It’s 8PM on Wednesday night and your child has just told you, he’s lost the study guide for the test he has to take tomorrow. Both of you are at your wits end! You are frustrated that your disorganized child has lost yet another important assignment for school and your son is simply frustrated with school thinking he is just dumb. You know your child is smart, he just can’t seem to get himself organized. This may be your first indicator that he could have a learning disability.
Now that you’ve decided there could potentially be a problem, what do you do next? Your first call should be to your pediatrician for a referral to a diagnostician for educational testing.
Why hire a private diagnostician? First thing, you have more control over when and how in depth the testing will be. You, as a parent, will play a more significant role in the pretesting process. An independent evaluator may be able to dedicate more time to get to know your child and may be more creative in the ways in which they test your child.
“I recently was testing a very bright 5-year-old who could only pay attention for 10 minutes at a time,” Laura Solomon, a special-education consultant, recently told me. “So we did 10 minutes of testing and five minutes of play. It took us three mornings to finish the tests.”
Dr. Solomon, who has been assessing children for 27 years, said “testing is an art and a science.”
Using a private evaluator often gives you a more in-depth report with suggestions and explanations to their findings, as well as, possible classroom observations to better evaluate your child.
Once you have a report and suggestions for accommodations, you should submit a copy of the report to your school. Your school should accept this report and work to make the necessary accommodations for your student. If you run into problems with your school accepting your evaluation, you have the right to request a hearing with your school board of education, and should bring your attorney along with you for this hearing.
When everything is said and done, this is your child we’re talking about. You have to be his best advocate and insist that he receive the best education in the least restrictive environment possible.
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Thanks for sharing the information. I found the info really helpful.
Hi! thanks for sharing really helpful.
Thanks for your post. It’s good to read something related to ADHD that makes sense. I’ve got a similar website myself, so will keep popping back to see what else you’ve posted.
Great article-would like to publish in my free newsletter for seniors but was wondering if the information applies to Washington residents as well?
Yes, this applies to students nation wide!