We are not sending Hope to preschool. So I was wondering...

1. do we still need to do an IEP
2. do we have to have her IQ tested
3. if I have to do an IEP, what do I ask for since it seems to be based on if she goes to school and
4. if any of you told them no to and IQ test, what did you say was the reason.


I just don't see the sense of and IQ test for a three year old and was wondering what you all did.

Thanks for looking
Debra and Hope

We are sending Anna to a private preschool not through EI. We are just starting the evaluation process (here it is called the committee on preschool special education -cpsc-and is run by our school district). It is our intention that Anna will continue with the services she already gets at home, will go to the private nursery school, and will have her special ed teacher monitor the nursery school experience by attending one morning a week for 45 minutes. As far as the IQ testing, I know that they will be doing that. To me, the IQ test is an irrelevant number--one of my older kids has an IQ of 142 and yet is classified as learning disabled and goes to a special school. It's not the IQ number--it's how you use what you've got.

If you are not sending your daughter to a public school 3-5 year old program, I would not start anything with your school district. If you do, they will use those test results to place her in a program even it is a year or so later when you do put her in your public school program. You will want the most current test results to place her properly into a public school class. For us, our daughter is 3 1/2 years old. We are sending her to a private preschool and have no IEP. I talked to the teachers about goals and we agreed upon them. For speech, PT, and OT we make goals and objectives. It keeps everyone working together. I will call the public school program in May to set up summer testing and placement in thew Fall. Natalie

If she is not starting in public schools, I wouldn't push for an IQ test, or an individual education plan, those change every 3 years, so if you do one now it won't be updated if you decide to send her to school next year.
I agree the IQ is an insignificant number, I personally dislike those test a lot.

It depends on where you live. Here in NY, at age 3 the school district takes over services even if you aren't going to a public school. You could continue to get homebased services until the child enters kindergarten, but because the school district is administering the services, you have to comply with the evaluation process. Anna isn't going to a public school but because we want her to continue to get the PT< OT< ST and Seit, we have to go through the evaluations.