Thursday, March 20, 2008

Behavioral Evaluation= Paranoid Mom

As we're going through the process of Trey's IEP, we are having to do some basic evaluations for our school district. One such evaluation was a parent 'take-home' eval on behavior. I had to laugh. So many of the questions were basic, but then they'd throw a curveball at you. And, maybe it's because I was a psychology major, or maybe it is human nature, but I found myself asking "Why are they asking this particular question.....do they think my son has ADHD?" or "Is this to root out Autism?". Thankfully Trey is pretty cut and dry. If he struggles in a given area, it is usually directly linked to speech and hearing. I also am now worried that I made him sound too fantastic, you know? (Well, of course he IS that fantastic :) On some of the behavioral measures, I was still scoring him in the 5-8 year range (this particular test has you stop any given section after answering 3 "0's" (which means he does not do any of those actions). Is my son a prodigy, or do they just age the test for the lowest common denominator. I hate when my brain starts over-analyzing everything :) In any case- I finished both tests, and I can safely say I answered honestly.....and just in case I'm guilty of a bit of Mom Bias, his teachers fill out the same tests-LOL.

3 comments:

Phantom Reviewer said...

I just stumbled onto your blog! Funny Stuff! I expecially like the one about your son's super powers. I have a son I can relate. I work as a paraprofessional for special ed. Try to just answer with your first instinct.

Loudest Mom said...

Thanks for reading (and for the advice.....You're so right, when in doubt, go with your first answer). Unfortunately my son has been showing off his new super powers to any willing (and unwilling) person. I need to learn to carry tissue :)

Anonymous said...

I have test anxiety, both when I'm the one taking the test and the one filling out test answers about Ethan. I dread the IEP process that is ahead of us...he has all these sensory issues and combined with his communication problems I just can't imagine what they'll say.