Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy I need some direction.

I understand your worries - we've been on both sides of the fence re evaluations where we were concerned about the evaluator, and it's worked out in different ways. In two evals, our concerns about the evaluator (which really were just gut feelings based on initial conversations) proved to be prophetic... to a certain extent. In one case (our 2e ds), the evaluation was to test for giftedness to meet the bar to get into a specific program. It became obvious in an initial conversation with the psych that she was not a fan of putting children into the program, and when she showed us the results of ds' IQ test she focused completely on the processing speed section where he scores low due to his 2nd e. She didn't diagnose or do any further testing, just focused the conversation in such a way she made it clear she didn't think he should be in the program. In my naive parenting moment (at that time I had no idea had a 2nd e and also had never looked at IQ subtests or had a clue about how IQ tests were scored)... I believed that what she was really saying was ds didn't qualify. It wasn't until I looked at this same scores again when applying for high school programs that I realized, yes, he had qualified. So - in that instance, you could say that there was bias on the part of the tester. *However* - that bias didn't impact *how* she scored his test, just impacted how she relayed the results to us, and honestly, in hindsight, she was probably right. Without understanding the issues that were impacting processing speed, ds may very well have cratered in that program in early elementary. But the point is - without having good knowledge yourself, as a parent, it can be difficult to make sense in a meaningful way of reports and conversations with evaluators.

Our second experience was with school testing - we had to have our ds tested through the school district in order to get an IEP. I did *not* like the school psych at all in our initial meeting - he came across not only as pompous but as if he was sure that his testing would disprove the previous private IQ testing our ds had and also made some comments at the meeting that showed he clearly did not understand or have any experience with ds' 2nd e. He also did not tell us when ds would be tested, and I took ds ice skating the day before testing and ds fell and hurt his head so badly that he had a major migraine going into school the next morning. He was called out to test that morning, from a one-time elective class he'd been looking forward to for weeks and would not have the chance to take again. Prior to that day ds had been pulled out by the psych to take the TOWL (which he couldn't produce any written words for due to his disability.. and was basically badgered like crazy by the psych during a 2nd go-round with that testing because the psych was convinced ds was just being obstinate). To say that all the stars were aligned against anything possibly correct coming out of this test is as major an understatement as anyone can possibly make. Yet... ds' IQ came out right exactly where it's come out every other time he's been tested.

Soooo... on the one hand, I tend to believe that no matter what, most psychologists/evaluators are in fact, professionals, and no matter what bias or gut feelings we have that lead us to worry about their view, they are going to (most often) be professional and give an honest eval. As parents, it's on us to be armed with enough knowledge to see through any bias in how the results are communicated.

On the other hand, I've had one disastrous neuropsych eval with my 2e dd (who has a memory challenge impacting her ability to read). Everything seemed fine until the morning of testing, which was also the first meeting I had with the neuropsych (other than phone conversations). I had emailed him copies of her previous testing, which included detailed testing by a reading specialist. That morning, he tossed a copy of the reading eval at me and told me it didn't make sense and that it was useless. My gut feeling told me I should turn around and leave the office that minute and never look back, but I let him proceed with testing. DD's IQ testing came back in the general ballpark of what it's been when tested previously, but she had a lot of discrepancies on achievement testing, none of which the tester found signficant in any way other than he felt dd wasn't trying. I think the test results would have been the same with another evaluator, but with a different evaluator I would have (hopefully) gotten some type of analysis of *why* there was so much scatter in her scores.


I don't think that a professional is going to let bias against acceleration influence how he scores when testing. I *do* think, that if what you want is support for pursuing education, you're better off getting testing through a psych who will put recommendations for it in writing in a report, and it's quite possible that this psych won't do that. On the other hand, I doubt he would write "child's parent is pushing for acceleration and I disagree" in a report.


I would be concerned about rapport too, and I think that's important with any evaluation. I would start by talking to your ped - who does he recommend for evaluations? Does he have patients who have experience with this evaluator, and what has their experience been?

It's also ok to tell your current psych that you'd rather go with a different group for this testing. I would not, however, just run in the other direction and not test. It sounds like you need clarity on what's really going on with your dd. It sounds like your school is willing to help, which is a great thing. Providing them with any data you can get will also help them to help in a way that will have the best chance of making a difference for your dd. While she may be doing better in school at this point, it's also possible that part of the reason she's doing better is the teacher has figured out how to make school a less stressful place, at the moment, for your dd. This doesn't mean the challenges have disappeared, just means that she's being informally accommodated to a certain extent. I'd definitely want a professional look (updated from when she was younger), to see if there are challenges leading into the anxiety, difficulty with transitions etc.

Best wishes,

polarbear