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Making the Grade
What Parents Should Know About Psychological Testing By Teri Brown
Parents who sense their child may have emotional, social or academic challenges often have no idea where to go for help. Ellen Braaten, child psychologist and co-author of the book Straight Talk About Psychological Testing for Kids (Guilford Press, 2003) believes the first step should be people who know your child well.
"We generally recommend a conversation with the child's teacher or pediatrician as a first step," says Braaten. "If they feel an evaluation is necessary, they should provide you with a way of getting the evaluation completed. For instance, a pediatrician might suggest that you consult the school to have the evaluation completed, or perhaps recommend a professional outside of the school system. The teacher would most likely provide you with information on how to proceed within the school system."
If neither of these options is workable, Braaten recommends talking to friends who have had children with similar problems and getting information on what they did.
"The whole purpose of testing is to provide information about a child, particularly a child who is experiencing some type of problem or difficulty," says Braaten. "Testing can tell them about their child's developmental level in language, motor, social, behavioral and emotional functioning. It can provide an estimate of their child's innate ability (i.e., intelligence or IQ) and assess his/her cognitive strengths or weaknesses. For the purposes of making a diagnosis, documenting the needs for therapies or services and figuring out the potential basis of an emotional or behavior problem, testing evaluations are typically essential."
For the Dupies, testing provided their family with a road map for their daughter's success.
"By the end of her third-grade year my daughter was reading almost on grade level and now she is in the sixth grade and reading above grade level and maintaining honor roll grades," says Dupie. "If a parent suspects a problem they should take full advantage of the resources available, whether it's a public school or private testing."
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