Reliable results? - 10/17/11 06:55 AM
My son was tested by the school psychologist last year because we were thinking of placing him in a gifted private school. We changed our minds and are now homeschooling him. He has Asperger's (officially diagnosed).
A little history - he was born just extremely aware of the world (nurses commented on it when he was born), he was separating colors at 8 months, knew letters at 11 months, was reading at 14 months, reading books at 21 months, knew all states and capitols from reading maps at 18 months, and the list goes on. This wasn't hyperlexia as he demonstrated a ton of reading comprehension (everything from answering questions to acting out stories in different voices and doing story mash-ups). We didn't teach him any of this, he just picked it up from us reading to him. He is a Kindergartener, but we have him in an online public school where he is doing 1st grade math (finished the K math in a couple of weeks - just assessed through) and 3rd grade everything else. He took a test for language arts and his score reflected that he could be doing up to 10th grade material.
While he tested as gifted (on the low end of the spectrum), he had an interesting way of taking the test, and I was wonderining if this is at all typical and if we should retest with someone other than a school psychologist. For example, when asked if things went together, instead of picking the obvious answer, he would launch into a story of why two things that wouldn't typically go together would - so he got the answer wrong. When I asked him later what went together, he told me instantly, but wanted to tell me stories again about the other choices. There were a few other problems with the test. He is in Occupational Therapy for fine motor delays, but during one part of the test, that was timed, he had to circle certain things. Getting him to hold a pencil in the first place, let alone make a circle, was difficult then. He also doesn't like to discuss certain subjects sometimes (much better than he used to be at this), so he wouldn't answer certain questions. He is very reticent with people he doesn't know well.
I'm not sure what the advantage to testing again (other than having possibly more resources for him) or if it would be worth it. I also don't know if this would happen again or if I'm looking for something that isn't there. What advice would you have? Thank you for your feedback!
A little history - he was born just extremely aware of the world (nurses commented on it when he was born), he was separating colors at 8 months, knew letters at 11 months, was reading at 14 months, reading books at 21 months, knew all states and capitols from reading maps at 18 months, and the list goes on. This wasn't hyperlexia as he demonstrated a ton of reading comprehension (everything from answering questions to acting out stories in different voices and doing story mash-ups). We didn't teach him any of this, he just picked it up from us reading to him. He is a Kindergartener, but we have him in an online public school where he is doing 1st grade math (finished the K math in a couple of weeks - just assessed through) and 3rd grade everything else. He took a test for language arts and his score reflected that he could be doing up to 10th grade material.
While he tested as gifted (on the low end of the spectrum), he had an interesting way of taking the test, and I was wonderining if this is at all typical and if we should retest with someone other than a school psychologist. For example, when asked if things went together, instead of picking the obvious answer, he would launch into a story of why two things that wouldn't typically go together would - so he got the answer wrong. When I asked him later what went together, he told me instantly, but wanted to tell me stories again about the other choices. There were a few other problems with the test. He is in Occupational Therapy for fine motor delays, but during one part of the test, that was timed, he had to circle certain things. Getting him to hold a pencil in the first place, let alone make a circle, was difficult then. He also doesn't like to discuss certain subjects sometimes (much better than he used to be at this), so he wouldn't answer certain questions. He is very reticent with people he doesn't know well.
I'm not sure what the advantage to testing again (other than having possibly more resources for him) or if it would be worth it. I also don't know if this would happen again or if I'm looking for something that isn't there. What advice would you have? Thank you for your feedback!