1. (or: I.Q. numbers are bad until we need them)
A Conversation About Intellectual Assessment: What Parents Need to Know
(or: I.Q. numbers are bad until we need them)
Pamela J. Ryan, M.A., CAGS
Licensed Educational Psychologist
Perkins School for the Blind/Deafblind Program

2. Why are we gathered here?
To raise awareness around issues related to intellectual assessment and IQ numbers;
“IQ numbers are bad until we need them”;
To share personal experiences working with families—what has been learned and why this topic needs to be addressed;
Provide the parent perspective on this topic;
Provide the perspective of the school psychologist whose job it is to provide information for program planning, transition planning, and as it relates to guardianship;
Help parents better understand the federal mandates for the need for IQ testing v. more informal information gathering such as Person Centered Planning, Portfolio Assessments, Reach for the Stars, etc.

3. Some background….
My job: I am a School Psychologist…. That said, let’s talk about the... dun dun dunnnnn…..
Explain training, job responsibilities, my philosophy of eval:

4. The triennial evaluation (pretty much the reason for my job)
…Words that can strike fear into the hearts of the hardiest of parents. The triennial evaluation is a part of all special education student’s lives. It is done for these reasons:
To see if the child is a “child with a disability,” as defined by IDEA
To gather information that will help determine the child’s educational needs
To guide decision making about appropriate educational programming for the child.
Formal testing is usually the goal of the triennial evaluation and done by your child’s team (i.e., OT, PT, SLP, Psych, Behavior, O+M): all the specialty services your child may get as part of his or her IEP. For our purposes here, we are talking specifically about the psychological evaluation part, done by the School Psychologist.
The idea of evaluation is to determine if the child has a disability. Our group of children with CHARGE, their disabilities will be part of them throughout their lives. Yes, things will change, but they will continue to have sensory impairments, for example, that need extra attention and not to mention specialized learning needs for successful school/adult living. So, their first evaluation determined their eligibility, so now their 3 year evals will continue to document those but also provide “back up” info for continued appropriate educational needs and placement. That said, the evaluations for determining disability and for gathering info regarding educational needs, happens the same way.

5. How does a triennial happen
How does a triennial happen?(focusing on the School Psychologist’s part)
Parent permission
Team discussion re: questions/needs
Identify specialists for evaluation areas
Review of records
Discussion with parents about the process
Formal sessions with the student and using appropriate, formal materials
Formal report with descriptions, recommendations
Presentation of information to parents, Team
Formal testing includes, from the outset, first and foremost, permission from a parent to do the testing.
Then, the School Psychologist begins her work of building the “story” of the test-taker by listening to others on the team regarding their views of the student; reviewing records, determining what materials might be best used,PARENT CONVERSATION to get their idea of how this should go and to share what I would like to do, observations of the student in as many of their “natural habitats” as possible (home, school activities), and organizing the direct testing sessions.

6. Developmentally Delayed: 0 to 9 years old Intellectual Disability: 9+
So, I am now going to focus on the materials and the outcomes, most specifically, the IQ score and how it can be helpful to us as your child nears 18 years old.
Also, a delineation that you might not be aware of: Developmentally Delayed v. Intellectual Disability
Developmentally Delayed: 0 to 9 years old
Intellectual Disability: 9+
Developmental delay (under IDEA Part C and B, means a delay in one or more of the following areas: physical development, cognitive dev., communication, social or emotional development, or adaptive (behavioral) development.
Intellectual Disability (or Intellectual Impairment) means significant subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing with deficits in adaptive behavior, and manifested during the development period that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. I add these because as children progress through school, the “label” changes and there is meaning behind it according to the regulations and not just because the School Psychologist decides it to be so.

7. Typically Used Materials
Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-4th Edition
Wechsler Intelligence Sale for Children—4th Edition
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—4th Edition
Stanford-Binet 5th Edition
Woodcock-Johnson Test of Cognitive Abilities
Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition
Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales;2nd Edition
So, how do we decide any of this information?what to do? How to do?These particular tests; they are good tests; used widely and I, personally, have found some good success with them in terms of specific information we can gather—leading to a picture of overall skills, strengths, weaknesses and a way to compare school performance with this isolated testing. As children get older, closer to big transitions: to middle school, to high school, most especially as kids get closer to 18/graduation time/ transitioning to adult services…the IQ becomes a factor. It may not be right, given the limitations OF THE TESTS…but it is being required more and more. These tests provide an IQ…and it is up to the School Psychologist, and in my opinion, through a conversation with the parents, to discuss when might be the time to start thinking about when to report and IQ and why to report. Why? Because having an IQ below a certain range indicates Intellectual Impairment and it must be identified before the age of 18 in order to qualify for adult services (in most states). That said, just using an IQ is not enough and it is not right.
Pam…talk about my experiences (from text written) and tell the story of Joel….)

8. But wait…..
We have tests, but these tests don’t include your children! These tests, the ones used by pretty much everyone, everywhere do not include children with more than one disability. The tests do make considerations for vision impairment OR hearing impairment OR motor interference, but not for hearing, vision, balance, communication, fatigue, low muscle tone. Not to mention other interfering issues such as OCD, anxiety, physical limitations (missing limbs, digits, scoliosis) that can hinder access, and cognitive delays.
What’s a school psychologist to do?? Especially a school psychologist that has limited experience with our kinds of kids.
For those of us who have experience testing “our kinds of kids”, we begin to think about what materials related to what we need/want for outcomes. We begin to think about what kinds of accommodations we need to make: large print? A CCTV? Braille? Sign language? picture communication (for helping the child understand what is happening); seating, lighting, noise interference; visual busyness, and their own tolerance for something new with someone new which may require several sessions over time in an unfamiliar place. To state the obvious, ALL of this affects a child’s access to the evaluation process and thus, the results. When we are looking for results that may require an IQ, this can be very tricky….the child clearly has skills and strengths that he or she displays every day, but the test materials and results may not reflect any of this leading a parent to question why is this being done; succumb to feelings of confusion and upset around the results that may have been reported without further explanation noted around the limitations of the test AND the reason for using it. I feel it is my job to make sure these bases are covered and that what may appear as poor results are explained in the context of WHY we are using this test and WHY the results are being used at all…..especially if it is an IQ that is being demanded. So….let’s talk about the IQ…..

9. So, I.Q.:What is it and how do we find it?
I.Q. is an abbreviation for the term, Intelligence Quotient. Over the years, the meaning has changed and more recently the work of Howard Gardner from Harvard University introduced the theory of multiple intelligences that sheds a broader lens on the idea of I.Q. Multiple intelligences are defined as: Spatial; Linguistic; Logical-mathematical; Bodily-kinesthetic; Musical; Interpersonal; Intrapersonal and Naturalistic.
But the I.Q. itself is a number….a number that you may have as part of your child’s assessment. The number is what we talk about; the number is what we worry about and often, what we disagree with.
In it’s simplest form, an IQ is a number from 0 to 200+ that rates a person’s cognitive ability in comparison to the general population.
#2 here….a number….and the idea of being compared to others in the general population….what does it mean???? Related to the tests themselves, these constructs have been developed by the test-makers…and they are not the same on all tests.

10. Current Wechsler (WAIS–IV, WISC–IV, WPPSI–IV) IQ classification
IQ Range IQ Classification
130 and above Very Superior
120– Superior
110– High Average
90– Average
80– Low Average
70– Borderline
69 and below Extremely Low
For the Wechsler scales…….the numbers related to the classification…..

11. Stanford-Binet Fifth Edition (SB5) classification
IQ Range IQ Classification
145– Very gifted or highly advanced
130– Gifted or very advanced
120– Superior
110– High average
90– Average
80– Low average
70– Borderline impaired or delayed
55– Mildly impaired or delayed
40– Moderately impaired or delayed
For the Stanford-Binet….I pulled these two arbitrarily because probably most of you have heard of these/had experiences with them.
Have any of you had IQ testing for YOURSELVES??? Tim…anything to share? Hahaha Some very intelligent people—some that we know well—had IQ testing during their lives and were told they were not college material or the ed. needs should be refocused….

12. But those things---those numbers--- are not what you really want to hear about when your child’s triennial assessment is reported on at the IEP (or a separate meeting).
You want to hear the things that make your child stand out and at the very least, you want to know that the evaluator KNOWS your child.
You want to make sure the evaluator knows how to BE WITH your child to get the very best results. You want to know that the results will form a good picture of your child and that recommendations will be helpful for continued educational planning.
You also want to know that things you know about your child are included and that his or her strengths, personality, interests, sense of humor, fears, joys are part of a complete package. You want someone to know that your child, while reading and math might not place him on an honor roll, his work ethic; his independence in his vocational training activities; his ability to make friends and be a friend; and his overall zest for life are shown and honored.
When your child is younger, the need for this information is for current educational planning to further one’s goals and objectives as they move through curriculum and have access to learning THEIR way.
As your young adult (now) is approaching 18, you want and need all of this information to be included and you want others to know it in preparation for applying for guardianship and including adult service agencies (for group living, for work, for recreation and leisure options) if those are part of your family’s goal for your child.
18 is a magic number and if your son or daughter will need adult services for living, working, being an active and productive member of his or her community, and is continuing to show well below age level performance, then all of a sudden that IQ number becomes our friend. Why? Because if you have an IQ number below a certain point (WISC/WAIS, below 69; below 70 on the Stanford-Binet, for example) along with below average adaptive behavior scores—scores from a measure like the Vineland II—then the adult service door should be open to you. Now is the time that we begin to say, “Hmmmmmm, maybe having a higher number is not the priority”; “maybe having a higher number is NOT so important”; maybe having a higher number is not our friend. And what does it all mean anyway???? (outside of getting adult services?) Alan Kaufman…

13. Alan S. Kaufman, a leading psychologist and researcher at Yale University wrote in the book, “Assessing Adolescent and Adult Intelligence” (2006):
“IQ classifications from IQ testing are not the last word on how a test-taker will do in life, nor are they the only information to be considered for placement in school or job-training programs. There is a dearth of information about how behavior differs between persons with differing IQ scores. For placement in school programs, for medical diagnosis, and for career advising, factors other than IQ must also be a part of an individual assessment. The lesson here is that classification systems are necessarily arbitrary and change at the whim of test authors, government bodies, or professional organizations. They are statistical concepts and do not correspond in any real sense to the specific capabilities of any particular person with a given IQ. The classification systems provide descriptive labels that may be useful for communication purposes in a case report or conference, nothing more.”
(Kaufman, Alan S.; Lechtenberger, Elizabeth O. (2006) Assessing Adolescent and Adult Intelligence (3rd ed.). Hoboken (NJ); Wiley. ISBN )
That said, Our job is to use this number well….for the right reasons; for positive outcomes; for the best possible future planning opportunities

14. In addition to the numbers….
“ factors other than IQ must also be a part of an individual assessment”. An IQ number alone is not an appropriate way to evaluate, and thus, categorize an individual. Under IDEA, “it is inappropriate and unacceptable to base any eligibility decision upon the results of only one procedure”.
These tests alone do not/will not give a comprehensive picture of how a child performs or what he knows or doesn’t know. Any evaluation should use a variety of approaches to gather data such as observations, interviews, curriculum-based information and this information should be gathered from those who know the student best. I mentioned earlier, and it is listed on the “Typically Used Materials” slide, the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales 2nd edition. This measure is used to look at and measure strengths and need areas related to personal and social skills needed for everyday living. How independent is the individual in areas related to caring for one’s self? How does he or she relate to others? What about communication skills including reading and writing? The Vineland is filled out by those that know the individual best: the parents and the teacher/care provider. This information is then “melded” with the other testing AND the observations to make a complete picture of this person’s needs and abilities and all of it together should lead us all to designing a fulfilling future for our children as they go into adulthood.

15. Closing thoughts…
Testing will be inevitable, so your child’s ENTIRE team should be working together to get the best overall picture for moving forward
IQ scores will be inevitable as special needs students head toward 18 years old, most especially if adult service agencies will be involved.
The IQ score can be our friend if we understand why it is being used and it will provide good outcomes for your children.

16. Resources
CHARGE Syndrome, A Volume in the Genetics and Communication Disorders Series, Hartshorne, Hefner, Davenport, Thelin Plural Publishing, Inc. 2011
Parenting Perspectives…Ideas to help your child succeed; "Understanding Test Scores: A Handout for Parents" by Andrea Canter, (National Association of School Psychologists, 1998).
Copyright © 2002 by The Source for Learning, Inc. • All rights reserved.


17. Resources, cont. May Awareness Theme: www.chargesyndrome.org
Position Paper: Intelligence Testing of Individuals Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired, Stephen Goodman, Carol Evans, Marnee Loftin, 2011, American Printing House for the Blind
May Awareness Theme:
Evaluating Children for Disability