Ed Psych Visit

[LisaKaz75]

Leo (age 3), has started his 15 hours a week funded hours in preschool. He has individual pupil funding, that means that he has one to one support for all the hours that he is there

 

Due to the fact that we have been awarded this funding the LEA are looking to get a statement for him next and an Ed Psych visit has been arranged for Leo at the pre-school setting on 7th Feb. They are starting with Leo at 12pm and asked for us parents to arrive at 2.30.

 

What will happen during this time. Will they just watch him in the nursery? or do they do one to one stuff with him?

 

I am worried as Leo never takes well to someone that he does not know. Therefore if she asks him to do something, he may well ignore her. Can I ask for his one to one teacher or SENCO to be with him during any one to one session. He would respond much better to either of them

 

Any info would be greatly received

 

LisaKaz

[justine1]

Hi

 

I was nervous when the ed psych came to see Sam as I didnt know what to expect.It does vary what each ed psych will do.The lady who saw Sam observed him most of the time and she did try and interact,asking him to type something on the PC and he typed "skool suks" she asked him about this and he told her he hates school and would prefer to be home. She also wanted to do other "tests" to see his reading ability etc.However she didnt do this,she left it for the second visit.

 

When she spoke to me I told her all my concerns both at school and home,she spoke to the head as well.She sent a report out about 5 weeks later,it was very hard to read as it showed just how hard he found it at school.

 

Good luck x

[Sally44]

You can phone the Ed Psych and ask them what they are going to do. You are the parent and you are involved in this. This isn't some kind of secret thing you cannot ask about. EPs do lots of different assessments. At his age I presume they will mainly be observational and may involve some attempt at interactive play. You can also ask what qualifications and experience they have of assessing children with a diagnosis of ASD. If they have none, there will be someone in the department that does and you can request that they assess or observe your child.

 

Even if he does react really badly, that is good because it shows what his typical reaction is to unknown people. That will be very important in securing the right school placement that may involve small groups instead of large classrooms and a familar teacher/TA rather than lots of changes throughout the day.

 

You also have the right to sit in on any assessments. You may not wish to do this if you feel it could alter the outcome. Other parents feel they need to sit in and take notes of assessments if they feel it would be helpful for whatever support or placement they are seeking (usually via tribunal).

 

My only advice would be that when he is older, maybe just before or just after he is school age, that you ask the EP to carry out standardised assessments. These are different from observational or curriculum or interaction based ones. Interaction ones are essential and so are the others. But ONLY standardised assessments give an age related result, or a percentile result, or a standard score from which you can see where he is performing compared with 'typical' children. That is SOOOOOooo important because he will probably be good at some things and poor at others. Also you need a base line from which to measure PROGRESS. So if the same standardised assessments are carried out one or two years later you need to see that he has progressed from age 5 to age 6 or 7 etc. If you do not know if there has been progress you have no basis from which to challenge his progress.

 

Also the standardised assessment results will make it clear what his targets should be for his IEPs. IEPs are individual education plans.

 

So my advice is to phone them up and speak to them directly.