that no tests are normed for that young. I don't care HOW good a doctor says they are at it, there is no definitive way to truly diagnose CAPD in children with such immature sensory systems. The school system is required to provide access to a free and appropriate public education, which doesn't always correlate to the parents preferred methods.
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| Posted 5/5/15 7:04 PM |
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BabyFever10
St. Gianna Pray for us
Member since 9/09 1326 total posts
Name:
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Re: Help - laws and CPSE - part 200
Posted by MaggieRay
I definitely suggest you call Colleen Parker who is a mother of a special needs child as well as a special needs attorney. Your initial call is a free consultation and you may get the information you need during that call. A friend recommended her to me and I am so glad I called. She is very insightful and kind and a great contact to have. All the info is here on her site - Colleenparkerlaw.com
Thank you for the information. The developmental ped actually just suggested contacting an advocate if we cant get the services we are seeking from the school. Unfortunately we don't have the money to pay for it but I will definitely see what she has to say - maybe she knows someone that does pro-bono work?
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| Posted 5/6/15 7:59 AM |
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BabyFever10
St. Gianna Pray for us
Member since 9/09 1326 total posts
Name:
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Re: Help - laws and CPSE - part 200
Posted by Porrruss
If his speech pathologist suspects CAPD, then she should be writing goals and treating as such. Just because he doesn't have a formal diagnosis, there are most definitely treatment methods to help with auditory processing of speech sounds in therapy!
We treat children based on their symptoms, not a diagnosis.
I will say, you will be hard-pressed to get an eval paid for. The reason is that no tests are normed for that young. I don't care HOW good a doctor says they are at it, there is no definitive way to truly diagnose CAPD in children with such immature sensory systems. The school system is required to provide access to a free and appropriate public education, which doesn't always correlate to the parents preferred methods.
His speech goals are definitely not what they should be. Unfortunately im just realizing all this now. The goals don't mention any of the actual issues he has - for some reason his goals are just a general goal of interacting and communicating with others but nothing specific.
Is there any place that I can get more information on the types of treatment methods to help with auditory processing of speech sounds in therapy? I want to make sure his goals are more specific in what would help him and to follow up on his future SLP to make sure they are using methods that will be beneficial.
Maybe I should have clarified but we are not looking for a diagnosis nor do I think there is anyone out there that claims to diagnosis APD this early. But there are doctors like Geffner that believe in an early screening process that assess if the child is at risk and that believes in evaluations that can highlight any areas of weakness with Auditory Processing so that the child can have the right goals on his IEP and receive the right kinds of therapy. This is really what we are looking for - better evaluations to determine true areas of weakness. the current evaluations given by the SLP are just an overall sense of where a child compares to other kids. But unfortunately the school bases too much of their decisions on the test scores and not enough on whats actually going on with the child. In our case - an overall problem with communication and a failure to progress in life because of it. Its almost like hes stuck as a 1-2 year old even though hes 4.
So I guess I'm looking at this from standpoint that if the schools are going to determine how much services he gets based on test scores - than I want testing that is more thorough and specific to his areas of weakness.
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| Posted 5/6/15 10:02 AM |
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MaggieRay
LIF Infant
Member since 7/14 161 total posts
Name:
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Re: Help - laws and CPSE - part 200
Good luck! I hope you get some answers soon! So frustrating!
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| Posted 5/6/15 4:28 PM |
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3girls1dog
LIF Adult
Member since 10/09 929 total posts
Name:
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Re: Help - laws and CPSE - part 200
A few years back there was a place called Humanistic Consultants in Mineola. They did testing as well as Therapy for Auditory Processing disorders. Not sure what they have currently. They did work with school districts and Insurance,
Message edited 5/6/2015 5:23:28 PM.
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| Posted 5/6/15 5:22 PM |
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sapphire
LIF Adolescent
Member since 6/06 568 total posts
Name:
Elizabeth
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Re: Help - laws and CPSE - part 200
Posted by 3girls1dog
A few years back there was a place called Humanistic Consultants in Mineola. They did testing as well as Therapy for Auditory Processing disorders. Not sure what they have currently. They did work with school districts and Insurance,
Thanks for posting this !
Dr Jay Lucker is very knowledgeable !!! He has many degrees...audiologist/slp/educator. I do not believe he is currently in NY because I have a friend who corresponds with him, however, he could definitely assist in setting strong IEP goals. The problem is ....all these 'knowledgeable" people...aka "experts" cost $$$ .
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| Posted 5/6/15 6:20 PM |
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