How/when to request reevaluation

[Glilboom]

I have an 11 year old son who has an IEP under OHI (heart defects and ADHD).  My son is adopted and we have no genetic information or knowledge of prenatal care, good or bad. Since his last evaluation, his heart function has improved and he has been able to start taking ADHD meds.  This is the first year he has struggled academically.  The initial eval showed a below average iq score.  However, in the meeting all of his struggles seemed to be attributed to inattentiveness.  Is a new eval warranted or should we continue to use previous results?

[Carolyn Rowlett]

By "in the meeting" do you mean the annual IEP meeting since he has been on ADHD meds?  How long had he been on the meds prior to the meeting?  In any event, if the IEP team is attributing his academic struggles to inattentiveness, I'm not sure what your purpose would be in getting a new IQ test done.  If they were trying to pass off his struggles as related to a low IQ, then yes, I would want to get a new IQ test done to show his true cognitive ability.  But one of the purposes of requesting an evaluation is trying to understand why he is struggling and if you're thinking the IQ test will go up, that won't necessarily be helpful.

But I may not be understanding everything.  If by "new evaluation" you don't just mean an IQ test, I would say yes, you should request a new one since his present levels seem to have changed (this being the first year he has struggling academically).  Request one in the area of academics.  Couldn't hurt to also request a new IQ test - as long as it's in ADDITION to the area of academics.  It would probably be good to know what his cognitive ability is while on medication that helps him focus better.  You do have to wait one year from the last evaluation to request a new one.

If I'm not understanding everything or you want to provide clarification, just reach out again.

[JSD24]

So the evaluation shows low IQ but, in the meeting, the school IEP team members attributed his academic struggles to lack of focus (and not the low IQ shown by their evaluation).  You say he's taking ADHD meds which are supposed to help with focus.  Taking ADHD meds shouldn't change IQ results.

I feel a new eval is not needed.  What I would do is write a parent concerns letter.  Your child could be unfocused because the material is too hard for him to understand because his IQ is low.  What is in the IEP to help him understand things being taught in light of his low IQ?  Is that part of the IEP being followed?  You could ask for the teacher to prompt him to pay better attention and have him seated away from distractions/closer to instruction.  This could be added to the IEP as an accommodation.

Is this MS where he now has 5+ teachers with different expectations & has to change classes through the day?  ADHD tend to come with issues in Executive Functioning and he might needed extra support given the extra focus MS requires.  It's also possible that this year, the teacher has higher expectation and your child can't meet them.  This could be due to low IQ.