I have a dear friend who, as our resource consultant teacher, does much of the special education testing in our school district. I recently asked her what information teachers can give her to help her know exactly what to look for in each child she assesses. This is what she told me: Most teachers do a wonderful job with referral forms. However, it is NOT helpful to me when a teacher writes, “…is below grade level in reading” or “…is not reaching her potential in math.” This is too general. I like it when a teacher gives me details like: “The child… a. …cannot follow more than one two-step instruction.”

b. …he seems to know the sight words from him one day, but the next day, it’s like he’s never seen them before.”

against…is easily distracted.”

d. … he has a very short attention span, especially when it comes to his written work, but during the show and reading or reading aloud, he is very attentive.”

me. …seems to have a better visual than verbal memory.”

F. … does not know the names of the letters, but when given the name and asked to point to them, he can do so (they can be numbers instead of letters).

gram. …he is well liked and has many friends (or vice versa).”

H. … works best in the morning (or afternoon).”

Yo. …she understands very well what he reads.”

d. …gives a lot of information during class time.” The more detail the teacher can give me, the better. a. Notice reversals of numbers and letters, etc.?

b. Can she follow the print?

vs. Getting confused when doing addition or subtraction on a sheet of unlined paper?

d. Do you rub your eyes, squint, turn your head to one side or the other? This is all useful information. When I get a referral that says, “Johnny can’t read and isn’t working up to his grade level,” with no more information than that, I run the standard battery of tests. Then when I find out later in a conversation with the same teacher that Johnny can’t sit still, or Johnny can’t attend for more than two minutes, or Johnny has missed X days of school, or Johnny recently lost Uncle, I realize that maybe I used the wrong test. If I had known this information first, I could have given a different test, perhaps one for Attention Deficit Disorder. So I have to go back and do that test later. That information also affects HOW I administer the test. Maybe he could have given it in shorter time frames. My friend had some great points. The more specific information he can give, the better it will be for the child. Testing is hard enough for any child, but when the person taking the test doesn’t have the right information, or doesn’t have enough information, he or she can make the tests more difficult. I have always found it helpful when teachers showed me as an evaluator any concrete illustration of a child’s problems, such as a piece of writing showing how they spell, or documentation of specific instances of difficulty in the classroom, such as their difficulty copying information from the board. I realize teachers have a huge workload, but any specific information you can provide about that child will help them not only on tests, but in the future as well. And after all, isn’t that student’s success in life what education is all about? For more information on learning disabilities, visit us at www.ldperspectives.com.