Assessment Form and Teacher?

xzanti

My Son is 5 and his junior infants teacher recommended that we have him assessed on the basis that he displays the following traits:

Finds it hard to complete multiple tasks without prompting
Has difficulty with personal space - is very tactile with his peers (loves to hug)
Gets frightened by very loud/sudden noises

These are the only areas which were identified to us as needing work. That's fine, we are totally on board with anything that he needs.

He went to all of his assessments with the local nurse. At his three year assessment I addressed the issue of him not liking loud noises. The nurse sat and chatted with him and read his reflexes etc, checked his eye contact, and released him from their books as not needing any special attention. She basically said he was fine. Whatever 'fine' is these days.

Anyway, we have an appointment with the OT on Tuesday morning, at his teacher's request.. and I gave in some forms for his teacher to fill out.

She rang me on Thursday evening and told me that she had filled in the forms but that the information she gave may look a bit "negative" and not to worry, and mentioned something about "having to work the system"... I assumed she meant, help move him up the waiting list or whatever. Fine. Great.

Went home and looked through the form, and under "Eye Contact" she ticked him as having problems with same.

This confuses me, as he has never had any issues with eye contact. I am aware that this is a red flag item. I'm actually a bit peed off over this.

I don't see how it will benefit our son, to lie on such a form about such an item.

Should I tell the OT that this is untrue?

Also, what should I expect at this appointment?

Orion

xzanti wrote: »

Finds it hard to complete multiple tasks without prompting
Has difficulty with personal space - is very tactile with his peers (loves to hug)
Gets frightened by very loud/sudden noises

I'd say you should be very concerned. It sounds like you have a 5 year old child on your hands.

Perfectly normal behaviour.

January

I wouldn't tell her it's untrue, he may have no issues with eye contact with yourself or your partner or family members but it may actually be a problem in school.

xzanti

Thanks folks, much appreciated.

mohawk

My son doesn't really make eye contact with teachers, minders etc but he does with his dad and me. The OT will make their own judgement.

xzanti

She found him grand with eye contact.

She identified a couple of areas that may need work but over all he's showing up within the "normal" range overall.

We're relieved. Stressful experience.