Hi Polarbear - thanks for responding and helping me out.
I got him tested for a few reasons. First, I highly suspected he is gifted and I believe that causes some trouble at school. He questions. He wants logically thought out reasons for things (not just cliches dismissing him like because "I said so" or "you get what you get and you don't get upset", etc), he is extremely articlate and speaks like an adult - he has an incredible vocabularly and command of the english language. (Everyone just everyone comments on that). He complains he is bored at school and he knows the stuff already, etc. He is highly creative, etc. He just thinks differently (not only smart but creatively). I got him "evaluated" because he was having so much anxiety and ocd symptoms at achool (kindergarten). So it all kind of all went together. But I was excited about him gettign the WISC as part of the eval b/c I suspect giftedness and I also suspected either dylexia or dysgraphia. I was led to believe by his therapist that the WISC would show that clearly (confirm the existence or non-exitence of an LD) but now I realize that further testing is needed for that. But at the time I thought the WISC would tell us that pretty clearly.
The testing was really really helpful in that it did help me to really question his vision - I could really see that something is wrong with his vision just by watching him do the test. It also helped me realize that where his weaknesses are and why he has certain somewhat problematic (imo) behaviors (ie his executive finctioning - the low processing speed and working memory) So I know now to start working on that and hopefully get him better in that regard so that he can be a bit more successful at school - not as spacey.
However, I still feel that I don't have a "good" picture of him - his abilites, his issues, etc. I feel that I want to see what he is really capable of (and what his struggles are) and what diagnosis stay/go away whatever - once he can see properly! I think once he can see properly his anxiety will even begin to resolve and he'll be capable of more (b/c the anxiety can really get in his way). YKIM? (Am i making sense? LOL you can tell me if I sound wacky! just tell me somewhat nicel
) I just feel like we are now stuck with diagnosis, a relatively unfavorable eval/report (where they insinuate he could have ODD and/or PDD-NOS) and reltively unreliable test scores (because of his vision issues that we didn't know and because the testing circumstances were so bad). I don't mind an an eval and diagnosis and opinons/insinuations if they are accurate but I don't feel the report gives an accurate picture of him, his issues or his abilities at all. And now the school has this report (we needed to turn it over to get an IEP for his anxiety) and I am not comfortable with it. Does that make sense? I want be able to give them a better picture of him next year. And yes, I want a better report/eval and more accurate WISC scores (perhas higher if he is capable and I believe pretty strongly that he is) if he is to be considered for the gifted program.
I DO want to wait a year. I want to get the re-eval and re-test done in the spring of 2013 (a full year from the first eval and test). He should have several months (9) of vision therapy by then and occupational therapy under his belt by then. I think his ability to see will effect his behavior and his anxiety, which will in turn effect how he looks in a re-eval and how he tests. I will/should also know y then if he has a LD. I will also be better prepared. I had no idea they would subject him to hours of testing with no breaks, etc. This time I will try to get the test broken up inot maybe two days - or at least get more breaks built in, etc.
Also, next spring is when his school starts testing for gifted program. But I am nervous about the school testing him. They screen with the OlSat and then I think if you get a certain score on the Olsat they then test with WISC. I'd rather bypass all that with getting the private WISC (done during a private eval ) during which I get to see how he is acting/struggling (or not struggling) in the testing, I get to see how it is done, etc.
