At the beginning of the school year, the boys were having some trouble adjusting to Kindergarten life. It was showing itself in behavior like not listening to teachers and not showing respect for school property. Taken individually, the behavior wasn't anything outside the norm for a 5-year-old, but at the same time, it's not a pattern that should become a permanent part of their school lives.
The boys are doing a lot better now that we're almost half way though the school year (that went by fast), but we still consented to letting the school psychologist give them an evaluation.
We just got the results back yesterday, and while the findings aren't much of a surprise, there are a few interesting things. Both boys tested very high in cognitive and academic areas, and very low in social and emotional areas. I knew this would be the case, but I had no idea how strong their strengths are and how weak their weaknesses are. They are probably academically advanced enough for a gifted program (we find this out later*), and certainly socio-emotionally delayed enough to qualify for special services and instruction. Two chips off the old block, really.
A couple gems from the evaluations:
"Isaac engaged easily in conversation. When he told the examiner that he held his eyes open the whole time without blinking while watching a Charlie Brown movie the examiner said she didn't believe him. He said it was true with a smile on his face. The examiner laughed and said she still didn't believe him. He smiled. When prodded he said it was not true."
Aaron's scores for Basic Reading and Reading Comprehension are in the >99.9 percentile, or "off the charts" as the psychologist called them.
The next step is for all involved to develop an IEP for each boy, which will probably include stuff like more 1-on-1 time with staff (counselors, teachers) to work on socio-emotional skills, and ways to harness their strengths in reading towards improvements in social skills.
* Update (3 Feb 2009): Both boys were accepted into the gifted program.
Posted by joe at January 15, 2009 09:57 AM