CAT : Cognitive Ability Test yr10

[MsF]

What exactly do the scores mean?

we get the school report in the post... and at the bottom is his CAT scores....

VERBAL : 5
QUANTATIVE : 1
NON VERBAL : 4

he's 15 with ADHD and Aspergers Syndrome...not statemented.

TBH REALLY p*ssed off with report as it centres in on his lack of conectration and poor organisational skills.

Well....we have been pointing that out since yr7...they still insist that HE asks for help when he needs it....my point is due to his ADHD/ASPERGERS... he is NOT aware half the time that he NEEDS help...does that make sense???

roll on next year when he goes to college.

anyone ???

I dont know much but a friend of mines son - first year in secondary school, just did cats(he is 12) as he wanted to transfer to grammer school and he was told he wouldnt be accepted if he got less than 5 in each category. He got a mix of 8's and 9's which was very much at the top end of the scale for his age despite him having problems with literacy when he was younger and scoring below average in his 11 plus exan, As I understand it Cats are a better estimate of a childs potential as opposed to what he/she knows which is what the 11 plus tends to test. ( am in Ni where 11 plus and grammer schools may be different)

Mine did CAT tests but they must be different as the average mark was supposed to be 100. So I'm not sure how helpful I can be.

The idea is that they test different aspects of a child's ability to learn and they are not something that kids can be tutored for.

I have just asked my 12 year old daughter about CATS - she is about to sit them when she goes back to school. Her view is that she shouldn't try to practise otherwise the results will not give an accurate assessment of her true abilities and she might be put in a class that is too difficult for her. We have a 15 year old and a 16 year old who have both done CATS and although they were at completely different ends of the scales the predictions have been more or less pretty spot on.

I think the marks are put into stanines, which I think range from 1 - 9. If you google CATs and stanines, you'll find some information about what it means and what the averages are; I've looked it up in the past but can't remember details.

Do you know if your DS is listed as 'School Action' or 'School action plus' with the school? (I'm guessing he's not statemented?)

Frankly, I would use the report as evidence that your son needs additional support. Perhaps arrange to see the SENCO and point out the areas in which he is having difficulty. Yr 11 is a very important year, and school should be investigating whether or not your DS qualifies for any access arrangements for exams; for example extra time, rest breaks or sitting the exam on his own in order to help him concentrate. The school should be running a battery of tests on any students they have concerns about in order to apply for these access arrangements from the exam board.

The discrepancy between his qualitative and verbal and non-verbal scores may suggest a specific learning difficulty of some sort as opposed to 'global difficulties', ie low scores across the board. This may be a sign that he is entitled to support with exams. Obviously they would need to look at more than just CATs scores, but the idea of access arrangements is not to give him an unfair advantage, but rather to remove the unfair disadvantage (ADHD/Aspergers related) which he could be experiencing. Remind the SENCO of this.

Good luck- it really is worth making a fuss before he goes to college, as he is more likely to be entitled to support at college if he has received it at school.