Will You Need a Psychoeducational or Neuropsychological Evaluation | #T5Tue

Do you know the difference between 

a Psychoeducational and a Neuropsychological Evaluation? 

If you have a special needs child who is about to start kindergarten in the Fall you may be thinking about the Turning 5 process. If you're not, then you should. Seriously, it's not too early. 

I believe that a parent should visit as many schools as possible. You want your child to have as many options available. And if you're even thinking about private school placement, then I strongly suggest you have your child privately evaluated. 

There are 2 types of evaluations: Psychoeducational and Neuropsychological.*

A Psychoeducational evaluation: is a "combination of psychological tests and educational assessments. The report, based on your child's test results, describes his/her strengths and weaknesses, gives appropriate recommendations for placement, and identifies strategies for assisting your child in an appropriate educational setting."   

A Neuropsychological evaluation: "includes both psychological and educational assessments as well as additional tests related to a child's executive functioning. Tests of executive functioning assess a child's skills in specific memory functioning, planning and organization, sustained attention, self-monitoring, fine motor skills, and/or behaviors." 

When we were going through the Turning 5 process, I took The Boy for a neuropsychological evaluation. Our evaluation cost us $6,000. Oh yeah, you read that right. We were lucky that I was able to get most of it covered by insurance (but I had to pay the neuropsychologist in full.)

Do not worry - you do not have to pay thousands of dollars for a private evaluation. They range from $500 - 10,000.  There are places that offer sliding scale fees. Some accept insurance - usually medicaid or a medicaid waiver. And sometimes - I'm not sure exactly how - but sometimes you can get your school district to pay for a private evaluation.

Honestly, I wasn't happy with the neuropsychologist. The report was okay but I thought the neuropsychologist was condescending, completely out of touch with our reality and a classist. And when the attorney I consulted with suggested an amendment to the evaluation, the neuropsychologist refused and questioned the quality of the attorney. So I wouldn't recommend that person. 

[side note: the following year when I was trying to apply for the medicaid waiver, I couldn't even use the neuropysch eval - I needed a psychoed. So just another thing to keep in mind.]

Whether you decide to have a Psychoeducational or Neuropsychological is more of a personal choice - you can apply to schools with either one. My suggestions are this: 

• Shop around! Don't make the same mistake I did and go with the first one who returned your call.
• Ask questions. Make sure whoever conducts your evaluation will make specific recommendations for your child. Make sure they will be willing and available to go to hearing - if it comes down to it. Make sure they are willing to cooperate with your attorney.
• Talk to other parents and ask where their child was evaluated. Nothing beats a satisfied parent referral.      

Next Tuesday I will share suggestions on where to go for evaluations.

*Definitions of Evaluations are from A Parents' Guide to Special Education in New York City and the Metropolitan Area

Catch up with the #T5Tue Series: 
Last week's post: Finding the Appropriate School Placement 
and follow the #T5Tue series: More Tips for Turning 5 

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10/16: Turning 5 FREE Talk

6:00-8:00pm


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171 Madison Avenue, 5th floor


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Register for the event - HERE.

IQs, Autism & iPads

In the last four years, The Boy has been evaluated several times.  By neuropsychologists, Board Certified Behavior Analysts, developmental pediatricians, special education teachers, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and physical therapists. 

All the evaluations reveal the same thing about The Boy's cognitive ability.  His IQ is inconclusive.  In his last evaluation, the doctor wrote:

"Full scale IQ was in the extremely low range, however due to significant variability in performance this cannot be considered a valid representation of overall cognitive functioning."

Does autism impact his ability to test?  Is it the ADHD component?  Is it both?  I don't know. 

What I do know is that The Boy is way brighter than any test score reveals. 

And you know what else I know?  The Boy is just as sneaky and mischievous as any other typical 6 year old boy.  Maybe even more so.  Especially when it comes to the iPad.

The Boy is a wiz with the iPad.  He plays games, colors and complete puzzles.  He goes on Netflix.  He adjusts the brightness and the volume independantly.  He goes on YouTube - he types in what he wants to watch.  And like most kids on the spectrum, he watches the same thing - over and over and over and over again.  

Stuff like this...

And this...

All harmless stuff.  Annoying to listen to after 1000 times.  But hey, whatever makes The Boy happy right?

And then The Boy discovered The Family Guy.  (hanging head in shame) In particular this episode:

And when The Boy would watch it, I'd make him turn it off and/or take away the iPad.  But then The Boy started scripting lines from The Family Guy.  Which secretly made me giggle the first time I heard it but "horse sperm" isn't exactly the kind of thing I want my kid to say out in public.

So we did what any other decent parent would do.  We deleted YouTube from The Boy's iPAd.  (Yes, he has his own iPad - we got tired of sharing.)

And you know what that little stinker did?  He found that exact episode on NetFlix.  So that got removed too.

HAHA - we showed you!  Or so we thought.

The other morning I found The Boy quietly sitting on the sofa.  He had my iPad in his lap and my earbuds in his ears.  Now, I don't keep my earbuds connected to the iPad - so he had to find them.

And you want to know what he was watching?

The Family Guy.

Foiled again by a 6 year old.

So much for a "low range IQ."