Types of recommendations

Accommodations for standardized testing are warranted when a child has a cognitive deficit that interferes with the ability to demonstrate knowledge at the expected level in some functional area, like reading, writing or math. Our assessments seek to understand students’ limitations and then how to accommodate them so that they have equal access to demonstrate their knowledge on structured examinations.

Some types of testing accommodations include:

50% or 100% extra time to complete in-school and standardized exams

A calculator to compensate for poor retrieval of math facts

Marking test answers in the test booklet rather than on a Scantron sheet to compensate for visualspatial deficits

A reader to compensate for severe decoding deficits

A scribe or a computer to compensate for motor deficits and/or a writing disability

School accommodations include:

Replacing a foreign language requirement with a different course requirement for a student with a language-based learning disability

Providing class notes for dysgraphic students

Preferential seating in class

School placement recommendations help parents understand what type of environment will best address a student’s learning needs. Issues considered include structured versus less structured environments, class size and special education versus general education settings.

Suggestions to classroom teachers and tutors are tailored to each student and attempt to take into account the student’s learning profile and particular difficulty. The recommendations are also written in the hope that they can be generalized and used to address new issues as they arise.

Suggestions for homework are offered because parents and tutors also benefit from understanding the student’s learning profile. These suggestions are broad and can relate to a physical location where homework is done or how to create structure for homework time or how many spelling words to attempt to learn at a time. These recommendations draw directly from the results of testing and from the parent and teacher interviews.

Individual treatment recommendations include:

Psychotherapy

Tutoring

Cognitive remediation

Speech-language therapy

Social-skills group

Occupational therapy

To name a few...