blackcat, my ds was given an untimed CogAT with the questions read out loud to him when he was tested for the gifted program - he was given those accommodations because they were written into his 504 plan.
I would *not* consider the CogAT a valid IQ test of the type that is needed for a SLD/SPED. Rather than advocate from the point of timed vs untimed and group vs individual test, I'd focus on the type of ability test it is - the WISC/WJ-III Cognitive/etc are *innate* ability tests, the CogAT test is a learned ability test. As mentioned above, I'd look to the CogAT documentation re the intended use as a group screener rather than a test to use as part of a diagnostic package.
There is (possibly) a potential upside for some students to use the discrepancy gap and CogAT vs achievement - if a student is struggling and has a gap between CogAT and achievement tests that meets your school district's guidelines, they can be qualified possibly more expediently than requiring a full individual IQ test be administered. The downside to that, of course, is that getting support for academics as quickly as possible is important, but truly understanding what is behind the issues that are resulting in the academic struggle is very important for the long term success of any support/interventions. I suspect the individually administered innate ability IQ tests are more beneficial in terms of understanding root cause of the issues, but even those can't tell you the full picture (usually) - our experience has been that they can show you that yes, there is an issue - but more testing in the area of the potential issue is usually necessary to understand it (things like executive function testing, OT or SLP, vision, etc).
Good luck with your advocacy!
polarbear
