Does anyone know of any tests that test for creative thinkin

Hmm. There are some tests - the old Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Test was supposed to do something like that in part but creativy usually falls outside of convential measurement. Your example of what happened to him on the WISC is classic. Tests are by definition not admitting of creativity.

My advice would be to not devote energies or money to it. Teachers are very unlikely to be motivated on the basis of any test that purports to test for creativity. Sadly, most teachers teach the way they do because that’s how they teach. It certainly isn’t easy and is rarely possible for teachers to change their teaching style - regardless of what test results we bring in.

Schools in general often don’t encourage creativity. It’s not their mission. Fortunately the spirit of creativity usually previals and creative people like your wonderful son remain creative despite the poor attention their creativity receives in school.

Hey Linda,
Isn’t it sad that we have to tell the teachers about how smart our children are? Last year’s teacher (who we loved) was genuinely surprised at the quality of the content my son could write when he was allowed to dictate. I think you have to fight for the accomodations that will allow his intelligence (because that’s what it is…) to show through.

Love the baker’s dozen story.

Sara,

I think you have a good point. I really pushed for a creative teacher this year. I am beginning to wonder if they just aren’t found under sped in my district. I think perhaps that the only answer is that he be removed from sped and that we find a teacher who will understand his creativity. (His first grade teacher really understood him)I am in the process of doing this anyway. I have been a little scared about doing this but your post has me realizing that my doubts are incorrect. Thanks

Karen,

Oh geez every year around March I hear, “Wow, he is really creative, or he has great ideas.” Then the school year ends and we have to start all over again.

I think that I am going to ask that the teachers who notice these things document it somehow and pass it on to the next teacher.

I am faced now with him being in a reading group that reads books that are way below his comprehension level. The book he brought home was so dry that I think he didn’t understand it because it was so boring. This book lost me after about 3 pages.

It went something like this; Molly had brown hair and braids, Sue had blonde hair with curls. Molly said “snaggadoodles” when she was upset. They had to carry a box up the stairs. Then they dropped the box.

I kept thinking, “My God, is there a point to this story.” When I asked him what it was about I couldn’t even tell if he gave the right answer. It was like a Seinfeld skit; a book about NOTHING.

I think they automatically put him in that reading group because he was in sped. I truely doubt they gave him an adequate test for comprehension.

I wrote them a long letter where I analyzed his entire testing also using real life examples explaining the type of learner he is. The IEP meeting on Thursday should be interesting. I am a nervous wreck. Did you notice my post was at 5 am? I can’t sleep worrying about this.

You could have called me! I was up every hour last night alternating between worrying about if his tutor is really up to the task, and then “holy cow, what if we really end up sending him to a different school next year” ….

Don’t you get a school report at the end of the year? We do , and so far his teachers have been good about reading the previous year’s report which usually says something like “he has come so far…” because they didn’t realize what he was capable of until March.

We get a report card but it doesn’t have a description of how he is doing. I was getting weekly reports last year on his progress and every one said he was doing great, 100% on spelling, very few problems identified. Now shouldn’t a kid in sped have some problems identified. I know he isn’t doing grade level work in some areas such as writing so shouldn’t this be discussed. I am stuck wondering if they truely just modify the program to a lower level for these kids which down the road could be a disaster. It is hard to tell because I don’t have anything to compare his work too.

You have just reminded me to bring all of those reports to the meeting. I am also writing up a list of questions about how he is doing as compared to the average child in his class.

He told me this morning that he would like to be put in another class. He can’t verbalize what is making him so unhappy. I think the work is just too boring for him.
I hope, after this meeting, I can get some sleep again.

Our gifted/talent program uses a relativly new IQ test, the Naglieri, to help in identifying these students. One can be “gifted” and “sped” at the same time, as many on this board can attest. As for “dumbing down” the program— it happens. Some regular ed. teachers don’t have the experience or help they need to truly individualize instruction so that this doesn’t happen. Often, I think they are really trying (instead of complaining about having to have this kid in their class). The case manager should be able to help you there. Another note- teachers I work with HATE it when parents say their child is bored— it really raises the fur on their backs. It usually results in the teacher giving the parent a long list of uncompleted work as “evidence” that he can’t be bored. I’m not saying boredom isn’t an issue, just that I’ve seen strong reactions when parents take that approach. ( Teachers have a lot of competition these days— it’s hard to be as entertaining as Playstation or Nintendo for 6 hours while delivering the curriculum on which teachers, students, and schools will be tested).

And I’ve posted everywhere trying to find someone who can help me interpret my son’s scores (as I’ve been able to do with the WISC)

Here are 2 web sites I did find which explains what its testing. If you have any other info. please let me know!!!

http://assess.nelson.com/nelson/assess/test-ind/cas.html

http://www.gmu.edu/departments/ccd/instructions_parteach.htm

Wow. The GMU website gives a teriffic explanation. Have you read “Understanding Tests and Measurement for the Parent and Advocate”? It’s on this site under LD In-Depth, Assessments. If you have your son’s scores, you should be able to use this article determine his strengths and weaknesses, then see how these might look in school from the info. on the GMU site.

some of the lingo is new to me. Also, in my case my son was very low in the planning and attention, which is easy for me to understand the ramifications and how it might effect him. But he was over 97%tile on the successive and simultaneous part and what I haven’t been able to do yet is figure out what practical strengths he has that we can exploit in 3rd grade.

But I’ll take your suggestion and revisit the LDonline article and the info. I’ve found and see if I can make more sense. (With the Wisc there were so many people that could put in their 2 cents - I learned alot!)

BTW, I would say his results on this test were evidence of both extraordinary deficits and extraordinary strengths - gifted and LD.

Take a look at www.bascforum.com/form/ubb/Forum5/HTML/000013.html

I can’t even use the word bored. I just say extremely unhappy in this class. I really want the teachers to give me input as to why this child who has always loved school now dreads it every day. This is especially odd since he is doing soooo much better with the skills he struggled with in the beginning, specificly reading and math.
I really don’t want to point fingers. I just want this boy to be the boy who loves to learn. This is the boy he has always been, until this year.