Virtual evaluation: will that be fair?

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Toddlers

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amother

OP ↓

Mon, May 13 2024, 1:33 pm

I just requested an evaluation for my 16 month old. The eval will be done on zoom. How can the evaluator see her issues with chewing and sucking if she's not in the same room as her? How can they see if she has low muscle tone? They'll have to base it mostly on what I tell them, and on the few activities they can watch her do.

I am used to NY where an eval would include a special educator and an OT, PT, and speech therapist if I had concerns in all those areas. But we moved out of NY and now my baby is going to be evaluated on zoom with one evaluator. I guess a special educator, and they assume she can decide if my kid needs PT or speech. But if she never even meets my baby, I already feel like I know how to evaluate a baby better than the evaluator does.

amother

Beige

Mon, May 13 2024, 1:44 pm

I did a PT and Speech eval on zoom.
Both of them I felt were fair. The evaluators have tests they do to determine different skills.

Another child did in person Evals. Some evaluators reports were really on target and some of them I wondered if they accidentally evaluated the wrong kid in the classroom.

amother

Bluebonnet

Mon, May 13 2024, 2:06 pm

My daughter had this during covid Lockdown. She got the services she needed and more because the evaluator definitely couldn't see or hear everything

amother

Cantaloupe

Mon, May 13 2024, 2:44 pm

I had one kid with an in person eval and one virtual, and I found the virtual more thorough and also the kid was more cooperative

amother

↑ OP ↓

Mon, May 13 2024, 2:49 pm

They did say they find the kids to be more cooperative when there's not a stranger sitting next to them. I wonder if she'll be so thrilled to see herself on zoom that she will only want to point at herself and say yaya, which is her one multipurpose word for her name, baby and many other things. That's what she did last time she saw us on zoom.

amother

Aster

Mon, May 13 2024, 3:30 pm

I found a zoom eval to work to my benefit as the evaluator relied on my word a lot.

amother

Ginger

Mon, May 13 2024, 7:26 pm

amother Aster wrote:

I found a zoom eval to work to my benefit as the evaluator relied on my word a lot.

Totally agree! I have had multiple zoom evaluations for children and anything they couldn't get my child to do they relied on my word. (this age especially my kids don't have an interest in doing the designated activity in that specific area near the camera...) Always worked to my advantage.

amother

Begonia

Mon, May 13 2024, 8:02 pm

amother OP wrote:

That would work in your favor, it can be hard to qualify for early intervention without a significant delay so it’s to your benefit if she doesn’t cooperate. The more delayed they believe she is the more services you’ll be entitled to. Obviously you need to answer their questions honestly and I wouldn’t deliberately do anything to skew results but there’s nothing you can do if a baby is distracted by the camera.

amother

Geranium

Mon, May 13 2024, 8:03 pm

If your objective is to get services then zoom should work for you. If it's to figure out this kid then maybe it won't. But at this age you presumably just need the early intervention anyways.

amother

↑ OP

Mon, May 13 2024, 8:07 pm

Thanks. I am assuming she will get services anyway, but it's good to know that virtual evaluations have been done and often work well.

amother

Lightcoral

Mon, May 13 2024, 9:07 pm

I thought zoom evals were no longer allowed
This only came about during covid

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