names of tests insightful for a ending 7thgrader and IEP???

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

ds is up for his third year IEP redo. I was invited to a meeting next week which caught me off guard-I thought we’d deal in the fall

My plan is to listen but to request testing before we make any decisions or write any goals.

This is a kid who has been is services since 22 months of age. His early IQ test equivalent showed noverbal abilities in the gifted range with verbal low average. Next test was done 1/2 grade and they had ‘come together’ to like 100 and 104. No subtests were made available even after I requested them-said they couldnt find it(this was the WISC)

5th grade had the non verbal up again into high average-and I got subtests this time. Scores arent in front of me but coding was his highest(funny since I rarely see that on this board); digit span(or whatever)was his lowest. Processing speed was remarkably good-he would have been on AdderallXR for the 5th grade testing

He is currently in regular classes except for language arts which is ‘remedial’. He also continues to receive speech therapy

I would like another IQ type test because the nonverbal vs verbal thing fascinates me. And…he is old enough now that I wonder about college. The verbal skills required scare the bejeebers out of me but this kid could really have some talents with computers, etc

Aspergers was suggested by a psychologist at age 9-I dont see the social ramifications but the more I read posts of parents with older Aspies, the more I begin to wonder(or Im coming off 4 years of denial????)

I have yet to see any achievement tests on him since before I homeschooled for 6th grade. We took ISATs this spring but I dont know when theyll be available and I think they only test science and social studies in grade 7 here

He ended up in the worst performing middle school in the district. Grades indicate he is doing awesome, but I go back on forth as to whether he is really doing awesome or if he is just a shining star in behavior and cooperation.

I really want something that will tell me where he falls academically based on ‘the real world’

I am thinking of asking for advanced math next year(I NEVER thought Id think advanced anything for this kid)He is not anywhere near where his older brothers were at this age but he doesnt seem to be getting challenged in his current situation

Since we have had experts suggest or dx ADD inattentive, dyslexia,CAPD, Aspergers, communication disorder, speech and language disorder over the years, are there any tests the school could do that might clear this up a little???

Anything anyone thinks we missed along the way?

So, an IQ type test that measures his nonverbal strengths….

an achievement test that tells me where he is compared to peers…

and anything that might help unmuddy some of the waters as he prepares for the last year of school(8th)before high school

Thanks in advance for any help from experts or parents who say “I had X test done and it really helped me see…”

Submitted by pattim on Sat, 05/07/2005 - 5:46 AM

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For a test to show the biggest achilles heel is the TOWL…for written language and organization. I did this on one of my very verbal kids who is high functioning…this is the test that showed his problems…specifically with writing spontaneously…if it is something he wants to write about he is fine…

I like the Fullerton Test of Langauge for Adolescents…It is an oldy but it gives some good information…that is still valid…

The TOAL is a good test for Adolescents but it is pretty involved…it also exposes how they are doing with written language in the context of a classroom.

The CELF-4 is good, The CASL Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language would be another good one. You can look at his pragmatic language with the TOPL Test of Pragmatic Language

Submitted by Janis on Sun, 05/08/2005 - 2:00 AM

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I would only do an IQ test privately unless your state is no longer looking for an IQ achievement discrepancy to qualify as LD. The new WISC IV is scoring lower overall than the III. One reason for this is there are four scores insted of the old verbal and performance. Since memory is one of the new ones, that would likely pull down your son’s total score. So be very careful. I am not personally in favor of giving IQ tests repeatedly anyway.

I certainly would want a full Woodcock-Johnson III achievement test as well as language testing as suggested by Patti. I think the CTOPP (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing) is important if his reading skills are delayed.

Patti, if you see this, I see a real need for some kids to be given the TOWL. Unfortunately no one around here gives it. I actually have it but I don’t feel comfortable scoring the essay portion. It is awful to see kids placed LD Written Expression based on the WJ-III alone, I think. I’d love to have training on the TOWL.

Janis

Submitted by marycas1 on Mon, 05/09/2005 - 1:45 PM

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I had heard that about the wisc4 but didnt make a connection with my personal situation-yeah, Id get depressed if his IQ went down.

Another thing popped to mind-Sequencing difficulties-memory related I assume

He still needs to be prompted to get through reciting the alphabet as he forgets the middle unless he does it regularly(which of course as this age, he doesnt) Ditto for the months of the year

He asked yesterday if June 1st was the last day of school, how many months did he have left? He said he could not remember when June came.

OTOH I asked him today how many months till his birthday(nov)and he instantly said 6. I said “you used the numbers didnt you?” “Yes”

Would something likfe teh fullerton address that?

Submitted by des on Tue, 05/10/2005 - 5:46 AM

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Are you looking for a test to *show* nonverbal ability? Maybe something like Raven’s progressive matrixes or the Leiter (?) which was used for deaf children. (BTW, the Raven’s is prob. pretty nonreal worldish. I’m not sure how young you can give this test.) Though I am not sure what that would show you beyond the Wisc Performance section.

As per the social aspects or Aspergers, and various people made you wonder. I wonder if one of them was me. I am Aspie (or perhaps rather PDD). Keep in mind that I am in my 50s. Even though this is not something you grow out of, one is always growing and changing and I have less difficulty socially now than I had when I was at 12 or even 24 (or 34 for that matter). The other thing is that adults are a much easier audience than children and more forgiving of social differences. And one more thing is that this is online vs face to face. The same could be said for parents with older children who may have learned many coping and social skills over the years. My nephew is high functioning autistic, and much of the time you would not know it. But at 10 there was never any question that he was very different.

A child with AS or PDD will have significant social difficulties, including poor ability to read body language; poor eye contact (in some cases); difficulty reading social situations; tending to see things literally adn not being able to get irony; etc. There are other characteristics such as sensory integration deficits (auditory, tactile, etc sensitivity); poor coordination; keen interest— obsession in a certain topic; etc.
There are other nonverbal types of learning disabilities.

—des

Submitted by pattim on Wed, 05/11/2005 - 4:01 AM

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It doesn’t tell you what the kid knows about numbers… It shows how he follows complex directions, word retrieval, syntax, grammar usage, how they use words in sentences, etc…

You know if I didn’t do the TOWL on my high functioning speechie he wouldn’t have qualified for special education, even in speech…he is extremely bright but he was scoring WNL on the WISC-IV and the WJ-III…on the ITPA-III I did he was WNL even in the writing portion, his vocabulary was off the charts receptive and expressive…and even on the TOWL he was WNL on the sentence structure and correcting incorrect sentences but where he really fell apart was on the spontaneous essay…that was where his achilles heel was…spelling, organization, punctuation…all 3 scores were less than the 7th percentile…If I hadn’t done that he would have graduated from special ed…and get this…SLP’s aren’t supposed to work on written language just oral…yeah right…I was the one who found the problem…I was the only one who was willing to go the extra mile to keep the kid in special ed…all due to the new and revised WISC-IV and the WJ-III not qualifying kids…. I just hate the WJ-III…kids are scoring high on that thing too expecially with the sentence portion…that is a piece of cake for kids…

Submitted by auditorymom on Wed, 05/11/2005 - 1:55 PM

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My child has been scoring on grade level with the WJ111 sentence portion. I remember looking at them suprised because she was at grade level with the scoring, and I said I couldn’t believe it. I guess they give a picture prompt which probably helps, but even last year the special ed director asked, were they sure the test score was right, and the learning support said the sentence had all the elements.-My outside speech pathologist is helping my daughter to write paragraphs.She said that it is the most important skill for my child at this age.But I will have to drop her after summer as school is earlier and we won’t have time. Marycas my daughter also has problems with the months,she has gotten better as she works on them with her tutor doing Saxon math, so I know how you feel.I am trying to keep the speech therapy for my child for middle school.You know I am wondering how much she really did get at elementary school,because she was either with another child, or she would forget to go, or the speech therapist was absent, and now they have a new model being every third week she gets therapy and the other two would be viewing, consulting with teachers, and paperwork for the therapist.

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