Hi,
Our 6 yr boy has known auditory processing disorder and wears hearing aids to assist this.
He shows many of the charachteristics of a gifted child yet recent testing in order to access a gifted and talented programme shows him to be high average. The psychologists said they expected him to not perform so well on their test and his APD was evident in the testing.
I feel the testing did not take into account his disability therefore has not given us a reliable picture of his needs. I overheard quite a bit of the testing and almost all was verbal, lots of verbal instructions and questions, some via tape recorder that would have been extremely difficult for an APD child (american accent, eg. identify a word with missing vowels), recalling lists of spoken words and some timed activities. His areas of strength appeared to be not touched on.
The psychologist could not change the wording or manner of the testing to accomodate his auditory processing needs. I did ask how APD would affect results and what would be the most appropriate way to test, Psychologist agreed that it would not have been ideal for him but gave him their standard test anyway and offered no alternatives.
We just want a true picture of our child - whether he turns out to be gifted or not is secondary. Are there any suggestions re what testing would be best or most appropriate and who to go to in Wellington?
GM - do you know what the assessment was that the psych used? (I'm wondering if it was the Woodcock Johnson but that has NZ versions of the audio files so shouldn't have the American accent).
Re, best type of testing - I'm going to check in with someone I know who's a testing guru about appropriate test for a child with APD and I"ll post back when I know more.
