What type of proffessional would I use to have my children tested outside of the district and what type of testing would you suggest?
I now have two children in the system who I have been told by the district, that if they test them formally, they would risk losing services.
One child is older and has made alot of progress. He is at the re-evalutation stage and they feel he would no longer have a large enough discrepency to qualify.They believe that he benefits from the resource room for one period a day and want to continue to provide that for him. They are willing to test him in my greatest areas of concern (listening comprehension)…..outside of the box.
The other child is my nephew who has been in my care since the beginning of the school year. The previous district never did any formal testing on him.He is so far behind that they gave him services by just doing observation type tests . He should be in the third grade, he is in the second, and not keeping up with the first graders pace this year I am told.
His special ed teacher has told me ….that she feels he may have a low IQ and he will end up not qualifying if I request formal testing. If that were the case…then the district would be required to start phasing out his services.She said that the testing is not very helpful to her anyway, they don’t really tell her anything that she does not already know. She knows what sounds he has difficulty with, where he his at according to grade level, what he has difficulty doing, etc..
Hmm..Is it just me or is there a theme here? They are both getting the services that the distrcit provides..but how do you cater to their specific needs without any testing? I get the impression that teachers teach a certain way, and in a certain order, and don’t really use test results anyway. Or do they?
Back to my original question…where might I take them to have them evaluated outside of the box? (so I don’t risk losing their services) and what type of tests would you suggest? The hearing and sight are not a concern, we have those things taken care of by specialists. I am referring to academic assessments.
I am also considering ADHD for my nephew..but wanted to get to know him better before I made any decisions.
As always,
Thanks for your help and advice!
MO