Standardized testing, already a problem
Jan. 13th, 2011 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marydellSo, Charlie is 2 and a half, and is already falling behind on tests! Well, not exactly. His day care/school does the ASQ, which nowadays stands for Ages & Stages questionnaire but I think used to stand for Autism Spectrum Questionnaire? Anyway, it's a thing that parents or teachers fill out every 3 to 6 months or so (less frequently as he gets older) that asks questions about developmental milestones--gross motor, fine motor, verbal, social, etc. I have collected it when it was given and have even filled it in, but have not given it back to the school generally. This is because 1. we have him evaluated by doctors regularly, including at times with that same questionnaire, and we do therapy accordingly 2. It's not necessarily any of the school's goddamn business what his total medical profile is, particularly since we are not (yet) in the land of IEPs and special services, and if we ever are, it will be through our actual school district and not the day care, (which thus far has been very slightly faily about his disability, although great about his medical needs) and 3. (and most important) the ASQ is designed for children with normal morphology.
So this time his teacher did the evaluation--not just for him but for all the students in the class--and came up with "needs follow-up" (i.e. see your doctor about...) on gross motor, fine motor, and verbal. Now, we know he's delayed on verbal; we're in the "wait and see" stage, where he's catching up but might need a little therapy, or might not. So I think it's valid to flag that. For gross motor he mainly shows as "delayed" in things relating to balance; ok, fair enough, but I note there is not an "asymmetrical" option...anyway, ok, yeah, he's only been walking since May so I'd consider him delayed on gross motor, but the doc and the PT think he'll catch up on his own as his confidence grows.
For fine motor, I've always filled in "n/a" for most of the answers and not bothered to tally, because the questions MASSIVELY assume normal morphology. Stuff like "child can pass a small object from hand to hand, yes or no." Well NO of course. And "picks up a cup with both hands." NO. But he picks up a cup with his hand and the end of his short arm, and he tucks things under his short arm to carry them. He does not do really well putting lego bricks together, or scribbling on a piece of paper unless someone holds it for him. These are standard markers of fine motor skills but the question is not "can build a lego tower using only one hand," which is actually the required skill in his case. Some of the questions are less two-handy, like eating with a fork or spoon, but most of them are not.
His teacher went ahead and answered the questions exactly as asked--which is what she's required to do, and she was apologetic about it--so he now is rated with 15 out of 50 on fine motor. I would be happy to have a reliable way to tell if his fine motor skills are good for his age or if he actually is delayed, since he was significantly delayed with hand skills in his first year, and probably continues to be delayed now. But these questions are not the way to figure that out. I don't think the test should be redesigned, mind you, because it's a perfectly fine eval for the majority of kids. But the school should have alternative ways of assessing other kids - or just say, you know, "we skipped the fine motor skills section of this test because it's obviously stupid to ask these questions about Charlie; do you have an OT who could do an eval?"
Which, come to think of it, we do, although he hasn't seen her since he finally learned to walk. Maybe we'll get our doc to refer us for a little milestone testing. In the meantime: rargh! Stupid unhelpful test.
ETA: Since you've kindly read all this rantyness, you deserve a picture:
Charlie playing with his Xmas choo-choo. Mike put velcro sticky pads on the bottom of the remote and on the table, so Charlie can work the lever without having to hold the remote.
So this time his teacher did the evaluation--not just for him but for all the students in the class--and came up with "needs follow-up" (i.e. see your doctor about...) on gross motor, fine motor, and verbal. Now, we know he's delayed on verbal; we're in the "wait and see" stage, where he's catching up but might need a little therapy, or might not. So I think it's valid to flag that. For gross motor he mainly shows as "delayed" in things relating to balance; ok, fair enough, but I note there is not an "asymmetrical" option...anyway, ok, yeah, he's only been walking since May so I'd consider him delayed on gross motor, but the doc and the PT think he'll catch up on his own as his confidence grows.
For fine motor, I've always filled in "n/a" for most of the answers and not bothered to tally, because the questions MASSIVELY assume normal morphology. Stuff like "child can pass a small object from hand to hand, yes or no." Well NO of course. And "picks up a cup with both hands." NO. But he picks up a cup with his hand and the end of his short arm, and he tucks things under his short arm to carry them. He does not do really well putting lego bricks together, or scribbling on a piece of paper unless someone holds it for him. These are standard markers of fine motor skills but the question is not "can build a lego tower using only one hand," which is actually the required skill in his case. Some of the questions are less two-handy, like eating with a fork or spoon, but most of them are not.
His teacher went ahead and answered the questions exactly as asked--which is what she's required to do, and she was apologetic about it--so he now is rated with 15 out of 50 on fine motor. I would be happy to have a reliable way to tell if his fine motor skills are good for his age or if he actually is delayed, since he was significantly delayed with hand skills in his first year, and probably continues to be delayed now. But these questions are not the way to figure that out. I don't think the test should be redesigned, mind you, because it's a perfectly fine eval for the majority of kids. But the school should have alternative ways of assessing other kids - or just say, you know, "we skipped the fine motor skills section of this test because it's obviously stupid to ask these questions about Charlie; do you have an OT who could do an eval?"
Which, come to think of it, we do, although he hasn't seen her since he finally learned to walk. Maybe we'll get our doc to refer us for a little milestone testing. In the meantime: rargh! Stupid unhelpful test.
ETA: Since you've kindly read all this rantyness, you deserve a picture:
Charlie playing with his Xmas choo-choo. Mike put velcro sticky pads on the bottom of the remote and on the table, so Charlie can work the lever without having to hold the remote.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 07:27 am (UTC)Charlie is a cutie as always, though, and I am totally jealous of that train set! It looks awesome.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 07:57 am (UTC)Seriously. That stuff is even better than duct tape.
Standardized testing for toddlers: For the lose!
no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 04:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 04:34 am (UTC){note for those who don't know me: sarcasm}
no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 05:27 am (UTC)SQUEE! Picture! <3
Extreme Cuteness Is Extreme!
Also, those greens are an awesome color (er, awesome colors? That doesn't seem right. An awesome palette, maybe) for him.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 05:43 am (UTC)OTOH, M got downticked for "does child answer correctly when asked, 'are you a boy or a girl?'"
no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 11:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 01:59 pm (UTC)Does the daycare actually report the results to anyone but you? If not, there's no reason the teacher couldn't have been flexible about the fine motor questions. Grr.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 04:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 04:38 pm (UTC)*facepalm* Oy.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 05:27 pm (UTC)In my experience, evaluations and surveys (especially of the yes/no or multiple choice type) are always frustrating. I was just reminded last night of an assessment thingy I encountered at age 10 which asked, among other things, What is your favorite TV show and why? (I didn't watch TV) and Who is your hero and why? (I didn't have a hero. Was I supposed to have a hero? How can I answer this question when I don't have a hero?!). I finally got so frustrated that I wrote I DON'T WANT TO!! across the paper in big letters. That got me an interview with the teacher.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 05:43 pm (UTC)One of the better uses for tests of this kind is to do longitudinal assessment of the same child (how's he doing compared with last year?), getting a baseline from which to evaluate his development as he grows.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 09:44 pm (UTC)I would be fascinated to see a test of fine motor skills that had norms for people with different limb and digit configurations; coming from a currently four-and-twenty perspective myself, it hadn't occurred to me that that was what all these tests were normed to until now.