re-evaluation testing question

An IQ score is really irrelevant to the diagnosis of a learning disability, and I probably would not give permission for my child to be given one again. But the reason they gave the WAIS is that it is shorter. I can’t see any great purpose in it being given unless they are determined to be sure an IQ/achievement discrepancy still exists. And since that is no longer a requirement for special ed. placement, I have to wonder why they bothered. But yes, the scores are supposed to relate to the WISC scores. The Woodcock-Johnson scores are more important in determining his progress.

I’d have to disagree - I find IQ scores (especially subtest scores) a highly useful piece of the puzzle in figuring out a student’s strengths and disabiliites.

The obvious question to me here is, where are the skills being evaluated?

For our triennials (but this was when the regulations said that every 3 years you needed to do the whole thing), it was standard to do a full-blown IQ (WISC), social worker interview stuff, and a pretty extensive achievement battery.

I also, as a teacher, did at least a yearly skills inventory with Woodcock-Johnson or another standardized test. If I were going to skip some of the testing, it would be the IQ stuff, which should stay fairly stable (but doesn’t always, by a long shot, especially when you factor in the inconsistencies of our students :-)) and focus on the achievement.

Of course, it’s possible that they’re already measuring the achievement progress elsewhere… I’d ask them how that is being tested. An important part of every year’s IEP is the “PLOP” - Present Level of Performance.

Sue, let me clarify that I personally find the IQ subtest scores to be of interest, but I can guarantee you that most schools are not even looking at that. What has been happening especially since the WISC IV came out is that LD kids are scoring lower because of the memory and processing speed composites and some are failing to qualify any longer due to the discrepancy being reduced. I can almost guarantee that if they gave an abbreviated IQ test, the only purpose was to generate a score and not to look at specific skills. But I am hopeful that the elimination of the discrepancy requirement will result in less inappropriate use of IQ tests in the future. But we shall see!

“An IQ score is really irrelevant to the diagnosis of a learning disability”

Actually this is how my son got services, a huge gap between IQ and performance, so his IQ was vital in getting services.