Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment The wait is finally over.

I finally had the meeting with the school today. The testing is over. It was quite an interesting meeting. The speech pathologist. and the Psychologist were arguing over test results. They each produced different scores.

From what I can see, no one did a IQ test.(sigh)I am very disappointed that no one did an IQ test on him. The only test I am somewhat familiar with is the Kaufman. His scores are as follows.

Reading Composite 96%
Letter-Word Rec. 98%
Reading Comp. 84%

Sound-symbol Composite 99.6%
Phonological Awareness 90%
Nonsense Word Decoding 99.5%

Decoding Composite 99%
Letter-Word Recognition 98%
Nonsense Word Decoding 99.5%

Math Composite 98%
Math Concepts Applications 98%
Math Computation 93%

Written Composite 77%
Written Expression 55&
Spelling 88%

Oral Fluency Composite 88%
Associational Fluency 75%
Naming Facility(RAN) 90%

The person giving this test said "His scores in reading comp and written expression may be an underestimate of his true ability as the behaviors he exhibit prevented him from continuing the tasks."
Basically, he he told her he didn't want to do any more and refused.

I'm at a crossroad, I don't know if I should pursue having his IQ tested or just leave him alone.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

What were the speech pathologist and the psychologist arguing over? Will the results affect the services he receives? If so, outside testing may help.

Hi Dottie,

He was in transition at the beginning of the school year. They moved him to 1st grade in October b/c of behavioral issues and academic scores. Now he is in 1st grade the behavioral issues have improved, but have not completely disappeared. He is still bored with school and hates going. He 6.4 y/o.

His teacher said today, that she would give him harder math, but only grade level. He does multiplication and division. I don't think 1st grade math is going to challenge him.

Why does this have to be so difficult. I just don't get it. These kids are our future, they should be encouraged to succeed, not placed on a back burner somewhere and forgotten about. They could achieve so much given the right chance.

Sorry for the rant.

Hi Inky,

This is a good one. The psychologist thought he might fit into the autism spectrum. The speech pathologist completely disagreed with her. I can understand how this can happen, I went back and forth with it myself. I looked up the characteristics of Aspergers and noticed a couple of the characteristics fit him. Once I was done panicking and coming to terms with my own thoughts, I kept an eye on him(more like a microscope)and determine he doesn't have it. I know I'm not an expert in the field, but my gut feeling is, he does not have it. I removed all emotion and looked at it analytically.

The school wants me to have him evaluated by a professional, to determine if he has it or not. The reason for this is, b/c the 2 women disagreed.

The one thing that bothered me the most. When I asked all 6 people in the room, what would change if he did get the DX of Aspergers?? No one could give me an answer, they just danced around the question, poorly. Nothing would change.

Well, if the school will foot the bill, then I think it might be worth a try. Perhaps this tiebreaker person would have suggestions that would improve things for your DS, even though the school doesn't. I think it's a little unfair to ask the school NOW for what changes they would make with a Dx of Aspergers (if they are willing to pay - and I think that they might be required to pay in a situation like this) because there isn't any specific set of accomidations for Kids with Aspergers. I believe that the expression is 'If you've seen one child with Aspergers - you've seen ONE child with Aspergers.' So perhaps the tiebreaker specialist would have some reccomendations (or listen to you and adopt yours as his or her own) and that would have some weight with the school?

It's possible at least.

I have seen kids use the Aspergers diagnosis to get gradeskips and subject accelerations. Along the lines of 'since we can't met his social needs, we had better at least met his academic needs.' and 'since he can't control his behavior as well as regular kids, we had better not stress him by underplacing him academically.' Hard to believe that works, but I've seen it happen!

Best Wishes,
Grinity

Thank you so much!! I didn't even think about the other side of it. My head is still spinning from yesterday's meeting.

I don't feel he could emotionally handle another grade skip. I feel that he and I are kind of stuck, between a rock and a hard place.

If he does receive a Aspergers Dx, that may be a way to get the school work he needs, but if he doesn't get the Dx, where do I go from there??

The school is sending me a list of doctors. I told them I would only take him to a doctor that specializes in "smart" kids.(I avoided the term, gifted, since I don't have an IQ test) They all knew and greed with that commit, even his teacher said he was gifted.

BTW, the school will pay for the tests.

That seems like a good offer from the school and I'd take them up on it if I were in your shoes.

Have you read Misdiagnosis And Dual Diagnoses Of Gifted Children And Adults by Webb et al? It may be worth calling the doctors on the list to see if they're familiar with it. If he isn't diagnosed with Aspergers, a psychologist who works with gifted children should be able to include other recommendations in a report for the school (i.e. more challenging work without another grade skip?).

Maybe you could find a psychologist that would look for Aspergers -- and piggy-back in IQ testing, if you want that? I'd try to make that part of the deal!

Great ideas, the only problem is, the school told me that they will only review reports from a MD. I need to find a pediatric neurologist.

On the bright side, I was at the school yesterday and spoke with his teacher for a brief moment. She was amazed at his scores, and is now seeing him in a different light, and starting to challenge him. He came home a very happy boy. (YEAH)

Does anyone know of a good pediatric neurologist in southern New Hampshire???

I have a different perspective. I think some independent testing is in order. I would start with a psych specializing in gifted kids: someone who is on your kids' side and has no other interests. Don't let the school railroad you into anything. Everyone deserves time to evaluate their options.

I'd also pick up a copy of "Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy" tout de suite.

Good luck!