October 30, 2013
Posted in: Grade School, Infants & Toddlers, Pre-School, Teenagers, You & Your Family
Topics: Child + Adolescent Development, Learning + Attention Issues
Jim’s mom was frantic when she called me. Jim had been having difficulty in school since the end of kindergarten, at which point it was clear he still didn’t recognize all the letters of the alphabet. He continued to struggle in first and second grade, getting some extra help from the reading specialist. When Jim’s mom and I spoke, she had just come from his third grade parent-teacher conference, where his teacher suggested he get “tested” because she was concerned about his reading and writing skills. While this suggestion didn’t exactly come as a surprise to Jim’s mom, she was still upset by the suggestion itself. She was scared an evaluation might be used to “label” Jim, and that he’d forever be known as the “kid who couldn’t read.”
Alexandria’s parents were similarly confused as to how an evaluation might help their 4-year-old who was now struggling with social relationships in preschool. Both Alexandria’s teacher and pediatrician suggested that an evaluation might be useful in understanding why she seemed to lack an interest in playing with other children. Her parents wondered how testing could be helpful, and weren’t sure what the process entailed.
Both Alexandria and Jim were referred for a testing evaluation, a comprehensive evaluation that can be used to diagnose a certain problem (such as a learning disability), to clarify what is wrong (is it ADHD or depression?), and/or to provide strategies for school and home. Each type of testing evaluation requires a fully trained, specialized professional. The professional will take a full history of your child and the problems he is having, and then use clinical observations and a combination of tests to gather a wealth of information about your child and his functioning. The evaluator compares your child’s behavior, test scores and history with those of same-age peers to figure out if the child is substantially stronger or weaker in any given area. Usually some type of diagnosis, or formal label, is given to account for the concerns that brought you to the evaluation in the first place. The terminology used for types of evaluations can vary, but the most common ones include the following:
So when can testing help? Testing is most often used to help provide an explanation for a problem your child has. Testing is not always necessary for understanding what is wrong, but in many cases it proves essential for an accurate diagnosis and an appropriate treatment plan. Difficulty with writing, for example, could be attributable to a number of problems, such as fine-motor weaknesses, visual-motor integration delays, problems generating ideas, difficulty organizing one’s thoughts, or inattention. Without the right kind of testing, you won’t necessarily know the cause of the problem, nor will you know the type of interventions necessary to improve it. Even if a child has already been diagnosed with a certain disorder, such as dyslexia or an autism spectrum disorder, the results of a good testing evaluation will almost always yield more specific information that can enhance the potential for a prescribed treatment to help your child. When a child has a constellation of problems, a testing evaluation can shed light on the relative severity and possible connections among them, helping to reveal any co-occurring disorders (such as the presence of a learning disability in a child who has already been diagnosed with ADHD), or assisting a practitioner in determining which problems should be addressed in treatment. It can also be helpful in highlighting cognitive and emotional strengths that can further augment or guide interventions.
Though I might be biased—I’ve seen so many examples of how testing can assist in diagnosis and treatment of children—I believe that testing evaluations are useful in assessing and understanding the majority of the concerns described below. This is hardly an exhaustive list, but if you’re concerned, check them over and consult with your child’s teacher, pediatrician, or other professional about any that apply to your child. You are right to be concerned if you have noticed the following:
Language and Speech Skills:
Infant/Toddler:
Preschool:
School-Age and Up:
Motor Skills:
Infant/Toddler:
Preschool/School-Age and Up:
Social Skills:
Toddler and Up:
Learning:
Preschool and Up:
Behavior:
Preschool and Up:
As you might has guessed from reading this long but hardly complete list, there is great variability in the kinds of problems described, as well as their root causes—which can range from an attention problem, to a learning disability, to a developmental disorder, to an emotional issue such as depression or anxiety. Regardless of the problem, testing can tell your child’s general developmental level in language, motor, social, behavioral and emotional functioning. Testing can provide an estimate of your child’s innate ability, often referred to as intelligence level, and assess her cognitive strengths and weaknesses. A comprehensive evaluation with the right evaluator should give you information about your child’s academic skills too, such as the grade level of his reading, or where she is relative to her peers in math or writing. Testing may also give you information about your child’s various processing skills—how she takes in information from the world through her different senses, and how she is able to use that information. For the purposes of making diagnoses, documenting the need for therapies or services, and figuring out the potential basis of an emotional or behavioral problem, testing evaluations are typically essential.
When is testing not useful? There are certainly some questions that a testing evaluation can’t answer. For example, no evaluation, even with the most experienced clinician, should predict your child’s future long-term functioning. I have worked with families who were told by professionals that their children would never talk or learn to read—and they were wrong. No professional is capable of knowing the full potential of another person, or the extent to which that person may benefit from interventions. These evaluations can give you a sense of what your child’s current limitations may be, and may estimate what kinds of problems your child could encounter down the road. However, the main purpose of a testing evaluation is to come up with solutions to the problems by recommending the right kinds of supports and interventions.