Hi all,
we started on this journey at the beginning of the year with our now 6 year old son.
He has always been very "high maintenance", quirky and demanding but it wasn't until another family member with a severely autistic son who mentioned a few things that our boy did that were obvious to her.
He is already on SA+ at school so issues have already been raised there, In june we had an educational psychologist meeting and have since had the report back which I have copied and am hoping for ideas on what to expect next.
Anyway;
Details of observation and assessment:
J was observed at the beginning of a literacy session. He found it hard to sit still and listen on the carpet and at times appeared rather floppy. He needed to be told directly in order to follow class instructions. He was then working in a small group with a teaching assistant writing about their weekend. J appeared to have good ideas and the TA scribed for him to copy. Initially he flopped on the table and appeared to not want to engage. However he did work with prompts from the TA for each word. Once she left the table he came off task but was able to bring himself back to task for a short period/
Assessment
J was assessed using parts of the british ability scale 3 - results are given as centiles. (i'm sure you are all familiar with centiles so haven't copied this explanation!)
_Verbal Skills_
Verbal Comprehension - 14th centile
a task requiring the child to follow verbal instructions, Measures understanding of orally presented language
J was motivated to complete the instructions but struggled with harder propositions. He was able to follow a four part instruction.
Naming vocabulary - 76th Centile 
a task requiring the child to name pictures of objects. Measures expressive language and knowledge of names.
J showed a good level of expressive vocabulary
_Non-Verbal Reasoning ability_
Picture similarities - 18th Centile
A task requiring the child to match a picture to one of four possible options. Measures reasoning ability
Matrices - 21st Centile
A task which involves logical reasoning ability
His abilities in this area are in the low average range. However these testa involve a multiple choice and towards the end of them J appeared to lose focus and guess. Therefore the results may be an underestimate of his abilities.
_Spatial Ability_
Pattern construction - 5th centile
a pencil and paper task which involves copying shapes and letters
Copying - 24th Centile
a task requiring the child to copy a 2D design of two colours by arranging two and three dimensional blocks whose sides are of different colours and patterns. Measures non verbals and spatial visualization
Although J had some difficulties with the visualisation using the blocks he was motivated by the 3D nature of the task. On the copying task he was initially resistant to drawing but showed good pencil control and eye for detail.
J's overall abilities are in the low average range with some specific diffiulties. Further diagnostic assessments were used to get a clearer picture of his memory and attention.
_Recall of objects_ uses a grid of colourful pictures to look at verbal and spatial memory
Immediate verbal - 1st centile
Immediate Spatial - 46th Centile
Delayed verbal - 4th Centile
Delayed Spatial - 8th Centile
Recall of digits forward - 42nd Centile
It was difficult to get J to focus on the pictures in order to learn them. It is therefore difficult to be sure if it is his memory or attention which is the main difficulty. On the digit span test where he did focus he did achieve an average score.
_attainments_
Early number concepts - 14th Centile
Reading - 9th Centile 1 word read
Spelling - 5th Centile no score
As J is very young in his year and these tests are standardised for his age they do not show the severity of his difficulties. He is extremely resistant to trying to read or to spell any words. He can blend words aurally e.g. "b-e-d" and can sound out with some encouragement. He is more confident to copy words.
J is showing difficulties with his attention to task and has a variety of work avoidance strategies. He appears to have an adequate working memory and ability to blend words. However his sight vocabularly appears very poor. J is difficult to assess due to his poor attention skills.
_Discussion with Mum & Dad_
J's parents outlined their concerns which I will summarise
He is always "on the go" and has been since he could walk at 9 months old
He is often tripping over in a hurry to get somewhere
He walks on tip toes when he has no shoes on
He rarely makes eye contact
he prefers not to be touched or hugged
He does not seek reassurance when he hurts himself
He does not appear to be affected by other peoples emotions
He does not appear to be bothered if he is playing alone and is relaxed in his own company
He does not like to be looked at
He prefers not to wear clothes
He gets agitated by lots of different noise happening at the same time
He sits very close to the TV
He does not play with toys or use role play or imagination
He groups familiar things together
he loved to collect rubber bands (actually this has now changed to the seals you get on loaves of bread!!!)
He has a good eye for detaiL
J also like to keep to a routine and if this gets disrupted it will lead to a temper tantrum. He can have big tantrums if he does not get his own way. His parents appear to be handling these in a sensible way by ignoring him.
J was slow to develop language and has little sense of danger.
_Summary and recommendations_
J appears to have low average general ability but is difficult to assess due to his poor attention and listening skills. He is motivated by practical and physical tasks but not by lieracy and writing. He has some traits i.e sensory issues, poor socialisation and lack of imagination which would suggest he may be somewhere on the autistic spectrum.
goes on to lists next steps and referrals.....Can type up if you want!!
We have a pediatric appointment in September as well so any advice on that and where we can go from there on.
He is not statemented yet as school think there is more they can do for him before that stage
