Step Five

The assessment process is over, what do I do now?

Once the assessment process is over, you may not have to start from scratch this time around. Your child’s school-based team may already be in place. There may already be a team of professionals working with your child. The professionals and school-based team will read the reports sent to them by the professional who assessed and diagnosed your child. The school-based team will hopefully incorporate the professional’s recommendations into your child’s existing Individualized Education Plan (IEP) (see full Glossary). The professionals who work with your child may also include the professional’s recommendations into their intervention plans.

It is important to note that none of this can possibly happen without you and your input. You have built an equal partnership  with all those who work with your child. It is made up of a team of experts, each in his or her own way:

• The professionals who work with your child (for example, the speech therapist) are experts when it comes to their area of expertise;
• The clinical psychologist who assessed your child is an expert when it  comes to diagnosing children and when it comes to the condition that your child has;
• The school-based team has experts when it comes to how children learn, how the classroom can be adapted to accommodate your child and how instruction can be modified  for your child to learn;
• Finally, and most importantly, you are an expert when it comes to your child. No one knows your child better than you do, not now and not ever!

If what is happening with your child is medical rather than developmental or educational, here are a few points to remember:

• The “intervention” plan could mean placing your child on medication, either temporarily or permanently, or modifying your child’s diet  to avoid allergic reactions;
• You may need to hold a meeting with your child’s school-based team  to inform them about the medication(s) that your child will be taking and any possible side effects that this type of medication may have. For example, if your child must take his or her medication in the morning before going to school, and if the side effects of this medication are drowsiness or grogginess, the teacher will need to make sure that he or she does not schedule exams during the time that your child is experiencing these side effects (Fig. 1).Whatever you decide to do, it is our hope that you will know, through this course and through other resources, that you are not alone. There are people who are available to help you with whatever you need. Some of these people are professionals and others are parents like you. Please scroll down and visit the “what kinds of resources are available to me” section below to learn about some of these resources.

Figure 1. Medication