Assessment

Whenever I do an assessment I know that in many ways I am swimming against the tide in my approach and perspective.

Hopelessly mired in identifying the the “soup-pot” of variables interacting, I rarely see things as one way or another.

Parents are typically focused on “the “diagnosis,” largely supported by the medical model.   Such a model embodies a, “Yes, he has it,” or “No, he does not have it,” perspective. It is the belief held by many, that once one gets the diagnosis the treatment will logically follow.

While this may be true in real medicine, I wish things were that straightforward in my corner of the universe.

Apropos of that, a dad said to me recently,  “Come on, Doc,” tell it to me straight.  What’s he got,”  as I wriggled in my chair trying to side-step his statement.

From my perspective, assessment should identify major areas of need and what should be done next, ideally guiding you on what I refer to as “next-step thinking.”

If you are having your child assessed more than a reductionistic diagnosis, important questions to ask include:

What are the identified strengths and the the areas of greatest need?  How mild, moderate or severe are the areas of need?    How much direct instruction (i.e., tutoring)  is needed?  What is realistic to expect from the school in terms of direct instruction?  What type of accommodations would be helpful in addition to any direct instruction?  If no direct instruction is offered by school, how do we deal with that? 

Notice, the questions are focused on the practicality of the skill needs and the consideration (ratio) of direct instruction to support and accommodation.

Takeaway Point

Let me tell it to you straight.

Assessment drives “next-step thinking.”  Ask the right questions!

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To Contact Dr. Richard Selznick for advice, consultation or other information, email – rselznick615@gmail.com. 

Copyright, Richard Selznick, Ph.D.  2023, www.shutdownlearner.com.

Some of you have been loyal followers of this blog for over 10 years, while others have joined more recently.

If you’ve been one of the loyalists, you know  there are some themes that cycle through the blog posts.  While I do my best to keep these fresh,  after 550 or so posts it’s hard to keep track of it all..

With that said, one of my favorite themes is to remind parents to move away from the “has it” – “doesn’t have it” mentality when it comes to things like dyslexia, learning disabilities, ADHD and practically all of your other concerns of a non-medical nature regarding your child.

I still know of no single marker, no “ADHD Test” or “Dyslexia Test” that says confidently, “yes, your child has it.”

It’s all weight of evidence that helps to reach a conclusion…

The evidence helps to tip the scales one way or another.   Even then the diagnosis can be somewhat speculative, especially when the child is falling in a range that is roughly average,  which happens to be the zone where schools typically don’t qualify a child to receive services.

Takeaway Point

Even if a practitioner has said to you the child has a disorder such as “ADHD” or dyslexia, keep in mind the fact that there is no single measure like a Covid  test  or an X-ray that yields a definitive diagnosis.

There can be numerous reasons why a child is not paying attention or reading very well, not all based in the child’s brain.

Copyright, Richard Selznick, Ph.D.  2022, www.shutdownlearner.com.

To contact Dr. Richard Selznick for advice, consultation or other information, email rselznick615@gmail.com.

To receive future blog posts, register your email: https://shutdownlearner.com.

As those of you who follow this blog knows there are two overriding missions that drive everything done in the blogs, books, tid-bit tips, and in interactions that take place with parents.

These are:

• Help parents to cut through the tremendous amount of misinformation that exists children and their struggles.
• To talk to parents in  plain, down-to-earth, non-jargon terms about the various issues.  (We like to think of this blog as a “jargon-free” zone.)

Essentially, it’s been the same mission for a number of decades (not saying how many at this point).

Here are some points to keep to keep in mind as we talk about the “pie chart.”

• In most schools, just walking in the door, approximately 20-25% of the children will show mild, moderate to more severe problems with reading, spelling and writing. Within lower income communities the numbers soar to over 60%.
• Of the population of struggling children not all of them will be “dyslexic,” but up to about 70%  of that group will be showing some difficulty with “decoding” and reading fluency.
• Beside struggling in reading, spelling and writing, a significant percentage of this group (over 70%) will also have issues with things like sustained mental effort, inattentiveness, inconsistent focusing, lowered motivation, low frustration tolerance, and other related emotional/behavioral variables.
• Probably about 85% of this group will have mild, moderate and more considerable issues with self-esteem, anxiety and insecurity..
• Nearly 100% of the time with the struggling children, it will  always be a “pie-chart” of variables (as opposed to one-factor explanations, such as, “He has ADD.”)
• .

The pie chart of may not have equal pieces of the pie as is illustrated in the pie chart above of a recently diagnosed 8-year old. In fact more often than not the reading, spelling, writing piece may be as large as a 70% piece of the pie, but the important point is for you as a parent to move away from “black-white” thinking as in  “has it”  – “doesn’t have it.”

It’s the pie chart that matters.

Takeaway Point

Unlike something like taking a Covid test, where the result is a “has it” – “doesn’t have it” diagnosis, in this corner of the universe, that does not exist.  There are always a mixture of variables interacting to a greater or lesser degree

To help you get perspective, it would probably be a good exercise for you to get out a few colored pencils (I know very old school) and start creating your child’s chart.

Keep focusing on your child’s  pie chart.

Copyright, 2022 www.shutdownlearner.com
Questions or comments email Dr. Selznick:  rselznick615@gmail.com.

While meeting with parents to discuss the concerns they have regarding their  children’s struggling, numerous theories and explanations are often offered as to why children do what they do.

Typically, the theories are linked to medical explanations or what I refer to as “disorder thinking.”

Let’s listen to some recent statements:

“After starting on Concerta, George seemed to be playing better with other kids, but now no one seems to want to play with him again.  Maybe we should try Adderall.”

“My daughter is refusing to do her work –  we thought the Lexipro was working.”

“We don’t understand, we adjusted the Vyvanse, but he is still aggressive with his younger sister.”

“The school said Michael was very disrespectful and rude this week – maybe his Intuniv needs to be changed.  Or maybe it’s his ‘sensory’ problems again.”

“Marla’s so unmotivated.  She just wants to do nothing but go on TikTok.  It must be the medication wearing off.”

And the beat goes on.

Things I don’t hear very much:

“I know my kid is manipulating us when he avoids his homework to go play video games.”

“I don’t see her showing empathy with her friends –  she can be very insensitive.”

“Maybe the school is not the problem. Perhaps we need to look at how we are dealing with him at home.”

“Even if you don’t like doing the work in school, it’s not ok to refuse to do your work and say whatever you feel like. It isn’t a choice – you don’t have to like it.”.

“Zach never shares with other children and no one wants to invite him to their house or to a birthday party.  He only wants it his way.”

 Takeaway Point

The point is not that children may not have certain disorders or possibly benefit from medication when appropriate, but double-check your hypotheses and theories.

There may be other things at work.

Copyright, 2021 www.shutdownlearner.com
Questions or comments email Dr. Selznick:  rselznick615@gmail.com.