Dyslexia testing

[Mom-ninja.]

I did a search and a billion threads came up. It's late, I'm tired, and the baby is going to wake up up any second to nurse.

 

I've done a bit of reading about testing. Where should I look to have my ds evaluated? I found two sites online that will give a referral list, but how do I know if they are reputable?

[cathmom]

http://www.dys-add.com/testing.html

 

Scroll down and send them an email to find testers in your area. This is how we found our tester and she was wonderful!

[Mom-ninja.]

http://www.dys-add.com/testing.html

 

Scroll down and send them an email to find testers in your area. This is how we found our tester and she was wonderful!

 

 

Thank you. That was one of the sites I had found. It's good to hear you had a good experience.

[Laurie4b]

Most public school systems will do the testing for free if you write to the director of exceptional children stating that you believe your child has a specific learning disability and requesting an evaluation. While the testing may not include every single test that you'd like, you should at least get a WISC-IV and a Woodcock Johnson or Weschler achievement test out of it. Getting the WISC-IV free saves about $1000.

 

Do you live near a university? They often have departments that do testing, and would be reputable.

 

Is there a private school with a good reputation in your area? Call them for recommendations about who to use for testing.

 

Have other homeschoolers in your area had good/bad experiences? Ask them.

 

Do you know of private tutors in your area? Ask them who they know of who does a good job.

 

In other words, your best referral is word of mouth. You do want some kind of psychologist to do the testing: a neuropsychologist, an educational psychologist if they can do private testing in your state (they cannot in ours), or a clinical psychologist who specializes in kids with learning issues.

 

Before scheduling any testing, it's perfectly kosher to ask the professional where they got their PhD, how many years they have been in practice, and what percentage of their practice involves testing children with learning problems. There are some clinical pyschologists, for instance, who have therapy as 90% or more of their practice, but will do the testing. They are obviously not going to have as much experience as a neuropsych, who may do testing as 90% of their practice.

 

I have not found online referral sites to be trustworthy. They often don't have much of a screening mechanism for the professionals who apply to be part of their site (beyond proving that they have x degree, but you can check for that) , though they may have a fee for the professional to get on the site.