IQ testing

[Beth Schaulat]

Hi

My son is 8, he is non verbal and he has Down syndrome. I am vehemently opposed to having an IQ  score in his school records, and have explained over and over my reasoning at various meetings to various school/district personnel. The district are refusing to omit the IQ portion from his upcoming MET testing. They pretty much say, it’s all testing or nothing. Does anyone have any advice? I’m not opposed to the testing in general, I’m sure they would find out some useful information to help him learn, it’s just the IQ score itself I don’t want recorded. We declined testing 3 years for the same reason, but faced with a need to change his DD category at some point in the next year, some testing will surely be necessary. 
 

Thank you for any advice!

[Jenna]

Check with your state's Department of Education to get clarification on whether the district's all or nothing approach is allowed in your state. The following article from the National Down Syndrome Congress may also be helpful to you: https://www.ndsccenter.org/wp-content/uploads/IL-IQ-Testing-Brief.pdf. 

[Agnes]

I found some interesting info on this on https://www.inclusionevolution.com/worth-test-score/. 

[Lisa Lightner]

I agree with everything said here so far.

I HATE IQ testing, because so little of it is done well, or accurately.

If our kids do well on it, it's all "not trying hard enough."

If they score low, then the teams aim low.

I know that the Down Syndrome community have been some of the leaders in advocacy in this area, so I would look there as well as your state regs on evaluations.