Dear Dr. Kay, Your website has been very informative and helpful (actually the best one I have found!). Can you recommend any specific professionals in the San Antonio/New Braunfels/San Marcos/Austin area that specialize in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of dysgraphia? I often find that local school districts do not have the qualified staff to complete these tasks so I need to seek other options for our students. Thank you for any information you can provide. Sincerely, Marci French, Director/Owner (& a teacher for LD children for 24 years - specializing in beginning reading!)

October 17, 2007

To Whom It May Concern:

            It gives me great pleasure to write a letter about my experiences with Dr. Margaret Kay in her role as an independent evaluator.  In my role as Director of Special Education at Southern Lehigh School District, I receive many requests by parents for an independent evaluation.  The parents usually have an independent evaluator that they want to use.  I honor their requests and pay for the independent evaluation.  Usually, an independent evaluation is not what I get.  I can honestly say that in the case of Dr. Kay, she did a totally independent evaluation.

            Dr. Kay was willing to come to our school district and observe the specific student.  This surprised me because the independent evaluators that our district has worked with previously were not willing to do this. Prior to her coming to our school district, Dr. Kay examined extensive paperwork on the student.  It was obvious from the paperwork that the student involved had an extensive medical history.  The student also used a communication device that Dr. Kay was not familiar with.  Prior to her first visit to observe the student, Dr. Kay had researched the communication device and also had spoken to the assistive technology consultant at our Intermediate Unit so that she had a better understanding of the communication device.  So before Dr. Kay first observed the student, she had become familiar with the student as well as her communication device.   

Dr. Kay also worked collaboratively with the school team in order to get a true and accurate picture of that student.  After she did her first observation, she sent a written report of the observation to the school team to ask for their input.  She wanted to make sure that what she had written down was as accurate as it could be.  This was also something totally new for us.  The team was very positively surprised.  Throughout the entire evaluation, there was the utmost collaboration between Dr. Kay, the school team, and me.  When Dr. Kay had completed her observations of the student and reported back to the team, the team had the utmost respect for Dr. Kay.

Dr. Kay also did extensive individual testing on the student in order to get accurate assessments of the student.  She met with the parents of the student as well, in order to get information from them.  Dr. Kay also spoke again to the assistive technology consultant from the Intermediate Unit just to get additional information.

At the end of the process, Dr. Kay sent a very thorough and useful report to the District which was shared with the school team.  The school team used information from the report to revise the student’s IEP(Individualized Education Plan).  The school team also asked for input from Dr. Kay in regards to ESY (Extended School Year) for the student.  Dr. Kay gave input that was then used in recommendations for ESY for that summer.

I can honestly say that my experience with Dr. Kay was very positive.  She truly is an independent evaluator who looks thoroughly at a student and collaborates both with the parents and the school team.  Her report was extremely thorough and very useful to the team.  I would use Dr. Kay again as an evaluator.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at 610-282-3121, ext:  5501 or by e-mail at Christie-churmm@slsd.com. Sincerely, Morag Christie-Churm, Director of Special Education

Dr. Kay,

Just a note to thank you for your presentation to our staff at Pocono Mountain. It was extremely informative and helpful. In addition, I feel you helped to validate what we already have in place for early intervention/screening and evaluations of students. It has been a pleasure to work with you. I look forward to our paths crossing again in the near future!!

Fondly, Betsy Gustafson
Director of Special Education

"I want to let you know that Chris Shields and I have received nothing short of praise and appreciation about your presentation yesterday afternoon. I want to extend a big THANK YOU for the informative and practical ideas you shared. People liked your sense of humor, and the professional experiences you mixed in with your talk. I think it helped connect everyone together. Just wanted to pass along some good news! Take care".   Kathy Craven, Director of The Pilot School, Wilmington, DE 9/2002

Margaret J. Kay, Ed.D. NCSP, DABPS is a licensed psychologist, a Nationally Certified School Psychologist and a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychological Specialties with Forensic Specialization in Educational and School Psychology. She is an adjunct professor for Pennsylvania State University and has provided in-service presentations and training programs for schools, legal associations, social service providers, corporations and various community-based agencies.

Dr. Kay has also testified as an expert witness in State and Federal court and in Educational Due Process hearings for individuals with Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities (NLD), Asperger’s Syndrome, High Functioning Autism (HFA), Dysgraphia, Disorders of Written Expression, Tourette syndrome, and other specific learning disabilities. 

Dr. Kay has been in private practice since 1980 and is often relied upon by parents, attorneys and schools to perform Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE’s). She routinely provides input into educational program plans for school-age children, college students and adults and has assisted employers and licensing boards in providing reasonable accommodations for disabled individuals..

Letters of Recommendation

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Last modified: January 03, 2008