anyone had independent ed psych assessment or wechsler pre-school test?

[madwomanintheattic]

i've booked an independent assessment as part of our paperwork-gathering for moving to canada...

just wondering if anyone had any experience of general ed psych assessment or wpssi (which i think is one of the tests she's planning to use...)

i'd be really interested to hear your experiences...

[magso]

Ds was 7 but has learning disability and early language when he was assessed using the Wechsler scales so possibly used a different test. I sat with him to rephrase into familiar words and encourage. I do not know if this is usual but essential for ds. The tester had a book and showed him pictures, ( for instance to put related things together), he also asked him questions (why do we go to the gym, what is a cow)and gave him little tasks like copieing a shape he had made with blocks. It was all fun for ds although we needed to give loads of reinforcement and rests to get him to stick with it! We got a written report later.

[madwomanintheattic]

i think it sounds similar - it goes up to 7yrs 3 mos i think... i spoke to her on the phone and she said i wouldn't be allowed to 'interpret' or change her words though, it had to be the set phrases in the test... dd2 is 5 btw, so not pre-school, but it was this test i think she said she'd use... the other one starts from 6 and goes up to teens i think? i asked if i could repeat what dd2 said (translate lol) if the ed psych couldn't understand her - sometimes it's tricky for strangers to work out what she's saying as her dysarthria varies - sometimes clear as a bell and sometimes a bit slurry, but she sort of ummed.

were the copying blocks things ok? i'm a bit worried tbh, it doesn't seem ideal - dd2's fine motor issues are going to impact a bit i fear...

i presume they are used to doing this sort of thing with all kids, so i'm sure it'll be fine...

was your report very detailed?

[madwomanintheattic]

.

[madwomanintheattic]

just bumping to catch the week-day posters

[magso]

Ds could not repeat the block shapes due to cognative difficulties - his fine motor skills were less of an issue! The tester was understanding of ds inability to use a pencil. Ds speech is hard to understand (I struggle) so I did need to 'interpret'. Mostly I repeated the request - in my voice (the tester had an accent unfamiliar to ds). He was very used to testing children like our son and was very skilled at getting co-operation! So as long as the EP understands any motor problems and are as tolerant as ours it should be OK.
I was fearful ds skills would be underestimated but he got a lot out of him. Seeing ds perform well for his abilities helped me accept the level of my sons severeLD. The most help was the evaluation of strengths!

[madwomanintheattic]

that's brilliant - thanks - i've spoken to the ed psych on the 'phone - she has a strong accent too and i had been starting to worry if that was going to affect the results...
... am hoping now that the pre-school test doesn't involve pencil work lol...

[madwomanintheattic]

i'm looking forward to evaluation of strengths
most of her reports are so negative it's nice to get a balance!

[magso]

Yes it is so nice to see ds fell within the nt range for some things (learning by trial and error)!! It also backed up our gut feeling he has areas of brilliance. Well he has!

[madwomanintheattic]