School Evaluations for PANS PANDAS

About Assessments

Child Find: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA ’04) requires states to develop a  system for identifying, locating, and evaluating all children with disabilities ages birth through 21 who are in need of special education and related services. Students must be assessed in areas of suspected disability. Evaluations are conducted at no cost to families. Parents must provide informed consent (written consent) before their child is evaluated for the first time to determine eligibility for special education. All areas of suspected disability must be assessed. 

Assessment Timeline: The IEP planning team can take up to 60 days to complete the assessment process once parents have given informed consent to testing. The results are discussed during the Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting.

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Areas of Evaluation to Consider

There are several areas to consider evaluating students with PANS PANDAS in order to determine areas for support and accommodations.  It is important to note that due to the relapsing-remitting course of PANS PANDAS, some students return to baseline in between flares while some skills stay below their baseline. So the timing of assessments in relation to disease course and presence of symptoms is critical.

• Physical Therapy
  • Assess need for Adaped PE & other modifications
• Occupational Therapy
  • Assess handwriting – dysgraphia skills
  • Assess fine motor skills
  • Assess daily living skills
• Visual-Motor Processing
• Speech & Auditory Processing
  • Including Assisted Technology needs
• Academics & Socio-Emotional Learning
  • Assess gaps and losses in skills
  • Assess memory skills
  • Assess executive functioning
• Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)
  • Assess for Behavioral Intervention Plan (BIP)
• Ecological Assessment
  • can help to manage antecedents throughout the school day
  • Can help determine areas most/least conducive to learning
• School Nurse Assessment
  • Assess medical needs at school
  • Establish communication between school, providers, & parents
• Psychiatric Referrals
  • To help monitor OCD, anxiety, social-emotional learning, and other symptoms

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Learn more about PANS PANDAS in the school setting. PANS PANDAS is a medical condition in which symptoms affect a student’s ability to attend school and learn.

PANS PANDAS at School