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View Full Version : Any experiences with an educational eval?



jess_g
04-06-2011, 10:03 AM
I am thinking that it might be time for my son to have an independent educational eval to see where he is academicaly and to see what type of school and classroom would work best for him. He is currently in 5th grade and doing pretty well but behind in acadmics. As the demands of school get harder I know he will need more acomidations to stay in the public schools and I am worried that he will fall even more behind. Does anyone have any experience with an outside educational eval they can share with me? Did it help you find out what type of placement would be best for your child? Did it help you get extra help for your child at their current school? And if anyone has a rec for a place in the Boston or New England area (inculding NY) that would be good that would be great too.

thanks, Jessica.

HIU8
04-06-2011, 01:02 PM
DS is only 6, so may be a bit different situation. when he was 5 we saw an educational consultant who did some testing with him to determine whether he was ready for K or still in the play phase and not really ready. She gave us names of educational psychologists who do ed testing. DS took the WPSII-III I believe. It gave us an idea of where he was academically. Also, I found out (and I honestly did not know this) that IQ in a child is a moving target. So whatever his score was when we first did the testing, it may be different if we do the testing again at a later date. We used the testing when applying to schools (some wanted it and some did not for a child entering K). FWIW, we ended up doing a year of K light and DS will be in regular K this coming fall.

vludmilla
04-06-2011, 09:07 PM
You could try to go through the school first if your son hasn't already been evaluated by the school. It is a free option and it certainly doesn't preclude you doing an independent evaluation if you still feel you need one after a school eval. If you are going the independent route, I recommend going with a university affiliated program more than a single practitioner. If you do go the single practitioner route, be sure to get lots of recommendations.
Connecticut is probably too far for you but since you mentioned NY, there is Yale Child Study Center http://childstudycenter.yale.edu/assessment/index.aspx
but I'm sure that there are good options closer to you.