Tez Report post Posted February 16, 2005 (edited) Can someone please help me in interpretating the report the Educational Psychologist has submitted to the LEA and Exam Boards to hopefully get my son exam concessions. My queries are that the test used was "WORD". Does anyone know of this test and can anyone point me to an explanation of it on the internet so that I can gain some understanding of what the standardised scores actually mean? Secondly, on his free writing speed the percentage of words indecipherable was 20% - actually sounds quite good for him, but I digress. The school is trying to get the ok for him to use a computer for his English exam but have said that they might have some difficulty because his writing is legible. Does anyone have any experience as to whether 20% illegibility is sufficient to gain this concession. The Educational Psychologist has stated in the report that handwriting is a considerable challenge for him and causes him great anxiety which is eased when he is allowed to use a word processor. Any views on how likely we are to succeed in gaining the concessions based on prior experience would be appreciated. Edited February 16, 2005 by Tez Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LittleRae Report post Posted February 16, 2005 Tez The WORD test is the Wechsler Objective Reading Dimensions test, designed to test literacy skills. You get a score for Basic Reading which is sight recognition of a word on its own (ie not in a sentence), Spelling, and Reading Comprehension (reading a short passage and answering questions on it). They usually give you the Standard Score of the child in each section, a Percentile Score and then their age equivalent. If you want to search about it online, put in the full name. Hope this helps A Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tez Report post Posted February 16, 2005 (edited) Thanks for that information. I'm assuming that the scores are standardised so that the mean nationally standardised score comes to 100. Can anyone confirm this? I am also assuming that provided the standardised score is above 85 the child is not in the below average range for his/her age. Can anyone confirm this? I'm assuming this because in several places the EP has stopped testing at 85% and noted that she had stopped before ceiling and hadn't timed because it was proving too anxiety provoking but had noted that my son is an excellent reader. Is anyone able to throw any light on this? Edited February 16, 2005 by Tez Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted February 16, 2005 Hi Tez, My daughter's handwriting was very neat and she still got the concession, based on speed. I've actually got my daughter's entire SEN file, when I get a chance later I'll look through it and find out exactly what the school did to get it. She didn't see an Ed psych at all, it surprises me that your school is making a big thing out of this. K Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tez Report post Posted February 16, 2005 Thanks Kathryn, My worry is that he won't get the concessions and that the school have put him through the ordeal of the EP's tests for no reason. If she had to stop testing before ceiling because it was too anxiety provoking and it achieves nothing, I will feel awful for pushing for concessions. I'm just trying to prepare myself for the worse! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kazzen161 Report post Posted February 16, 2005 My son's handwriting is legible, but very slow, and he will have a scribe. If scores are percentiles, then the 50th percentile is what most children get. Karen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted February 17, 2005 Tez, I've looked through L's file. There's a letter from the senco to the GCSE exam board enclosing our private EP assessment and examples of L's writing and typing speeds, showing her typing speed as 17 wpm and her writing as 8.9 wpm. The EP did all the tests on L and went into a lot of detail in her report about the writing issue as we had discussed it with her as something which was causing L great anxiety. I don't know if permission would have been granted on the basis of this information as the letter was written on 2 July last year and my daughter is no longer in school and not doing exams. I can't see a reply in her file. (I know for her Sats previously the school only wrote a letter saying she needed a laptop and permission was given.) I don't know if this helps! K Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tez Report post Posted February 17, 2005 Thanks for going to all that effort Kathryn. Yes, it does help. All the way through the report there is reference to being unable to test to ceiling due to anxiety. The whole tone suggests that whatever his abilities might be he is unlikely to achieve them under exam conditions unless special measures to ease his anxieties are put inplace - they are requesting extra time, a safe environment, rest breaks and a computer. They are also looking for guidance on the Maths Mental Arthimetic paper because of his auditory processing difficulties. If he doesn't get the concessions it won't be for want of trying on the EP's part. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted February 17, 2005 Hi Tez, No effort at all. I have the file in order to help prepare the case statement for tribunal. It doesn't have that much in it, actually. It consists mainly of reports and information that we gave the school! I hope your son does get the concessions, it seems so obvious that he should and the EP seems to have said all the right things. My daughter never got rest breaks, it didn't occur to me or the school to ask, but it would have made such a difference. She finds it hard to sit still for any length of time and concentrates better when allowed to move around. Is it worth contacting the exam board yourself and finding out what their "special arrangements" criteria are and what evidence they require? K Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
barefoot wend Report post Posted February 17, 2005 (edited) Tez I asked my son's school for help re a laptop or equivalent to help his writing. They told me he'd need to be tested to make sure his computer skills were up to it by one of the SEN teachers at his school - not EP. They also said it would need to be put in place at least two years before external exams. I pushed and they eventually gave him a Dana Alphasmart for use at school -it's a mix between a kind of word processor/organiser that you can connect to a PC to download files/print etc. At no time were we told we'd need an EP report for this and since my son isn't statemented they must be paying for it through school SEN funds. I hope you manage to get somewhere with this - it has helped my son. Talking concessions have they suggested a' prompter' to help keep him on task and to ensure he doesn't spend too long on any one question. Barefoot Edited February 17, 2005 by barefoot wend Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kazzen161 Report post Posted February 17, 2005 The NAS magazine suggests you look at the guidance Access Arrangements and Special Condsiderations - Regulations and Guidance for Candidates who are ELigible for Adjustments in Examinations see www.jcgq.org.uk/index2.asp Karen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tez Report post Posted February 17, 2005 Barefoot, No, we hadn't thought about a prompter. Will have to give that one some thought. The school offered him someone to do any mathematical drawings or graphs that he needed for his Maths exams because he has difficulkty with protractors, compasses, rulers etc. because of his dyspraxia but he said they would make him too nervous. Not sure how he would feel about a prompter but I will ask him because organisation is not his strong point. Kazzen - Thanks for the link. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
