Denied IEP because of FSIQ

[MKW]

My almost 6 year old is newly diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and anxiety.  I wrote for an initial eval for an IEP.  The school agreed and did all the evals.  The deemed her ineligible for an IEP because she is too smart, "she doesn't need special ed" but offered her a 504 with PT, OT, Speech, and Counselor support.  She is having an extremely hard time tolerating the school environment and is developing school refusal.  I have a follow up meeting with the school tomorrow.  I was hoping to see if anyone had any advised to help show them how much this is impacting her.  

[Carolyn Rowlett]

I think the first question to ask is if the 504 is being implemented correctly.  If so and she is still struggling, that means she needs more.  You might request an FBA (Functional Behavioral Assessment) in order to determine the underlying causes of the school refusal and the supports that are needed to correct the situation.  If the FBA shows that addressing the underlying causes requires more than supports (specialized instruction), then advocate for an IEP again and a BIP (Behavioral Intervention Plan).

What areas did they evaluate her in?  If the reason for the IEP denial was "she's too smart," did they only do an academic assessment?  They should also have done social/emotional/behavioral assessments.  Another option you have if you disagree with the school's evaluation or feel it was insufficient is to request an IEE (Independent Educational Evaluation) at no cost to you.

Keep a log of what is going on with your daughter - dates you struggle to get her to go to school and how long it takes, struggles at school she tells you about, etc.  Use the log to show impact.  Also speak with the general education teacher about incidents and ask if her grades are dropping.

[MKW]

She had a speech eval which she scored very well on except in pragmatics which she scored below average her worst section was for classroom interaction which as poor.  She had an OT eval which she scored below average on and had lots of sensory concerns.  She had a PT eval which she scored average on but had difficulty with stairs, which poses a safety risk.  She had a full psychological eval which showed a FSIQ of 124.  I have multiple emails to the teacher in the morning about the difficulties going into school.  I had started keeping a log of things she had said since September about school.  She uses rote often to answer questions like "how was school today" she'll respond "It was great!" and then as the conversation continues she is talking about how the lunch aid was yelling and it hurt her ears and she didn't like it.  

[MKW]

unfortunately I can't convert the file to be able to upload it

[Lisa Lightner]

How do PT, OT, SLP....know what to work on? What are the goals? Are there goals? And if there are goals....sounds like an IEP to me. 

I suppose there's nothing in IDEA preventing a student from having a 504 with FOUR related services....but it's odd. Why not just give an IEP when it's obvious the child needs it? To prevent having to progress monitor, maybe? Who knows why they do what they do.

Read up on IEEs if you haven't already. You may want to consider asking for one if you disagree with their evaluations. Ditto to what Carolyn said about keeping track of the school refusal stuff. 

 

Remember tomorrow you don't have to agree to anything, you can just listen and process the information over the weekend. (and post it here, of course)

[Lisa Lightner]

Also, FSIQs are a vanity metric. What did the subtests show?

[MKW]

Score Summary.     Composite Score       Percentile Rank            Qualitative Description

Verbal Comprehension   VCI 123                     94                            Superior

Visual Spatial                       VSI 132                     98                      Very Superior

Fluid Reasoning                  FRI 117                   87                        High Average

Working Memory              WMI 97                   42                        Average

Processing Speed               PSI 121                   92                        Superior

Full Scale IQ FSIQ 124 95 Superior

 

 

Verbal Comprehension Index = Information 14, Similarities 14

Visual Spatial Index = Block Design 16, Object Assembly 15

Fluid Reasoning Index = Picture Concepts 13, Matrix Reasoning 13

Working Memory Index= Picture Memory 11, Zoo Locations 8

Processing Speed Index = Bug Search 12, Cancellation 15

[MKW]

This is the 504 plan that was sent home for approval last night

 

 

Edited October 24 by MKW

[JSD24]

Was social skills evaluated?  Why not a speech only IEP with goals & services for pragmatics?  I'd request progress monitoring in the areas they will be working on.  Looks like they aren't doing anything about pragmatics.

[MKW]

I just received her pragmatic assessment scores, they were not originally included

 

Here is the breakdown for the Pragmatic Language Index 35th% Score : Low Average

Classroom Interaction 5th%, Score :Poor

Social Interaction 91th %, Score :Above Average

Personal Interaction 16th %, Score : Below Average

 

She is receiving speech under RTI and will be reassessed in April.  It is very frustrating because her "Social Interaction" score is so falsely inflated due to her anxiety and intense fear of getting in trouble.  

 

[JSD24]

Was social skills assessed?  That's where my child scored really low due to autism.

I'd also change up how you ask her about school.  Instead of 'How was school today?' ask 'What was the best part about school today?' and after she answers, ask 'What was the worst part?'  With autism, communication seems to always be impaired to a degree but a different type of question will generally not get you the 'knee jerk' it was good/great.

You might want to read up on afterschool restraint collapse as well as masking.  Lots of autistics go through school masking where this is something they are always thinking about at school.

[Sharon]

What happened at your meeting? 

It seems like they think IEPs are only for academic needs. She needs to have goals for her OT and PT. She should also be getting social skills and speech. She qualifies under ASD. They stated she has been diagnosed on their own 504.

[MKW]

Social Skills were not assessed,  What kind of assessment directly looks at that so I can make sure I point that out.  So far we are continuing with a RTI for Speech and RTI for social skills, we will meet again the Monday before thanksgiving.  I am continuing to read and educate myself.  I essentially drilled them with facts and my own data log in the meeting.  I think although we came out of it with the same as we went in they now know I am educated and I will fight for my child.  At one point the case manager said "It's going to be hard to make the case for an IEP to my boss" while that is absolutely not okay I know that what she needs is PT, OT, Speech, and working with the counselor which they are giving her.  So we are essentially playing the game with them at this point but I will not fail my child.  We have another meeting with principal of her school and the school she will attend next year today.  I will update after that.

[MKW]

We have decided to go forward with the 504 (covering PT and OT) and 2 RTI plans (one for speech and one for social skills).  We will continue to reassess frequently throughout the year and make sure she is getting the support she needs.  We are trying to balance keeping her in the environment she is in vs having to change her environment.  I have really appreciated everyone support!  If anyone has any other questions or advice or things for us to consider please know I will continue to check this!  

[JSD24]

There's only one social skills assessment that I'm aware of.  It's the SSIS - Social Skills Improvement System.  I'm assuming there are other assessments out there that I'm not familiar with.  I did find an article that listed other assessments:  https://blog.difflearn.com/2024/05/23/picking-the-right-social-skills-assessment/  The AFLS is something I'm familiar with and I believe it looks at a lot more than just social skills.

My child's experience was they taught her 'skills'.  I'm not sure if what skills were picked really addressed the deficit areas because there was little progress.  You want to teach the skills that they don't have and in a way they will grasp and know when & how to apply them.

[MKW]

Thank you so much for that link and your advice!  I greatly appreciate everyone's help so much.  That is very helpful feed back about teaching the appropriate skills and in a way that can learn them and then utilize them.  I will make sure I read up more on that.  Did you ask for a specific program to be implemented at some point?