I'm a big advocate for private testing because you are in complete control of the results. You don't even have to tell the school you're doing it. Also, you don't have to tell your son the results. See what they are first, and then decide.
Keep in mind that testing is not always 100% accurate anyway, and results can change as the child develops. Our psychologist had so much trouble with our son (7 at the time) that she confessed to us that all she was able to get out of him was a snapshot of "his current level of functioning in a one on one testing environment." She said "take it with a grain of salt" and test him again in two years. Granted our son tests as having ADHD and a language processing disorder, so your son's test results may be closer to his actual cognition. Our doc kept saying "he's a really smart boy" but she couldn't even calculate his IQ because the range between his highest and lowest scores was too large ("consistent with only 7% of the population") ...yeah. sigh. So all that $$$ and a) no IQ results and b) no accurate results. Sure it's nice to hear "he's smart" but geez...
Anyway, I don't regret doing it because I was able to use the report to get DS8 speech therapy services through the school. So there you go... a "pro."
