Evaluation!! advice please!!

Dolly Welsh

Tue, Feb 11 2014, 12:31 pm

I am going to get all out of line here, as I know NOTHING about this, but:

1) He is absorbing the material well because he gets 100% on the tests.
He doesn't seem to be concentrating. He doesn't seem to be engaged in the class process.

2) Perhaps he absorbs the class material so well and so fast that his mind can go on to other things?

3) This may annoy the teacher, who wants an engaged class.
This may annoy the teacher who wants smart kids to help bring along the others, by contributing to class discussion, and your kid feels free to mentally abandon the other kids.

Meaning, it would be awfully convenient if the smarter kids helped bring along the class, but that's really the teacher's job, not theirs.

3) So, I am not sure there is a problem here. Except this one: this kid may not be being challenged enough, because the class is too easy for him.

Some kids get rowdy under the boredom.
This one, at least for the moment, seems to have other things to do, in his head.

4) However

He may merely be daydreaming, and that isn't useful. Learning to numb the mind is not something you want him doing all day.

He may need a more demanding teacher, so he doesn't feel abandoned and isolated.

The main point is the 100s on the tests. That is the big point.

5) Your husband, or another scholar, can evaluate this kid without psychology professionals, by working with him on advanced material.

If he responds well to this advanced material, well, he's just quite smart.

6) YOU know if this is a kid who spaces out when he's with you, and doesn't relate to people. Or doesn't concentrate on tasks you give him, or on what's going on when he is at home.

What do YOU see?

I am not against professional evaluations at all.

I am no medic or shrink of any kind. But what you present produced the musings above.

amother

Tue, Feb 11 2014, 1:39 pm

wow,I could've written this post. wonder if our boys go to the same school. my ds's rebbi also thinks my ds should be evaluated. I am also feeling lost about the whole process. I spoke to a whole bunch of ppl. neighbors and family that are special ed teachers. all said that I should go to someone impartial for testing. they think that the board of ed is way to go- they are salaried and get paid no matter what they do. the school administration told me that the BOE testing is probably a waste of time and should do private testing. I thought about it and decided the BOE of testing is free and I can always do private testing afterward if I feel that it wasn't accurate. It can cost up to $2000 easy for a private evaluation. keep that in mind. If you decide to go the BOE route you need to contact your district in writing and they will send you a packet (contacting agencies only works for preschool children, your child is an elementary school age child). I called up my district and asked them what I had to include in my letter. everything takes time, though. I think once you fill out the paperwork and they recieve it, an evaluation is supposed to take place with 60 days.

I did call someone private who suggested therapy without an evaluation and wothout observing my child in class. didn't smell kosher to me.

If I decide to go private I will go to NYU to their child study program for an eval. they have a sliding scale (for payment). I also heard pace university has one too. hope all is helpful.

amother

Tue, Feb 11 2014, 3:30 pm

I am so fed up with teachers trying to find problems. If he's doing well and learning the material LEAVE HIM ALONE! Sorry for the yelling but I have been doing this for 3 years. Rebbis telling me his mind wanders blah blah blah, but lo and behold he is still learning the info and doing well on his tests. What Dolly said is correct with my ds. I even had him evaluated. Teachers want to teach robots and whoever isn't a robot should be evaluated. A kid with attention issues would not be learning the info and doing well in school.

Dolly Welsh

Tue, Feb 11 2014, 3:38 pm

It is so important that a smart child not be bored.

I knew one smart child, who, after getting the class's points quickly, moved on to studying the informative instructional posters on the walls. He self-taught. Make sure the classrooms have teaching materials on the walls.

A kid who tests well might indeed not be good at following a discussion. That could mean a social deficit, and it might be good to know about it, so it could be worked on.

But a parent would notice this at the family table.

See if your kid(s) follow discussions at home. Does he pay attention to what others say, and respond specifically. Set this up with your husband ahead of time.

See if the kid can concentrate, follow ideas and stay on topic. For a good while, say twenty minutes.

Very original children like to think about other angles about a topic. They don't stay on the straight linear road of the lesson. That's not poor concentration, it's wide-angle thinking.

If you find all this complicated and it is, there is no harm in getting an evaluation. I would recommend a private one. You get what you pay for, and you don't wait. I don't care if insurance covers it.

In fact, it might be much better to not have "needed mental evaluation" on the kid's permanent medical and school records. That stuff comes up forty years later. Ugh.

Or, change teachers.

Or, put him in an after-school class and see what a completely different teacher thinks of his concentration.

It all might be situational

But talk to him at home.

amother

Tue, Feb 11 2014, 4:51 pm

amother wrote:

I'm not the op. just the amother who gave evaluation advice. my ds is also extremely bright. rebbi said he asks too many questions to the point that other kids aren't getting their questions in. The teacher finds this very disruptive.of course I find it aggravating. I'm having him tested even though he is also doing really well in school. Part of being in school is not just for academics. It is also to learn social norms. And...well... we gotta give everyone a chance to ask there questions.

mom2

Tue, Feb 11 2014, 7:26 pm

Thanx everyone.
The thing is that while he is a 100% student, I do see what the rebbe says. His head is floating around even at home. He goes from thing to thing without concentrating! When he plays memory game he always loses cause he doesn't follow what everyone else picks up!!
So while he is doing well now his rebbe claims will play up later when the learning gets more intense!!
Does anyone have any recommendation for a good evaluator?