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In order to diagnose a learning difficulty, it is necessary for educational assessments to be conducted. These assessments consists of first measuring the learner's IQ level and then followed by a battery of cognitive based tests that need to be administered and reported accurately. Administering these tests requires special training and its interpretation is more important. It is easy to learn how to run the test but it is not easy to learn how to understand the implications of the results. This crucial stage of reporting is what determines the outcome of educational plan developments and therefore, intervention outcomes in the long term.
BEWARE parents!!
IQ tests can typically only be administered and interpreted in report form by professionals with Masters' level qualification in Psychology - developmental, clinical or educational. If someone with a Bachelors degree in psychology says they are conducting assessments - RUN! Worse, if those with a Bachelors in Psychology says they are TEACHERS! Another set are those with no background in education, but who manage to gain MASTER's degrees in SPECIAL EDUCATION!! A Diploma in LD MANAGEMENT is NOT a teaching credential. It does not give you the right to teach or much less conduct psychometric assessments that lead to IEP development!
Intelligence tests alone are not enough to make any kind of diagnosis for any condition. Intelligence Quotients (IQs) simply tell us the current level of intelligence. Intelligence is known to increase, with age, more education and experience.
If the professional psychologist you go to uses RATING SCALES then, you can safely assume that the test run is not suitable for diagnosis purposes. These tests indicate that the tester is not able to run a psychometric version which is supposed to be use to make diagnosis especially for conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorders.
If the professional uses a SCREENING test - then you can assume that it is NOT a diagnosis either!. Most common here is the Dyslexia SCREENING test. That test is just what it says it is - a SCREENING tool. It is not used to diagnose a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia. These are outdated and therefore, cheap and ineffective ways trying to diagnose learning difficulties.
If you go to a professional, and the professional makes a diagnosis by merely observing your child over 10 - 20 minutes or even an hour, you can assume that this diagnosis is completely INVALID. It is highly unethical and terrible practice for them to diagnose a condition, or learning problems by simply conducting informal observations! One reason professionals do this, is when they are not qualified to run any kind of formal psychometric testing. In Malaysia, we see this kind of diagnosis made by medical doctors who do not have training or qualifications to run educational assessments.
Another trend for medical doctors is to diagnose a learner with "global developmental delay". A global developmental delay, folks, means your child has to be delayed in development across ALL domains - physical, intellectual, emotional, social and language! This means your child should be stunted in height, delayed in speech, have poor emotional skills, poor language skills, poor physical abilities and poor social skills simultaneously. If you have had this kind of compromised test reports, please get a second opinion.
I don't know any other professional in the field of special education who is willing to tell you parents all this but I am making this information available because I am tired of the compromises in special education in the region making the field a cheap and useless field of education. Our learners are not maximising their potentials, and no one is unleashing their potentials in a fair way, rather, many are maximising their financial potentials from the field to the detriment of our children!
BEWARE parents!!
IQ tests can typically only be administered and interpreted in report form by professionals with Masters' level qualification in Psychology - developmental, clinical or educational. If someone with a Bachelors degree in psychology says they are conducting assessments - RUN! Worse, if those with a Bachelors in Psychology says they are TEACHERS! Another set are those with no background in education, but who manage to gain MASTER's degrees in SPECIAL EDUCATION!! A Diploma in LD MANAGEMENT is NOT a teaching credential. It does not give you the right to teach or much less conduct psychometric assessments that lead to IEP development!
Intelligence tests alone are not enough to make any kind of diagnosis for any condition. Intelligence Quotients (IQs) simply tell us the current level of intelligence. Intelligence is known to increase, with age, more education and experience.
If the professional psychologist you go to uses RATING SCALES then, you can safely assume that the test run is not suitable for diagnosis purposes. These tests indicate that the tester is not able to run a psychometric version which is supposed to be use to make diagnosis especially for conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorders.
If the professional uses a SCREENING test - then you can assume that it is NOT a diagnosis either!. Most common here is the Dyslexia SCREENING test. That test is just what it says it is - a SCREENING tool. It is not used to diagnose a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia. These are outdated and therefore, cheap and ineffective ways trying to diagnose learning difficulties.
If you go to a professional, and the professional makes a diagnosis by merely observing your child over 10 - 20 minutes or even an hour, you can assume that this diagnosis is completely INVALID. It is highly unethical and terrible practice for them to diagnose a condition, or learning problems by simply conducting informal observations! One reason professionals do this, is when they are not qualified to run any kind of formal psychometric testing. In Malaysia, we see this kind of diagnosis made by medical doctors who do not have training or qualifications to run educational assessments.
Another trend for medical doctors is to diagnose a learner with "global developmental delay". A global developmental delay, folks, means your child has to be delayed in development across ALL domains - physical, intellectual, emotional, social and language! This means your child should be stunted in height, delayed in speech, have poor emotional skills, poor language skills, poor physical abilities and poor social skills simultaneously. If you have had this kind of compromised test reports, please get a second opinion.
I don't know any other professional in the field of special education who is willing to tell you parents all this but I am making this information available because I am tired of the compromises in special education in the region making the field a cheap and useless field of education. Our learners are not maximising their potentials, and no one is unleashing their potentials in a fair way, rather, many are maximising their financial potentials from the field to the detriment of our children!
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