When it's time for school conferences, there's one thing I always tell myself. It does not matter what his test scores are (because they only give him three seconds to answer the test questions), it matters whether he's shown improvement or not. The school is required to test these students on their knowledge of numbers, sounds, letters, etc in a specific way. One of my son's teachers always says that she has to show me the test results, but to not take them too seriously. Bear, along with many children on the autism spectrum, show what they know in many different ways. Most times a very fast paced test is not one of those ways.
Our little guy is not where he is supposed to be according to such tests. It is hard to see that even when you know he knows more than what's on that paper. Especially when your other children are testing advanced. I wish there was another way to test special needs students. That way parents could really see what they know. Someone should come up with a test that makes these children shine! Not one that is almost impossible for them to conquer. Until then, I will just be happy that I have teachers that tell me they'd throw that test away if they could. I have teachers that love my little boy and thanked me for bringing him to the class. I have teachers that tell me he is doing great in school and improving every day. I am so thankful for this! There is so much more to children than standardized test scores.
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