While reading about IEE's

[UggaMuggaMom]

I was online reading Lisa's article about IEE's. Lisa states several reasons for requesting an IEE: 

1. the district does not employ qualified evaluators for a specific evaluation

2. you disagree with the district evaluation

3. the evaluation was done by outdated methods

4. the test protocol is not appropriate for the situation like autism etc.

While reading, I thought to myself a few things. Do I as the average parent know who is actually qualified to do these Evaluations? Is it just any old school psychologist? Do they have to prove credentials or provide certificates to me? How do I know if the model they used is wrong or outdated? Is there a standard? Can someone direct me to more specific reading on what is required for testing/evals? Or examples of specific testing done right?

For Reference: I have child with developmental delay, behavioral challenges and Autism Spectrum Disorder. She just turned 5 and will attend kindergarten in the Fall. Currently  in ABA therapy full time. Not in preschool at this time. 

Thanks!

[JSD24]

School psychologists need to be certified school psychologists to work in a school - just like a school teacher needs to be certified.  HR generally checks this at some point during the hiring process.  Training should be about the same from one person who is a psychologist versus another with the same credentials.

Info on the assessments used is online.  If they did Test X Version 3 and there is a version 4 out there, they really need to use version 4 as 3 is outdated when 4 comes out.  Does Version 3 provide bad info.  I'd say no, just dated info.  A parent might even request that the old version is used if this test was done in the past and they want to compare 'apples to apples'.  Psychologists do not have to provide parents with their credentials as there is an assumption that the school hired someone who has the right training & credentials.  The requirement in IDEA is to 'assess in all areas of suspected disability'.

[JSD24]

(My reply posted before I finished it.)  Every test has a protocol on how it's done.  With some tests, there is a time limit.  Some are read to the student.  What the evaluator says is often scripted.  Some assessments are rating scales where an adult (a parent or a teacher) answer questions where the choices are: never, rarely, often or frequently.  These tend to be fill in the dot questions.  There are HUNDREDS of normed evaluations out there and they each have their own protocol for administering the test.  You can see if your local library has something that might explain how some tests work - it will be fairly technical.  Parents will sometimes ask the psychologist to do test 'Z'.  My response is, if the person doing the assessment knows how to do test 'Z', that's great but if they are more comfortable administering a similar test that tests the same thing, have them go with the test they know.

If you intend for your child to enter school this fall, now is the time to register with the school and request a sp ed evaluation.  You will need to give your written permission for an eval as well as bring your child to school for the needed evaluations.  No IEE at school expense until the school has an opportunity to do an eval on your child.  You can share any medical evals that may have been done.  Actually, you should tell the school what evals were done.  Most evals cannot be redone within 12 months so what evals & when they were done are things the school needs to know.  (Most school psychologists get the summer off so don't think they will do this over the summer.)  Do things in writing so you have a paper trail.

Lastly, when a child has behaviors, I always suggest Ross Greene.  I really need to put info on him into a file on the site but until then, you can go to livesinthebalance.org.