Tomorrow I’ll be talking with an administrator at the new school district in which my son will soon be attending school. This administrator is responsible for testing and assesments.
So my task now is to figure out what tests I should request. The main problem is my (“just turned”) 8-year-old son’s reading fluency, letter, number and word reversals, handwriting, word retrival, language memory, slow processing speed and possibly even slight CAPD.
At this point my son has had the following tests:
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III
CELF-R
WISC III
Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration
Widerange Assessment of Visual Motor Abilities
TAPS-R
CTOPP
TVPS-R
Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery- Revised
Conners’ -Revised
ADD Evaluation Scale
All test results from this testing, which was performed at the beginning of 2nd grade, indicated average to above average results.
…..so at this point I don’t know what other tests I should request. I do plan to ask that he be assessed by an OT for Sensory Integration Dysfunction (which he has been diagnosed with in the past) and also a speech assessment for problems with word retrival, rapid naming and possibly problems with pragmatic language.
If anyone has any suggestions I’d certainly appreciate it. Although it seems like he has had a lot of testing, perhaps there are better tests to help us figure out why my son has great difficulty with reading and speaking.
Thanks!
Caution
In many states the courts have upheld that school districts and their personnel will decide instructional methodology. Parents might collaborate and mention methods shown to be successful with students having similar conditions, however parents are often unsuccessful in litigation/due process against school districts based on mandating specific instructional methods.
I am not advocating this as the right answer, only indicating that people are wise to determine how best to approach a school district in order to be successful in getting what is best for their child.
Speaking as a teacher who knows many programs and methods (including Orton-Gillingham and Lindamood-Bell—LiPS and Visualizing and Verbalizing) and who uses them everyday, I would be happy to know of knew things. For example, I am waiting for the RAVE-O release. Few of my colleagues know what it is. I surely couldn’t demand that they learn about it. I might discuss success using it…encouragement. That’s about all I could do.
Trying to attract flies with honey,
Susan Long
Caution
In many states the courts have upheld that school districts and their personnel will decide instructional methodology. Parents might collaborate and mention methods shown to be successful with students having similar conditions, however parents are often unsuccessful in litigation/due process against school districts based on mandating specific instructional methods.
I am not advocating this as the right answer, only indicating that people are wise to determine how best to approach a school district in order to be successful in getting what is best for their child.
Speaking as a teacher who knows many programs and methods (including Orton-Gillingham and Lindamood-Bell—LiPS and Visualizing and Verbalizing) and who uses them everyday, I would be happy to know of knew things. For example, I am waiting for the RAVE-O release. Few of my colleagues know what it is. I surely couldn’t demand that they learn about it. I might discuss success using it…encouragement. That’s about all I could do.
Trying to attract flies with honey,
Susan Long
Re: Caution
Thanks David and Susan for your recommendations,
I’m afraid the test results we’ve had show nothing unusual. There are some weak areas, but not enough to provide an answer. At this point I’d be tempted to say there’s nothing wrong with my son, he’s just a “late-bloomer,” but every year and every teacher (from preschool and up) has told me that there’s something wrong and that he needs to be tested. And just like these tests, nothing indicates a problem. Part of me wonders if his “strengths” could be affecting the tests (my son is extremely good at chess stategy and reading music). Also, I work with him A LOT!
My son has an appointment with a neurologist next month and perhaps that will shed some light or give me some type of answer. If not I guess I’ll just have to remediate any problems myself.
Also, I have to consider that maybe testing won’t give me any answers. Maybe there just isn’t an answer….
The neurologist my son has an appointment with is someone he previously saw when he was a toddler. He had received OT for Sensory Integration Dysfunction (motor planning, propreoceptive, and tactile defensiveness). By the time he was 5 we assumed he outgrew most of the difficulties (walking, putting out his hands when he fell, choking, holding utensils, etc…), but now I’m considering that there may still be some issues.
Good things: I need to be thankful for is that there are people at the new school who are trained in LIPS (the old school didn’t even know what Lindamood-Bell was)
Although I doubt they’ve heard of RAVE-O. But when it comes out I will be more than happy to share the information! ;-)
Thanks again for your comments and suggestions. I’ll just keep “plugging away” and do what I need to do.
Weak Areas
Hi Janis,
The only weak areas indicated in the testing were processing speed (27%ile), Auditory number memory (forward 32%ile reverse 16%ile) and on the Woodcock-Johnson (L-W Identification and Passage Comprehension were both 33%ile). Spelling (39%ile). The rest of his scores were between 40 and up which I’m guessing is closer to average.
The only services my son qualified for were reading intervention.
In comparison to the weaknesses. His visual perceptual skills tested relatively high. TVPS scores with subscores ranging mostly in the 90 percentile from 98%ile to 50%ile (Visual form constancy). Overall visual perceptual quotient was 92%ile.
From what I’ve been told, there’s not enough of a discrepancy to indicate a problem.
Re: Weak Areas
Laura,
Interestingly, he is a little like my child. She is also strong in the visual areas, thankfully. She is , however, diagnosed with APD. She is a little slow processing and has some memory weakness which makes decoding longer words difficult. I think they compensate with the high visual skills and the auditory processing skills are causing the delays more than likely. I am assuming that all his scores were fine on the CTOPP and CELF. (My child did have some low subtests on the CELF). It sort of surprises me that he wasn’t low on the CTOPP with having the somewhat low reading scores. Would you mind listing his WISC subtest scores?
What are they using for reading intervention with him?
Janis
Hi:
In reviewing your list of assessments your child has undergone, might I ask are you focusing on ‘TESTING’ for testing sake or on the evaluation and its diagnosis. The outcome of such diagnosis would be a general determination of possible areas of need. In so much you have determined a possible CAPD fault, it would seem appropriate to ask for a speech and language evaluation to determine auditory processing defecits. Many reading difficulities are tied to such processing issues, which can be remediated through speech therapy and a multisensory teaching methodolgy (such as Orton-Gillingham). By the way, if you get a neurologist to make a determination in conjuction with the speech pathologist of CAPD and a form of Dyslexia, then with the assistance of a child advocate or lawyer “YOU” can get your district to provide Orton-Gillingham based instruction (by a certified O-G provider).
I hope this has been somewhat helpful if not just wordy.
good luck[:})]