Should I Approve Transitioning From Written Testing to Oral Testing

[Little Papa3]

Hello,

My daughter is on a 504 plan but I have requested for her to be tested for Special Education because of poor progress with grades and her disruptive behavior.  The school has us to agree to oral testing , adding that most of their ADHD students are orally tested.  I have put them off but got a call last Friday so I really don't know the pros & cons of doing so.  She has no problem reading from our observation and the school's given statement.

[Carolyn Rowlett]

What areas are checked on the consent form to be evaluated?  That could make a difference.  I would also ask what evaluations are being used for each area and then look up online to see if an oral version is appropriate.

[JSD24]

Special ed assessments - I believe this is the 'oral testing' you are asking about.  Every test has a testing protocol.  You'd need to know what test is being given to know if oral testing is an option per the protocol.

I have a few thoughts on this.  (1) ADHD can co-occur with LD.  If the student has an LD in reading, the results might not be accurate.  (2) Some kids will mess up with filling out Berger Dots - either accidentally or on purpose.  Doing the testing orally means there's an adult making sure the student's choices are accurately recorded.  (3) Some kids will look to please the adult they're working with.  It's possible that a student might not be honest with oral testing (which is why you need to follow the testing protocol).  (4) If the evaluator had a bad experience with (1) or (2), they might opt to give the test orally as it's a waste of time and resources to give an assessment and the results aren't accurate.  It also makes them look bad.

Keep in mind that the student doing the Connors or BASC is one part of the special ed assessment.  Parents and teachers will also do rating scales.  With other evaluations, the only protocol is the student answering the evaluator's questions.  I believe that a lot of IQ tests are like this.

[Little Papa3]

17 hours ago, Carolyn Rowlett said:

What areas are checked on the consent form to be evaluated?  That could make a difference.  I would also ask what evaluations are being used for each area and then look up online to see if an oral version is appropriate.

Ok this is what I have in my documents.  I hope this is what you are referring to.

1. LANGUAGE: Speech and language skills, voice and fluency.

Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation, Auditory Discrimination, Test of Language Developement and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test

2.  PHYSICAL:  Vision, hearing, medical examination by a physician.

3.  SOCIOLOGICAL:  Parent interview and/or questionnaire. 

4.  EMOTIONAL/BEHAVIORAL:  Formal and /or informal assessment of her social and emotional adjustments and interpersonal relationships.  Parent, teacher, observations, student interview.

5.  COGNITIVE/INTELLECTUAL/ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR:  Wechsler Intelligence Scales, Woodcock-Johnson, and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales.

6.  EDUCATIONAL/DEVELOPMENTAL PERFORMANCE:  Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement for reading, math,and language and Wechsler Individual Achievement Test.

7.  Assistive Technology:  Informal and/or formal observations to determine student's needs and services to access areas and functions within the educational environment. 

To add to my original post, my daughter has been a good student academically.  With her ADHD, she has been a handful from day one.  Grades started to drop, school calling about disruptions, and her not doing her work.  It was my suggestion that she receive special education and include a behavioral plan.  As for as the oral testing, I don't understand where that is coming from.  It seems to me if you take tests in the regular class room and do ok, why change now?  Whenever we do have a meeting I will certainly ask.  And by the way, the school did say that we didn't have to have a meeting for the change.  If we agree, they will send us the papers to sign.  Anyway I would love to get some good feedback.  One other thing.  Just my reading on this site, I have changed my opinion about the waivers that's on our forms.  The question had to do with the 15 day waiver and one response was the waivers are there for the parents to have time to review the plan, change or proposal.  It is very likely that I will not be checking that box in the future because there is too, too much that we don't know.  Thank you.

[Carolyn Rowlett]

Ok.  It seems we were confused and thought you were referring to the special education testing when you said "oral testing."  But you mean the school wants to give her oral, rather than written, tests in the classroom because of her ADHD.  I haven't heard of this being something to consider for students with ADHD, but maybe because it "forces" them to stay focused more than if they're sitting in front of paper or a computer taking a test?  Whatever the reason, I would ask them to explain their thought process on this change - whether you ask for that in an email or during a meeting.  You did say her grades are dropping, so it could be in response to that?

Since you are wanting a behavioral plan, I would ask that the emotional/behavioral testing include an FBA (Functional Behavior Assessment).

[JSD24]

My son has ADHD & dysgraphia.  Oral testing was a game changer for him.  Given that it took longer for him to write, he did better with being able to voice his answers instead of writing them.  If your child is being disruptive during testing, taking tests in another room might be a good thing.  If testing orally keeps her focused and prevents her from leaving questions unanswered, it could help bring her grades back up to where they were.

I post this a lot:  What's in the IEP should be based on data.  If there is no data to support the need for classroom tests to be given orally, it shouldn't be an accommodation on her IEP.  I don't see this being assessed as part of the special ed testing but it could be part of the observations they are doing.  With a medical ADHD diagnosis, I would expect the school to assess executive functioning.  Social skills might also be an area to assess.

[Elemeno]

This strikes me as a bizarre step. I see no good reason to go to oral testing if she's able to test typically.

[Little Papa3]

13 hours ago, Carolyn Rowlett said:

Ok.  It seems we were confused and thought you were referring to the special education testing when you said "oral testing."  But you mean the school wants to give her oral, rather than written, tests in the classroom because of her ADHD.  I haven't heard of this being something to consider for students with ADHD, but maybe because it "forces" them to stay focused more than if they're sitting in front of paper or a computer taking a test?  Whatever the reason, I would ask them to explain their thought process on this change - whether you ask for that in an email or during a meeting.  You did say her grades are dropping, so it could be in response to that?

Since you are wanting a behavioral plan, I would ask that the emotional/behavioral testing include an FBA (Functional Behavior Assessment).

Yes I was referring to special education testing.  My though process is that if she is reading well in the class room (which includes class room testing) why switch to oral testing for special ed. testing?  I think it should be demonstrated first that special ed. tests are hard for her to understand or perhaps a new format and it's taking too, too long to complete.

Prior to me replying to this forum, I did send an email to the school for clarification.  

[Little Papa3]

9 hours ago, JSD24 said:

My son has ADHD & dysgraphia.  Oral testing was a game changer for him.  Given that it took longer for him to write, he did better with being able to voice his answers instead of writing them.  If your child is being disruptive during testing, taking tests in another room might be a good thing.  If testing orally keeps her focused and prevents her from leaving questions unanswered, it could help bring her grades back up to where they were.

I post this a lot:  What's in the IEP should be based on data.  If there is no data to support the need for classroom tests to be given orally, it shouldn't be an accommodation on her IEP.  I don't see this being assessed as part of the special ed testing but it could be part of the observations they are doing.  With a medical ADHD diagnosis, I would expect the school to assess executive functioning.  Social skills might also be an area to assess.

In my post above, I listed the tests, from the document that I have, that school plan to use in testing.  Do any of the above tests overlap or provide similar data as executive functioning tests?  I have a long way to go in learning this process and will take the bumps and curves as they come.  And BTW, I'm very thankful for all who have replied to this post.  I'm sure there is much more on this site that I need to dig into.

[Carolyn Rowlett]

Emotional/Behavioral should include an executive functioning component.  But you can ask this question to be sure.

As far as the "oral testing" for special education, the school has to go by the testing protocols.  If they allow for oral testing, then you shouldn't need to sign anything.  I wouldn't sign anything that allows them to change the test protocols.