cerebral palsy and IQ testing

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

I have a fellow parent in support group who’s son has cerebral palsy. The school did an IQ test that had results that the parent feels do not reflect the boys actual intelligence (borderline mental retardation) The parent feels that the limitations on the test (timing, his physical limitations, etc hindered actual results of intelligence scores). First, is there a more appropriate IQ testing method for students with such disabilities and if not, how can the parent argue/prove that this is not accurate. Second, can they have the score removed from record under FERPA?

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/26/2002 - 10:44 PM

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My son has cp but it is very mild . when he was in K his iq was63 now his iq is normal. It has increased 30 points. According to the neuropsych he saw in July the similarities is your best subset of intelligence. But she did say cp kids are hard to iq test.

Just my 2 cents. Wrightslaw.com has an article on what each test measures.

Lisa in NJ

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 04/27/2002 - 1:55 PM

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First off,you mention physical limitations but you don’t mention what they are? Is he nonverbal? Does he have difficulty speaking?
Does he has seizure disorder? Is he on medications?

In my experience as a nurse with many,many kids who have CP,there is a huge degree variable.

A child with CP can be very limited,to very unlimited.
I know of one child who is nonverbal,the school told mom,they had no nonverbal IQ test. Hmm,so his WISC came back MR. When she investigated it,offered to buy them a nonverbal IQ test,they did a peabody nonverbal measure( I think this is the one) and his IQ was in the gifted range. True story,promise. Anyway they then gave him a light talker and he is amazing. Still very physically delayed,but not mentally in anyway.

Then there was a little girl I know. She has severe seizure disorder,the Physician had her on Phenobarbital for seizure control,unfortunately the medication made her virtually nonverbal,and basicly unresponsive to any kind of education. Once a new med was investigated,it was amazing the difference in this child. She turned into a chatter box,and I am quite sure her IQ went way up.

I would reccomend that this mom investigate everything. The why’s of why he scored so low,what possible barriers are present here? There could be many,and might not have to do with the schools IQ test.

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