Triannual testing

[Jodi]

Hey everyone...

Ryan is at his 3-year mark again and the district wants to know if I want them to do the triannual evaluations/testing. He is now 11. Have any of you opted out of certain tests as your kids got older?

Part of me knows that it will be hard news to swallow again. I know he is delayed, but getting the test results is so dang hard for me every time. He qualifies for services because of the MR and he has a speech qualification too, so it's not like they are going to deny any services. Another part of me doesn't want to subject him to tests that may make him feel frustrated about his ability to understand.

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts!

Jodi

[Chris]

Sarah is eight and in the process of having her three year testing. I couldn't decide whether to let her be tested. I mulled over it for a couple of days and then I got a letter saying because I didn' send back the form they were testing her. I waited two days! Anyway, I know I just don't want to sit in her IEP on March 25 and hear about how delayed she is. I wish they would talk about how much she can do and how far she has come instead of how behind she is compared to her peers.

Chris

[Emilysmom]

I totally understand, Jodi! It has to be frustrating (or boring at the very least!!) for kids to go through the triannual testing. I can't imagine going through it myself! The last testing Emily had, I was present. It was done by her physician at the Ds clinic (as a part of a research study she was in). It was frustrating for me, because I watched her try so hard to answer the questions correctly. And many of the questions were things I knew for a fact that she knew.........and her answer was totally wrong. She has never tested well, and I know that. Test scores just don't accurately reflect what she really knows/understands. So, if there is no possibility that she will miss out on services she really needs, I do not want her to go through any more testing.........and I said that at her last IEP meeting. It IS disheartening to hear the results. I mean, as parents, we KNOW the areas where our kids struggle.

Here is one little tidbit I learned a few years ago (hmmmmm; actually I think I learned it when Emily was about to go into 7th grade!): There is a section of the IEP at the beginning where it asks for the student's current level of performance, their strengths, and any concerns by her parents. For years, I allowed those sections to be filled out by her teachers and I would smile when they wrote things that described her as "delightful", "well dressed", "charming", etc. But, what difference does any of that make, really??? So, one year, I showed up for her IEP meeting with my notebook and a list of my questions, goals, "requests", and my own answers to those questions about her strengths and current level of performance. I mean..............who knows her better?? It worked out very well, and I think her IEP has reflected WHO she is and WHAT she needs so much better since that time. Anything you want to be stated about your child........bring it to the table, and have it added to the IEP so it will be documented! I think, if I don't get specific about her, the teachers/therapists won't either. Not to belittle them, but they do have a lot of students. And none of those students are as important to me than Emily.

So, I said all of that when I probably should have said............skip the testing and make sure that you have documented on the form everything you want to have people know about your child. "Well dressed" and "charming" is just not very helpful.

Susan

[laurasmom]

Susan couldn't have said it better.

We haven't had the testing done with Laura since 2001, when we moved from Alabama to South Carolina. Since then we have added to her IEP that we feel the triannual testing does not given an accurate picture of Laura's abilities, and that we will measure her abilities/progress using the IEP goals/objectives. We had no argument from the school district at all.

Sharon

[CC]

Hey Jodi~

Yup there were times we opted out and times we said YES do it over the years. Depends on what may be going on, Colin and I decide each time it comes up and honestly the times we opted out in no way changed any of his services.

One thing I know for sure is that Chris does much better in the morning so when we do the testing I request it be done in the morning. He also does much better when someone signs or they use visual and I request that too when testing.

CC~

[momofrussell]

Unless you think there is a "piece" that needs to be reevaled or something is missed and a new eval needs to be introduced, there really isn't any reasoning for evals. That's what they 3 yr re-eval is for. To see if there is any area that can benefit from a re-eval or something new to address. OR, say a child has PT and they are probably ready to drop their services, they'd re-eval that area to assess.

Russell had his triannual re-eval last year I think. We all agreed that the major evals weren't needed.

I also agree with Susan that the main importance is making sure your son is properly documented on the PLOP section, both by your team's imput AND by yours with the parental concerns section. That's truly what drives what your son needs, not just the evals

Oh..and Chris....wait a second! Did you SIGN for any of those evals? They sent you something stating evals might be done and they did them without your consent?? PLEASE tell me that didn't happen??

A.

[Chris]

A.,

Yes, they did proceed with an evaluation without my consent. I was sent a letter titled Reed - Notice of Inability To Get Consent.

The area that was checked says

REEVAL REED

We will proceed with the reevaluation. Afther the reevaluation has been completed, an IEP Team meeting wil be convened to review the results. You will receive notification of the proposed date and time of this meeting.

I wasn't sure if I wanted her tested or not. Sarah is very speech delayed and I do not believe someone who isn't very familiar with Sarah could understand her speech/signs and therefore misses much of what she does know. I honestly don't believe their testing is accurate. It just depends on how cooperative my child feels that day. I see it all the time since I work with so many children! I also don't believe that the state standardized tests are an accurate measure of what the students know.

Chris

[momofrussell]

Well legally they can do that but usually they are suppose to document that they tried to contact you more then once. Pretty crappy if you only didn't respond for 2 days or so. Or is your couple like my husband's which is technically longer? LOL

We just had this discussion on another board. It's just a double edged sword. We don't want the testing but the testing is what helps show if our child qualifies for services...we want our children to be superstars at times but yet if they test out we get upset and think they need services. We are a persnickity clan! LOL

A.

[Jodi]

Thank you all for your input. I have chatted with our team, and we are going to focus on what Ryan can do. They gave me some alternatives and I'm very happy about the level of flexibility they are all offering.

Persnickity clan LOL - YEP!!

[Kristin]

My daughter's triannual was this year, and we did all of the testing. What was concluded was that there will no longer be the IQ testing as she has not improved since the last one. They do not see her testing out of her current classification. Because I agree with them, it is almost a relief to know that I won't even have to think about that report. I told the psychologist that her report is always the most depressing because it does go into all of the things she can't do. We can now focus on academics and work on the life skills to help her be more independent. I like the testing from the standpoint I was able to compare scores with where she was three years ago. We found one area that she wasn't making much progress in. It allowed us to decide if we needed more emphasis on that area. The testing holds everyone accountable as to the effectiveness of their methods for teaching.

[momofrussell]

I told the psychologist that her report is always the most depressing because it does go into all of the things she can't do. We can now focus on academics and work on the life skills to help her be more independent.

THIS is why they do the tests!!! It is flawed in the sense that it's going to show the deficits because without them we don't get services...and then you use those services to focus on academics and/or life skills!

So, your statement is exactly the nail on the head!

[kathytylersmom]

I always ask for a copy of the test results and each report written prior to the IEP meeting. It helps if I can read it without everyone watching me and have time to process the information.

[Chris]

A,

When I say a couple of days I mean two.

Chris

[momofrussell]

LOL.....Chris, as most people do....just not my husband. That's why in my house it's refered to as Kevin's Couple LOL