the psychologists employed by the school district are professionals just the same as private psychs are. polarbear
I believe that the level of professionalism between school psych and Psychologists who do psychoeducational evals is about equal, the train that goes into the two tiles is very different. My understanding is that a school psychologist is a masters level degree instead of a PhD level degree.
Of coures Psychologists have the option of supervising a less trained person to actually do the IQ test, and then do the 'interpreting' themselves.
I would say that no matter what the training, it is best to get a tester who has lots of experience with many kids of the same LOG as the child being tested. Our local psychologist was kind, reasurring, and had good instincts, and with all that he was a huge waste of money, time and emotion.
I think a school psychologist at a gifted school might be a great person to get a free WISC from. I think that she is hesitant to give a WISC to a 6 year old is possibly a reflection that she is more used to MG kids than HG or PG kids. There is no reason not to give a 6 year old a WISC - the longer you wait the longer you go without data, and the closer you get to those ceilings. There is always more accomidation to provide is a child needs it - subject accelerations, mentoring, skips. No gifted school could possibly accomidate all kids of the same age in the same classroom equally well because 'gifted' covers a lot of territory. A tester who is 'shaken to the core' because she has tested with her own eyes a 6 year old who out performs the gifted 7 and 8 year olds who she usually tests can be a wonderful advocate.
/rant
I do agree that working with him at home is a good idea -
Have you tried the 'Handwriting without tears' materials? I've toyed with the idea of going to their trainings so I could teach my DS at home...but DS did eventually get usuable typing and handwriting.
Grinity
