Finally got a report on Jeran's behavior at preschool

[DawnL]

Now, I don't know if anyone remembers here, but Jeran had a horrible experience in preschool. he was there a year and a half, and it just got progressively worse. This is the same preschool our dd went to, as well, and she had a wonderful experience there, so, of course, we just "went with the flow" and thought everything was fine. At least mostly.

When I pulled Jeran from preschool in February, he had reached the breaking point, and I knew at least one of the teachers there just hated my son. ( I seriously wanted to ) His second year there, we had found all these allergies, so we had to bring all his food from home. I brought cookies for him to have on special occasions, so he wouldn't be left out. I found out that they were still just giving him cereal, at those times when everyone else might get a cookie, or a rice krispy treat. This infuriated us!! Especially on top of everything else! But when, the following week, he was sent to the office 2 of the 3 days (and the "days" are 2 hours each) for being "wiggly" or "supposedly" rough-housing with a friend, that was it. That week, the day he didn't go to the office, I asked him how his day was. I got the typical, sad, response - "Not good, Mommy. I was too wiggly."

Now Jeran is not diagnosed with Autism, but he has Sensory Processing Disorder. Some consider this on the spectrum, and I definitely feel it causes "autistic-like" behaviors.

The school psychologist didn't give me a copy of the actual form, but rather summarized the results for me. It was very depressing for me to read. I'd rather not share on other boards here, but I know moms here will understand.


Jeran attended XXXX preschool and was known by the rater for one and a half years, at the time of completion. The results indicate an overal behavior rating in the clinically significant range. In comparison to same age peers, Jeran is exhibiting clinically significant levels of externalizing behaviors. Areas rated to be especially frequent include hyperactivity, aggression, and depression. The Aggression score reflects teasing of others, disrupting other children's play, bullying, hitting, defiance, arguing, threatening, and annoying others on purpose. Behaviors related to depression are being easily upset, pouting, being negative about things, and complaining about being teased. Jeran was rated to be in t he at-risk range for atypicality, withdrawl, attention problems, low adaptability, low social skills, and low functional communication.

The scores are reported as T-scores and considered to be typical when 60 or below, at-risk 61-70, clinically significant about 70. Within the Adaptive Skills composite, scores below 30 are clinically significant, at-risk 31-40, and above 40 is typical.

Externalizing Problems..............84
Hyperactivity.......................73
Aggresion............................93

Internalizing Problems...............55
Anxiety................................42
Depression............................75
Somatization.........................44

Behavior Symptoms Index..........80
Atypicality............................65
Withdrawal...........................64
Attention Problems.................66

Adaptive Skills.........................30
Adaptability..........................32
Social Skills...........................32
Functional Comm....................36



The Cars was completed through an interview with Mom. The results of the ratings place Jeran in the Non-Autistic range. He does exhibit some mildly abnormal behaviors related to emotional response, taste/smell/touch response and use, fear or nervousness, verbal communicatoin, and activity level. Scores 15-30 are typical, 30-37 are Mildly-Moderately Autistic, 37-60 are Severly Autistic.

Jeran's score: 23

[BC-momla]

You are doing the right thing by homeschooling him and still getting him services IMHO. You can and are working on all of those issues. I'd be depressed too if I was bullied by my preschool teachers like he was!!!! He needs a guide, not a dictator and that is a HUGE bonus to homeschooling. Some school districts do really well with kiddos with behavior issues, but from what I've read about yours, it is NOT one of them! I bet in a year those scores would look completely different b/c you are probably working on his coping and social skills either directly or indirectly all day long!

[DawnL]

I would love to know what others think about these results. He's been in OT, but honestly, I haven't been really impressed with his OT. She doesn't seem to know what to do with him, and has even suggested ADD meds. We are not really willing to do that, but even if we were, we would rather treat his SPD before we consider just medicating a symptom of the SPD. That makes more sense to us. Since the OT really seems at a loss, and money is way short, anyway, we have pulled him from OT. I will bring him back once every other month, until I say stop. I'm hoping my mom can make a weighted vest for him. At my request, the OT tried one on him for 5 minutes at our last session. She said he seemed to do well with it, in that he actually sat still and tried drawing something. Usually he will just say he can't or doesn't know how. I don't know how informative 5 minutes of wearing is, though.

I have no doubt that a lot of what the report says is accurate. But, I also think the teachers there kind of "had it in" for Jeran. I know that sounds like I'm trying to blame his behaviors on someone else. But, they did NOT know how to handle him, and they weren't willing to listen to my suggestions or try anything new. The fact that they would deliberately give the other students treats, but not Jeran, says a lot. Unfortunately, he wasn't kidding, because I went into the school one day, unannounced, after he reported that to me, and checked over his snack box. Yup. All the special treats were still there. I remember, after Christmas break, I brought pretzels for him as one of his "options'. They gave them to him that first day back, and everyone wanted some. So, they never gave them to him again. And we pulled him out a MONTH later!

When he was sent to the office, that last week, one day it was for "bopping" a friend on the head. This friend was another hyper little boy. There were three, and the teachers had a tendency to label these kids, and treat them differently. The teachers never saw Jeran "bop" this boy on the head, and, his friend didn't mind, as he wasn't upset and didn't tell anyone. Another boy saw, and told the teacher, "Jeran his S on the head". Even though the teacher didn't see it, even though the "receiver' wasn't hurt and was playing along, Jeran was immediately sent to the office. He wasn't even questioned, just sent.

If that doesn't say it all, there was another incident that sticks out. One day, someone said "Superman's Poopy!" The teachers didn't know who said it, so they sent JERAN to the office!! And it wasn't even him who said it! (yes, it sounds similar to what he might say, but he was so upset that he got in trouble for no reason)

Okay, I could go on and on about how much I hate this preschool. I'm trying not to let that color my view of this evaluation, even though I'm certain that it's a little biased.

Thanks for listening.

[DawnL]

Thanks, momla. I am really trying. I think we've got a long road ahead of us.

The preschool was a private preschool, in a different school district. I think the one we are in is better, but still not up to the job.

We are working slowly on those social skills. Today, we went with my mom to the mall. There were two big kids, brothers, that Jeran was playing with. At one point, he came to tell me something he thought was unfair, then started to run off. I called him back, and as he came back, he told one of the boys that he wasn't going to play with him anymore. Well, I talked to Jeran, and he was just uncertain about a way they were playing tag. His first instinct was to just "shut out" the other boys, even though they were playing nice.

After I talked to him, he picked right back up with them, and everything was good. I thought, afterwards, about how that never would have been picked up on at a school playground, and I was glad I was able to help him through that.

[Adrienne]

If my boy presented with a profile like that, I would want him ni intenseive sensory integration therapy. Also, with this profile, your school district should have him in an early intervention preschool.

[BC-momla]

Originally Posted by Adrienne

If my boy presented with a profile like that, I would want him ni intenseive sensory integration therapy. Also, with this profile, your school district should have him in an early intervention preschool.

Adrienne,

I think the issue is two-fold. First, Jeran is a kindergartner. Secondly, Dawn checked into sending him to kindy at their local public school, which from what I understand is a small town school, and they just DID NOT get it. She went through the IEP process I believe and it wasn't a good fit for him. I think she felt she wouldn't get anywhere with that school.

Am I right, Dawn? If not, please correct me!!!!

Carla

[Adrienne]

I don't remember all the history details so thanks for clarifying Carla. Every child is entilted to the services provided by the school district; can they be provided at home in a homeschooling situation? It has been ages since I worked in the schools.

I am also wanting Jeran to get as many services as possible while he is still young. There are many SI programs that can be done by parents and the OT should have given ideas and home programs on activities to focus on.

I also understand not wanting to get into medication for such a young child. There are situations where the brain needs something biochemical to get organized on a fundamental level. Only you know what your child's needs are.

[DawnL]

yes, Carla is right. Our school district is a good one, but, it's small, and they don't recognize SPD as a diagnosis. In fact, thier OT came to the IEP meeting and expressed doubt about the diagnosis. They are very nice there, however, they could not even put into writing that Jeran would never be denied recess. Sorry, not giving Jeran an outlet to run around is like pouring salt in a wound. NOT GOOD!

The OT where we have been going was also very nice, and she did give ideas for "heavy work" and such. But, she just wasn't accomplishing much with him. We are working here with him, and a lot of the help he needs is social skills. How to not retaliate. How to seek out positive outlets, like swinging, scootering, etc, for his energy and not take it out on others.

At the public school, they would be no help, and he would be a "discipline issue" every week. After preschool, his self-esteem was awful. The best place for him is at home. Especially right now.

[BC-CathyNY]

It's a shame how many schools still don't recognize SPD as a legitimate diagnosis. They didn't in Nick's last school district. No recognition, no therapeutic interventions. It sounds as if you're working hard at working things out and doing the right thing by Jeran.

[Adrienne]

I've been thinking about Jeran a great deal and thought I would share some of those thoughts as an OT.

I (and many other OT's) view SPD as a "symptom" of other issues. Every child I ever worked with a variety of diagnosises (failure to thrive, pervasive developmmental disorder, autism, seizure disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar, drug exposed children, etc etc etc) all had underlying sensory processsing issues.

I eould encourage a complete developmental workup for Jeran--not just the school testing. I am wanting to shake up your school district too for not treating this at risk child properly.