Many parents and students may not be aware that most colleges require students with learning disabilities, ADD and ADHD to have updated psychoeducational testing to register as a student with a disability in order to receive accommodations in college. Typically, IEPs and Section 504 Plans that students may have had in high school are not sufficient to document students’ educational needs in college. It is recommended that testing occur no later than the summer prior to entering college because the process can take several weeks to complete. It can be very upsetting for a student to find out in the middle of his/her first semester that he/she needs to have testing completed before accommodations can be considered. Planning ahead is very important to maximize student success in college and reduce stress. Contact the DSS at your college prior to the first semester to inquire whether you need updated testing to qualify for services and accommodations in college.
Tag Archives: ADHD
Five Fun Ways to Keep Your Child Learning and Engaged during the Summer
1. Cooking. Children love to cooking with their parents. This is a fun activity for children and involves learning about measurement, step-by-step instructions, reading, counting, and self-monitoring.
2. Help plan the family vacation. By having your child help plan the family vacation he/she can learn about budgeting, using maps, planning and compromising on the selected activities. Once the destination is agreed upon, the internet and vacation pamphlets can be read to research the area, activities and history.
3. Create a summer scrapbook. Your child may enjoy creating a scrapbook of his/her favorite summer activities. Photos, drawing, thoughts and memories could be written to practice writing skills.
4. Join a local library program. Many local libraries provide programs for summer reading that include suggested books along with goals and rewards for book completion(s). This gives children additional incentives for reading and makes it a fun and rewarding summer activity.
5. Plan a summer field trip. Have your child plan a summer field trip with friends and/or neighbors to a museum, zoo, or nature center. This can help your child develop skills for organization, time management, communication and research.
Have a great summer and remember that learning can always be fun!!!!!
When Would A Psychoeducational Evaluation Be Most Useful
A psychoeducational evaluation would be appropriate in situations where a student continues to experience academic difficulties after various interventions have been attempted (e.g., parent/school conferences, tutoring, study skills, behavior modification, etc.). Another situation would be when parents and/or teachers observe major discrepancies over time in academic performance (e.g., from day to day or between subject areas). A psychoeducational evaluation is usually required for college when a student needs documentation for educational accommodations for learning disabilities and ADHD.
What are the purposes of a psychoeducational evaluation?
A psychoeducational evaluation is often conducted in order to determine whether a specific learning or other disability (e.g., ADHD) may be impacting significantly on a student’s academic performance. . For instance, the presence of a learning disability, attention deficit disorder, or emotional disorder can result in a great deal of academic frustration and inability for a student to perform at his/her level of innate potential. For example, it has been estimated that 1 5 to 20% of students are learning disabled. A learning disability is diagnosed when assessment results reveal a significant discrepancy (difference) between a student’s scores on achievement tests (in reading, mathematics and/or written language) and his/her educational expectancy range (based upon age, educational background and intelligence).
In addition to determining whether a student has a specific disability that impacts upon learning, plainly stated a psychoeducational evaluation gives a good indication of how a student learns best (i.e., his/her learning style (profile). Once the teacher, parent and student are empowered with this knowledge they can make adjustments in order to maximize the student’s learning potential. Often when students can learn to understand their strengths and weaknesses as opposed to global assessments they may have internalized regarding their learning abilities (e.g., dumb, smart, average) they can be able to reduce feelings of academic frustration, while improving self-esteem.