Hi. I am a little confused........ do you mean testing accomodations to be used for his normal school subject tests, or testing accomodations for state mandated tests and in the future, college entrance tests like the ACT/SAT? What is your ultimate objective in getting him accomodations for testing at the 3rd grade level? Is it to lay the groundwork for asking for future test accomodations for the national testing?
My son is now 13 and is in the gifted program, but always has a lot of test anxiety. He also has a dx of written expression disorder. I've always included in his IEP mods that he be given extra time on tests and in some instances, like for spelling, he might do the test at a separate time/location.... such as in the speech therapists office. On state mandated tests, he just did them with the other kids, but I was careful to keep wording in the IEP to allow extra time if needed.
The reason I did that, is because in order to get test accomodations with the national ACT/SAT test when your child is older, the IEP must state he gets these mods at school. Last year, in 7th grade, he was invited by the Duke University Talent Identification program to take the college ACT as a 7th grader. His gifted teacher highly recommended that we let him try it, with no pressure to count scores. The thought is that if a child has test anxiety, the more they take a test, the less anxious they are about it. My son did pretty well on it for a 7th grader. We DID do all the documentation necessary to get him extended time and accomodations and he was in a separate room from the other 200 teens taking the test, who were all 10th, 11th, and 12th graders. The gifted teacher wants my son to take it again each year, with accomodations, then we will start counting the score in 11th/12th grade.
I'd go to www.wrightslaw.com or www.ldonline.org and maybe search the term "test accomodations" to see what articles pop up. You may get some ideas.
Okiemom
DS doesn't write well and has an aversion to writing. He's started typing and prefers to type his assignments. Last year he would just refuse to do any assignment that required too much writing, ie if he had to write his spelling words in a sentence (20 sentences) he would disengage and refuse to do the assignment regardless of punishment.
That is the reason for verbal vs nonberbal. What I'm looking for is ideas for making the testing environment one that will test his "true" intelligence and limit him by his anxiety or inability to focus.
Toni
I would think you would want an untimed test, then. I can't tell you which ones are untimed. I'll ask cyber friends and see if I can find out, though.
As far as verbal vs. nonverbal, nonverbal tests are tests that do not use as much language or a very limited amount of language. When a child has a language disability, such as a writing disability, NV's are often preferred over V's. In fact, some diags give NV's along with V's to show a language-based LD. My dyslexic son was given a WJIII (verbal) and the UNIT (nonverbal) in his initial testing almost four years ago to show a language-based LD. He scored thirty points higher on the NV.
thx so much, lillian. I assumed that non-verbal meant more writing and verbal meant less.
I guess I assumend that the word "verbal" meant actually coming from the mouth. Shows how much I need to learn about this all!!
I think that my son would benefit from either fewer written questions or directions told to him verbally vs. him having to read the instructions.
I have a lot to learn.
Thanks,
Toni
NV's, like the UNIT, are often given to autistic and ESL kids because very limited language is needed to answer the questions. I will check on untimed tests for you. It may be a couple of days before I get an answer, but I'll get back with you. lillian38985.8882175926thx so much
Toni
O.K. A member of another forum to which I belong said the Leiter International Performance Scale-Revised is an untimed, nonverbal. If I get any more hits on the question, I'll let you know.My son is definately GT. Everyone that deals with him tells me this. Also, his older sister is already in the program. DS is adhd/bipolar and has a rough time with testing. After discussing it with the counselor, the GT teacher and the Principal, all suggest that I send in a written letter of suggested accomodation for testing so that it shows a true value of intelligence.
One accomodation that I totally insist on is one-on-one testing. I'm also thinking about a verbal test vs. non-verbal. Does anyone have any experience dealing with this that I can add to my list of suggested accomodations. My "list of suggested accomodations" must be reviewed and approved by the director of education for the district but there is also an appeal process that I INTEND on following through with should my "suggestions" be denied.
In my favor is the fact that I live in a small rural town and I have a personal relationship with the principal, assistant superintendant and various other administrators in the district.
So, if you have any suggestions for appropriate accomodations for "Gifted and Talented" testing I would be grateful!!
My son is 8yo. in 3rd. grade.
Thank you,
Toni
tonisatx38985.8468055556Are you saying you want accommodations for IQ and achievement tests? You can't get those. You may be able to request a certain IQ test, but you can't ask for accommodations to that test. Are you saying that you want an untimed verbal test? May I ask why you want a verbal and not a nonverbal?