My son in currently in the 6th grade at a middle school. He was tested by our request at the school district three years ago. The testing identified him as having learning problems however, we were denied services because he was not failing his school work. They all felt the test scores were not reflective of his ability and that he could do the work. I then asked them if any one of them had sat down with my son to listen to him read becasue he can not read. Not one of the people in the room denying me help had asked my son to read to them!!!!
I decided not to push the issue at this point and continued to pay for tutorial help at Sylvan Leaning Center. The cost was well worth it for they were the ones who taught him how to read. He entered into the 5th grade with class room grades of C’s and standardized test scores showing him performing at the 2nd grade level. I do not understand why they even spend the money on standardized test scores when they do not use them! The new school year did not start out well. We spent a lot of time with homework every night, a lot of tears with the homework and a lot of time with tutors. I then went to an outside agency to have him tested again for learning disabilities. These test results came back identifying many learning problems including visual processing, auditory processing and memory problems. I took these results to the head of special education in our district and asked for his help to get an IEP. It was a dificult task to over ride the inital team ruling. The end result is that he has been given and IEP. I am not so sure this has really provided him a lot of help, but when it comes time to take our required state achievement tests, it will help.
We have moved onto the sixth grade at the middle school. School is going very well. He loves to go to school and our middle school pod system has been great for him. I received a call from the LD teacher a few days ago and they said my son is up to be re tested and that they would like to begin in the next two weeks. My concern is, once again he is receiving very good grades at school, A’s, B’s and C’s. His standardized test scores are still very low, preforming at the 5%. He works very hard at school. I have obtained books on tape for some reading classes. My question after all of this is……. Do I agree to re test or not. I have no doubt that he will show learning issues when he tests again, however, he is doing well with his school work. How does this happen? He has good school grades, he can not read very well and his standardized test scores are very low. Does that mean that he has great coping skills? Do I re test? Any suggestions as to how to handle this would be helpful. Thank you!
Re: Time to re test
If I could go back a year I would not have re-tested. I was under the impression that a school re-evaluated every three years - Can I opt. out next time???
My younger son passed evalutions in 6th grade, no longer met the criteria for LD services. He was doing good(Bs & Cs), organized, feeling “smart” and this year (7th)his grades are mostly D’s. If I could describe him before this year, the description of your son would fit our situation and age group. I am beginning to believe my boys have very subtle LD’s, that left alone, they can get by (with D’s) - but given a little support they can flourish. They can easily fall through the cracks, because some years they can pass and some years they can’t. I swear my oldest son used to read Eyes to pass the test!! - He has alot of “built-in” strategies. I would just Leave it alone if its not broken!
But……..
I also have other issues with the last testing…questions I can’t wait until Monday for..if anyone has any thoughts on this.
On the evalutions where the evaluator describes the environment, one says my son was not hesitant and comfortable in the first paragraph but by the third paragraph the evaluator attributes low/below average scores to him being nervous. On another test, the evaluator writes that the low test scores are not accurate due to nervousness, trying to fast. My question is how do they know that the nervousness wasn’t caused because he didn’t know the answers.
As the pressure got worse, he reacted more.
Is this section of the results basically an opinion??
And how am I to interpret, “Tests too Scattered to be Accurate” ??(they had given him 2 types of tests for the same thing- one he scored low, the other higher ). Is this right??
Re: Time to re test
The school district must re test every three years but the team, including the parents, may determine that no additional data are needed to continue to qualify the student for special ed services. I was told by the sp ed teachear that they all felt my son needs LD services. So I am not sure I want to re test based on the problems I had qualifying him the first time with their subjective evaluations in the class room. What do you think?
Re: Time to re test
If you had your son tested privately a year or two ago, individual IQ and achievement testing probably won’t tell you anything new; perhaps the school will accept those results. I’m not sure what you mean by standardized tests(?group tests like IOWA-perhaps you can get the standard scores, or percentile ranks; don’t use grade equilavents, they are meaningless and the distance from one grade level to the next is not the same). If he does well school, gets good grades and the teachers feel he is making progress, maybe more testing won’t answere any questions.
I was taught not to test unless testing would change something. Unless something was needed from the testing.
On the other hand, some people just like to test. They like to know the results of the test. I have parents who have their children tested, at their own expense, every two years.
To me your son sounds as if he’s doing great and that you’re happy with his school. What would testing gain you? What might it lose you if anything?
I can’t explain how your son does well in school with low reading but it may be that he does have great coping skills. He may be quite bright and, as you say, loved his school, and so puts his best foot forward every day. Loving school and caring about his school performance would certainly help him to cope and might even find him prevailing over his learning differences.