So stinking frustrated. We had the evaluation with the speech therapist last night. And Anna did really well. Except that isn't what we want. We want her to do badly so she will qualify for this program.
OK, let me explain. There are two qualifying scores for language.
There is cognitive; what the kid understands. To test this the therapist named objects and asked Anna to point to pictures of the objects in a book. Anna got them all. Then it got harder. She asked Anna to point to different actions. drinking from a cup, sleeping baby, running boy. Then it got even harder. She asked Anna to follow simple two step directions. Give the baby doll a drink then hand me the cup. It kept getting more difficult until she was asking Anna to do things I didn't know she could do. Anna did them all. No prompting. Nothing. She aced it. She is testing at a three and a half year old level here.
The second part of the test is verbal. She asked Anna to say things. Say ball. Say baby. She didn't do as well here. I knew she wouldn't. She has major trouble with enunciation. She will hear a sentence and repeat a jumble of syllables sounding nothing like what she just heard. She tries but it just doesn't come out right.
So here is where it gets sticky. The great of New York takes the two scores and adds them together. Then averages them. They, then compare that number to a chart of the overall averages of kids in her age group. If a child scores below a 73 they qualify. Above 73, they don't. Anna got an 86. She scored in the low 70s in the verbal portion and got a 98 in the cognitive part. Having a high score on one portion of the test drags the other score up. So the end result is she's smart but she can't tell you anything she knows. And now we have to wait six months for another evaluation. By then she will be old enough to qualify through the school system instead of the state. The school system qualifies the two scores separately. So she will probably qualify then. I just hate waiting though. We caught this early. I would like to have it dealt with now.
We have our final meeting with Early Intervention on Thursday. I am going relay our concerns to them at that time. I hope there is still something that can be done. The kicker of the whole thing is they switched our coordinator on us. We haven't even met the woman who is coming. I think this puts us at a disadvantage because the other coordinator had met Anna and knew she needed help. This one is just relying on the write ups done by the others who came here.
Frustrated. That is my word of the day. I am just not loving NY today.
Her hearing test is still on Friday. I will keep you posted.
Disclaimer: the averages and qualifying are a little more involved than what I said above but that is the gist of what they do.
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8 comments:
I would be frustrated too. You want her to do good on the cognitive part of course, but I don't understand why they still can't help her if she is having trouble speaking. I guess that is how it goes in most cases I have heard about, the kids are smart enough so they just wait until the school programs to help them with speech. I know you want her to have help now so I feel so bad. So if it isnt hearing you just have to wait, that just doesnt seem right. Especially when the frustration is on both ends; I think it is unfair to Anna especially because she is frustrated too. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, I just wish they could help you get to it faster. Love you guys
It posted my comment as I was typing the G in my name, I'm not sure if i hit something on accident or what but that first comment is from me
I think Gina hit the nail on the head with how the State looks at it. It stinks but I guess they have to figure out where to draw the lines somewhere. In the meantime, I bet if we look, we can find info on helping her ourselves. The coordinator may be of help in that area.
Sounds like your school system works the way ours does, looking at the scores separately. Nathaniel scored as a 25 year old, when he was 10, on verbal vocabulary and comprehension. Scored a third grade level with reading and phonics. If there's more than something like a 20 point discrepancy, the system says that that's a clear indication that his ability doesn't live up to his intelligence and capability. They earn and IEP and help.
Sounds like there's nearly a 30 point difference with Anna. Her ability is nothing near her intelligence, her mental capability. Smack somebody for me, will ya? What morons.
I know it hurts to want to help her and very frustrating at reaching road blocks!
Ugh! We also live in NY and went through the same thing with our older son (our younger son has a hearing loss, so he qualifies automatically). With our older son, his receptive score kept "kicking him out" of eligibility. But he couldn't talk! We FINALLY got him to qualify with a loophole. Have early intervention run an articulation test (this is different from the PLS-4 they usually run). The score from the articulation test could very well qualify her, since it isn't averaged with anything. This is a simple flashcard type test, and the child says what is on each card- the pronunciation of each word is then scored. Our Matthew scored as "severe" in articulation, even though his averaged PLS-4 result was 110 (severe with expressive and out-of-this-world amazingly high for receptive).
I am praying for you guys. I can imagine how frustrating this is, I am not surprised at how smart she is though. that is just so evident!
Love you guys
That is kinda confusing. I can't imagine the waiting. I really hope it works out for you:)
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