We haven't "tested" the lack of sleep theory with an IQ test, but my ds was accidentally "tested" on an achievement test - when he was in first grade his teacher gave him a DRA assessment the morning after he'd stayed up really really late because we were out doing something fun as a family and it was a one-time special occasion - so he was up probably 2 hours past his typical bedtime - which is late, he's a kid who has never needed a lot of sleep. I had no idea there would be a reading assessment the next day, and to be honest, the family stuff is really more important to me than the DRA ever was anyway. When I picked ds up after school the next day his teacher pulled me over with a big smile on her face telling me how she had given ds a DRA assessment that morning and how amazed she was at how high he had scored. When she told me the level, I had no clue what it correlated to in terms of actual books and I didn't really care - ds was reading college level textbooks at home at that point. I did, however, laugh and say "Oh Geez! I wish I'd known that because we kept him out past midnight last night and he didn't get much sleep!". The teacher right away felt horrible that she'd tested him when he might have been tired, so she retested him without telling me the next day - and his DRA level went up by quite a few grade levels.
Anyway, I think it's just a nice courtesy for a teacher to inform students before an achievement test that is going to be used for placement and for progress measurement - let's be honest, don't teachers typically tell students before big exams?
Re the IQ assessment, I also think the parents should know when it's scheduled, but realistically that isn't how it's worked out in our school district re this type of testing. Part of the reason I feel strongly about the notification ahead of time is something that happened to my ds when he being tested for IEP eligibility - the tester pulled him out of a special unit in school that was a one-time only thing that he'd been looking forward to ALL year. DS was soooo upset about missing it!
FWIW, ds also had a horrible headache on the morning he had that IQ test because he'd fallen while ice skating the night before - a fall so bad he will still not, to this day, go ice skating! He didn't like taking medicine, so he went to school that day with a headache and no pain killers. His IQ results, in spite of headache and complete annoyance - still came in within the range they always come in, so I feel like the test was valid - but it's not just the validity of the test results that matter re notification. Some of it just seems like common courtesy.
polarbear
