Has anyone been able to successfully fight to keep their special needs child from taking standardized testing? How did you go about it?

No, but I would be interested in seeing your reasonings and how you do it. It has already been accepted that my son probably will need an aide to help him. Schools want to keep their scores up, so it seems like there wouldn't be much resistance, but is it the best thing for the child?

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The Really Needy, Special, Networking and Talking Mod

Well, my reasoning for ds is that we have mandatory retention in certain grades if they do not pass certain tests. I try to stay positive, but I am also realistic. DS will pass reading with no problem but I doubt the math. I work extra with him and everything but he is several grades below where he should be. Also in writing, he has difficulty holding a pencil and forming letters, and also perceptual problems so he will write a sentence backwards, in a circle, down the page like a list etc. For example, he'll want to write, " My dog is black.," but he'll write "black. My dog is." Because he starts in the wrong place, runs out of room, and comes back to the front of the sentence to finish it. The school has done little if anything with assistive tech. and so he can't type very well. He knows rules of grammar and can orally tell you anything, well thought out, etc. But he has trememndous difficulty on paper. I don't want him held back for these reasons. He is already on the older end for his grade.

I don't mind the reading test, but if he can get out of the other stuff, or not have it count toward retention/promotion, I would prefer it. I will let you all know if I have any success in this.

Depending on what is on the child's IEP, the child can have an approved writer (the child talks and an aide/teacher does the writing). They can have the test read to them, they can use a calculator, etc........it MUST be in their IEP before hand and then they should qualify for the assistance that they need.


You could also visit the website for the actual test and see what the website says.

I know of high school students that have had these even on the ACT!

I'd say that's a good reason for the concern. And I agree..talk to them at the IEP meeting. and aide is certainly appropriate for this. I haven't heard of exclusions based on ability, but if the child has the intelligence and knowledge, but the problem is caused by a disability, such as is the case here, an aide can help him get the right ideas down on paper.

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The Really Needy, Special, Networking and Talking Mod

I wish I knew a way around it. I plan to homeschool Ds because of these problems.

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stay at home mom to my crazy toddler with sensory issues

I wish I were homeschooling.

Well, at least where I live, if you have papers from the psychologist that say that your child needs certain special accomodations, by law the school has to comply, or you can take legal action. As far as the test go, if the psychologist recomends that he should an aide to write for him or that he should be given extra time (or anything else) the school has to include it in the IEP

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