Can't believe we've got to wait to long.

[sweetteamum]

I spoke with SENco at ds school today. I wanted to see if it wod be a good idea for LEA EP to see ds and give school some direction and advice.

Ds saw private EP last December, who did various tests etc.

Anyway, SENco told me that ds wouldn't be seen by LEA EP as she's asked in the planning meetings and been told that it's too early for him to be seen since seeing private EP. Apparently you have to wait 2 years before being seen, even though it was different people.

Must admit, this really surprised me as I've never heard this before. I'm gutted we've now got to wait till ds has been in secondary school for a few months before he's due any EP time.

[StarlightMcKenzie]

That's complete fabricated bollox.

Have you got a statement?

[Ineedmorepatience]

startlight is right, its rubbish, apply for a statement your self! Then they have to get the EP in [well when they agree to assess].

[Ineedmorepatience]

How is your Dd getting on sweettea

[AgnesDiPesto]

Every mainstream school gets EP allocated to it every term. Its allocated on need not on when you last saw someone. Besides the private EP is nothing to do with school and doesn't alleviate them of the need to get their own advice from the LA EP

Write back and quote her and ask her to put in writing which person advised it was too soon.

Then ring the LA EP yourself and self refer.

DS gets 3 LA EP visits per year!

And apply for a statement, that always makes them sit up and take notice.

Is it an academy - just wondering if there is a cost to the school and why they are fobbing you off.

[okthatsweird]

The only implications of being close together would be the tests, But if the EP knows what tests were originally used the tests can be altered so the materials used are all new to your Ds.

[Handywoman]

Have the school dis-regarded recommendations from the Private EP? I guess it comes down to why another EP assessment is being requested?

And how is your dd doing, sweettea?

[sweetteamum]

Ahhh dd is doing so well. I can see her literally progressing under my eyes. It's so been worth all the heartache. Thank you for asking xx

School haven't told me who told them that but it was in a planning meeting. School wanted some advice/direction on what to do with ds. Private Ep apparently ripped us off and gave no recommendations at all to school. So I think its fair to say we're basically starting from scratch with an EP.

Ds does not have statement.

Ds will need a very slow transition into high school, as advised by current school.

Ds just been Dx with ADHD, which school do not agree with.

School have been amazing at the support in place for ds and he gets 14 hours per week.

[Handywoman]

Good to hear re your dd, sweettea, that's lovely news, and sounds as though you are making progress with your ds now too.

If you are basically starting from scratch with LEA EP then I think it's ridiculous to wait. Fair enough if you've already had a rigorous assessment with comprehensive recommendations, waiting 2 years would be sensible in order to evaluation interventions/impact of maturity etc. and compare. In this case there is clearly no point in waiting. As Starlight suggests the idea of there being any value in waiting is pure bollox, and mere fobbing off.

[claw2]

Private EP ripped you off? did he/she not provide you with a report? did private EP not do assessments?

[WetAugust]

I agree with everything Agnes advised.

You really have been fed a load of bollox by school.

Apply for a Statement yourself. It sounds as though one will be required if you are going to manage transition to secondary successfully,

[sweetteamum]

You are of course all right. I guess I don't want to upset the apple cart, as they're being so helpful - or seemingly so anyway!

Private Ep did educational tests but gave absolutely no recommendations at all. Just said that he didn't see asd traits and left it there?!

[hoxtonbabe]

The private EP diagnosed ADHD? I didn't think EPs could.

[hoxtonbabe]

Huh? That sound bizarre sweeteamum that he didn't give any recommendations? Was it part of thr deal/ contract that he would provide with a report? I know some professionals do not all offer a report, that's not to say they can't or won't but they try and keep costs down for parents they may give verbal feedback following an assessment,, then if you want in writing pay extra for that, but he should have notes regardless of this.

He may not have seen ASD traits ( that not to say there are not, EP could just be crap by the sounds of it, plus EP cant disgnose ASD) but sureley he picked up on other things or is he saying DS is totally fine/ dead on average ( not the low end of average) and above across the board from his findings??

[sweetteamum]

Sorry private Ep did not diagnose. Paediatrician has Dx ADHD.

Private Ep found areas of weakness but didn't give recommendations. When I asked why he didn't give them he said he thought I only wanted him to see if ds had traits of asd. Yes I did, but that's not all I wanted.

[claw2]

Sweet, that is bizarre, admittedly EP's will only do exactly as you instruct them to, but I instructed an EP prior to dx, ds hadn't any assessments at this point and my purpose was for EP to assess to see if and what difficulties were to give me some idea. I didn't ask for any specific tests, just general standard tests.

EP did Australian Aspergers scale, BAS scales. She assessed verbal, non verbal, spatial and GCA.

Subtests consisted of word definitions, verbal similarities, matrices, quantitative reasoning, recall of designs, pattern construction, spelling and reading etc. And the levels and centiles and age scores.

The Aspergers scale was completed with me, purely as an 'indicator' and she made it clear 'without expection' this will not lead to a diagnosis or prevent a diagnosis.

Her recommendations were pretty vague as it was just a general assessment and didn't include a observation in school, but she did make some.

Second EP I instructed was for the purpose of tribunal and was a totally different kind of report.

How much did you pay? and they did they provide a report?

[hoxtonbabe]

but surely he would have carried out a WISC or BAS as that is usually the starting point for EPs??

if it was more for an ASD issue, then he should have been really recommending a more suitable person, as Claw said he could do tests as an indicator, but I would have thought that be in conjunction with one of the recognised EP tools, such as the BAS or WISC..hmmm, very odd

[claw2]

I would have thought the same Hoxton. The EP I saw and ASD scales she used was just a questionnaire which we completed together, there wasn't a test. The BAS is purely an ability test. Although a poor score in verbal for example could back up concerns already highlighted in the questionnaire or a scattered score between subtests could be another indicator that further investigation is needed.

[sweetteamum]

Sorry if I'm confusing you. I can't describe things very well can I.

He assessed using BAS3 with core scale subtests of recognition of designs, word definitions, pattern construction, matrices, verbal similarities and quant active reasoning.

He also used BAS3 cluster, with subtests off verbal ability, non verbal reasoning, spatial ability and GCA.

He used BAS3 achievement scales, which was a reading test and spelling test.

Even though some of the highs were high and lows were low, he's indicated that ds has an even profile, which is not the case. It simply shows he really struggles in some things but does very well in others.

The rest of the report contains the meanings behind the tests, what he saw in school and things he'd plucked out from other reports. That's it. No advice.

[sweetteamum]

Sorry, we paid over £650 and now know we didn't get value for money. Lesson learnt.

[hoxtonbabe]

Sweet: how low were the lows in terms of centiles? If he scored anything below the 9th ( I personally think anything below the 25th is very bad but apparently not in the SEN world) then that should be flagged up for an area of concern.

My DS has an uneven profile, however the few areas that were below the 10 centile were commented upon with recommendations, etc..on how to support these few areas as the bottom line is, it is still an area of significant weakness.

[sweetteamum]

Hoxton, the lowest and highest centile wasn't and high as low as I'd first thought.

They were 16, 79, 58, 42, 16 & 18 centile (in the same order as BAS3 core scale subtests I've previously mentioned)

[claw2]

Sweet I wouldn't worry too much about the recommendations, these are generally crap unless you have specifically instructed them for a specific purpose, like tribunal and they have ALL the evidence. Private EP who I instructed without any other assessments or dx, recommended things such as a social story etc, etc.

Focus on progress or lack of adequate progress.

[claw2]

Recognintion of designs is spatial - 16
Pattern construction is spatial - 58

Word definitions is verbal - 79
Verbal similarities is verbal 16


matrics is non verbal reasoning -42
Quantitative reasoning is non verbal reasoning 18

These are sub tests so I assume added together to give overall centiles?

Under each sub test there should be an explanation and a summary at the end.

[sweetteamum]

The BAS3 cluster was

Verbal ability 45 centile
Non verbal reasoning 25 centile
Spatial ability 32 centile
GCA 30 centile

But, I don't really understand what they mean and he didn't explain. He also said that ds doesn't have dyslexia, however, he's since been found to actually have it by a specialists dyslexia teacher brought in by school!

[claw2]

The EP reports I have the 2 subtests are added together to give combined verbal ability centile.

For example Word definitions is verbal - 79
Verbal similarities is verbal 16

Verbal ability would be 95th centile

matrics is non verbal reasoning 42
Quantitative reasoning is non verbal reasoning 18

Non verbal reasoning would be 60th centile

Recognintion of designs is spatial - 16
Pattern construction is spatial - 58

Spatial 74th centile

The GCA is a combination of these scores to give IQ

I would have thought if word definition is 79th and similarities is 16th, although the combined score is 95th centile, an explanation would be given as to the weakness in similarities compared to word definition.

On occasion it has been recorded in ds's EP reports that a combined score could not be reached due to the amount of scatter in sub tests.