And the Testing Begins.....

Starting the psycho educational assessment

So we've jumped in with both feet, once again, we wait to hear the results. Two years ago with our first son (now 9 in grade 4 and doing really well) we started a Psycho Educational Assessment to gain a better understanding of his strengths and needs. When we finished that round of assessment I really didn't think we'd be doing it again.

Well two years later here we are. Once again meeting with the same Psychologist, I explain how we did this in my post 4 Things to Know When Looking for a Psychologist, doing the same battery of tests and sitting in the waiting room trying not to hear what's going on beyond the door.

Just this past week we completed the two days worth of testing. It was done in two, roughly two hour chunks. The first day went, as far as I could tell, fairly well. Our middle child, now 7, seemed to be happy enough to participate and our psychologist seemed to think it was going well.

Day two... Well that didn't go quite as well.

The first two hours on day one of testing was more of the "game" assessments. Remembering numbers forwards and backwards, solving puzzles and looking at images. The second set of two hour testing was really more the academics. He was asked to read, write and do math. The math was not the issue, it was the reading and writing where things went south. South to the point were I had to sit in and help support him to stay on task. I watched my usually happy kido cry, complain and do almost anything to not have to do.

Our Psychologist as amazing. She was patient and encouraging of the attempts he was making and did her best to support him. I had to sit on my hands. I am sitting in a room where I am not allowed to help, short of providing a little positive reinforcement once in a while. It's a stressful thing as a parent to watch. It's hard to watch your child struggle and know there is nothing you can do about. But the whole time I had to remind myself why we're doing this.

I have often the last months in interviews said that knowledge is power, check out my resources page for more information. It's a statement I truly believe in and put myself behind but sometimes getting that information is really hard. There were moments while he was answering questions where he truly shocked me with his ability to answer. Then there were other moments where I just wanted to scream at him. Answers that should have been easy to get he was unable to do. It was, as I've said, difficult to do but I am having to keep my eye on the reason. We're trying to gain a better understanding of what is standing in his way of learning to read and feel successful.

The wait will be how long?

We get the answers next Thursday. A week from today we'll have a better understanding of our sons learning. We'll be able to bring that information to the school in hopes of creating a better support system for him. It's not an easy road and to feel like I have zero control as to what happens. He worked hard and I know he tried to show what he could do. Still the idea of having two boys with learning disabilities and ADHD is overwhelming. The amount of work we've done to just get one of our kids back on a strong path was overwhelming. I know we can do it again having done it once before, but it's still a daunting task.

In the end I can't control what will be. I can only take the information and support my child the best I can. Knowledge is power and in this case the power will be knowing and understanding how he learns and what will help the most moving forward.