Reading "testing" way behind ability

[akafred]

Background info: DD is 7 and dx with SPD, ADHD, and anxiety (they haven't specified type of anxiety but for now I assume GAD). She is currently taking Strattera which has had huge benefits for her in terms of anxiety and emotional regulation and smaller benefits for ADHD (impulsivity is better but the things that overlap with SPD like high energy, distractibility are still issues). She attends a small private Montessori school, and attended a different Montessori school for preschool through K.

A year ago when DD started first grade at a new school, the fall progress report and then the spring one had her listed at an F (as in Guided Reading Level) in reading. At the time she was reading J-K at home without any problems and by end of year she was L-M. This fall (2nd grade) they still have her listed at an F. I emailed the teacher who said she does read more advanced books at school but she is "testing" at an F on the comprehension tests. I really don't think she has an issue with comprehension, she just doesn't play reindeer games (she hates comprehension questions and I have to be more creative at home) and may have even figured out that if she tests poorly she won't have to be tested on harder texts.

We are waiting for the results of a private psychoeducational evaluation and will have a long conference then. Meanwhile, is there any suggestion or accommodation etc for this. Should I even be concerned given that she is reading harder texts and advancing and we have no plans to change schools or teachers until she is out of sixth grade, so there is plenty of time for things to change?

[mrsbuttinski]

Not sure if it was here or another board, but as I was saying. Any assessment is a snapshot in time- it's what the child is capable of in that time and place. Often students don't test in line with their potential because they're having a bad day, or they have learning disabilities, developmental conditions or behavioral dxs.

TBH, I would not ask for an accommodation around this; I would work on getting your DD to do her best work consistently. Do you not take these assessments seriously? The quip about reindeer games sounds dismissive of the process; if you don't buy in, maybe this isn't the school for your family.

DS wasn't wild about this sort of assessment either. As a kid in a reading lab school and then later on an IEP he was assessed more then the average bear. We never tried to get an accommodation to make it go away- being comfortable and successful with standardized assessments is a skill worth having. Char may one day find herself trying for admission to a selective high school, sitting the SAT or AP exams.

I am not surprised she does better 1:1 at home. She may be reading books of her choosing at home vs a randomly assigned text. Last reading assessment DS did was 8th- he was college undergrad level for the passages that were historical or scientific in nature and 8th grade in the fictional passages. IRL, he needed to be able to comprehend fiction to pass 4 years of high school as well as a year of literature in college. There's the possibility that you are scaffolding for her in a way her teachers don't with facial expressions or body language.

After you have the psychoeducational testing, you can revisit this.

[akafred]

"Reindeer games" is meant as a reflection of Charlotte's attitude, not mine. By accommodation, I don't mean I want the tests to go away, it's just that I think there may be better ways to assess her comprehension than asking the direct questions and expecting a direct answer from her. I have much better responses when we talk about things like what will come next or what if they had done x instead of y, or even if I engage in a little good old fashioned reverse psychology or play dumb and have her correct me.

[akafred]

When C was in kindergarten, her then teacher was reading "Charlotte': Web" and one day she asked me to try to find out if she was paying any attention (because she was rolling around on the floor and "not listening" during reading time. I know this is listening comprehension not reading comprehension, but here is how the conversation went.

Me: Are you reading something in K Club?
C: No.
Me: Is Ms. Kathy reading something in K Club.
C: No.
Me: She said she was reading a book.
C: Yeah.
Me: What's it about?
C: I don't know.
Me: Is it about a farm?
C: Yeah, a pig.
Me: Bob the pig, yeah.
C: No, Wilbur!
Me: Oh, right! Wilbur the pig! Are there any other animals?
C: A spider.
Me: Bethany the spider.
C: Mommy, you know it was Charlotte. And there were other animals. A sheep and a dog.
Me: Oh, / happy farmyard story.
C: It's bit happy. They're going to kill the pig and turn him into bacon.
Me: Oh no!
C: It's ok, the spider has a plan.
Proceeds to tell me the whole plot:

[akafred]

Sorry for typos; I am getting used to my new phone.

[Deleted]

I think it depends on your goals for her as well as the school's goals for her. There are significant differences in your illustrative conversation and a written reading comprehension questions or tests. Is your goal she reads harder books at school and the school is not supplying them or assisting with that? Is your goal for her to be able to answer written reading comprehension questions without assistance (one on one or oral vs written etc.)? I do agree that those written reading comprehension questions are not going to go away. There will only be more of them in regular classroom and standardized tests. I think the teacher can provide guidance here. Also if there is a reading teacher or expert in the school they might be a good resource as well.

While I was challenged as a reader a lot there is a philosophy of not pushing too hard in reading. This was more of a picture book chapter book type thing where kids can still enjoy picture books and they shouldn't be thrown over for chapter books too early. The A-Z letter books are a bit different of course since they are more early readers. There are other ways to level reading too so maybe that would be of interest to you- things like Lexile scores.

[akafred]

I think there is time for her to grow into this type of test. One of the reasons I like Montessori is they really don't do testing, or grades. Unless something drastic changes in our lives or with the school, I expect her to be there for at least 4 years beyond this year. After that she will possibly transfer to another Montessori for middle school (one of the other schools we liked is building a new building and expanding for middle) or we have a few options. I think some of this issue will be resolved as she can better self-regulate her anxiety, but we have time to get there. She really isn't struggling with reading or comprehension, the tests just aren't showing it. That is a personality/disability issue, not a reading issue. But I was hoping for a little more insight around that.

[mrsbuttinski]

Is there an in-school consequence of her assessment results that would matter to Charlotte? Say, not allowed to select books from a higher level than the one at which she tests?

JMHO, I think it's a little that mom to ask that your DD be assessed differently than the other students outside of an IEP. It sounds as if you are investing quite a bit of effort into differentiating and scaffolding for her to be successful. Assuming the assessment result has no impact, I might give her ownership. Does she understand the purpose of the questions? Does she understand that she has shown no progress in reading? If she isn't bothered that the teacher sees she's reading at a lower level than she really is, I'd accept that for now.

[akafred]

I'm not expecting anything; I'm asking about it here prior to having a conference to try to decide if there is any need to suggest any changes and/or to learn what changes/accommodations might be appropriate in this situation. I'm not trying to be "that mom" at all, but if the point is to assess her reading comprehension and the tests aren't doing that because of her disabilities, is it really wrong to inquire about potentially more effective ways to assess that? Considering all testing is done conversationally one on one between teacher and child and shouldn't require extra time or work.

As far as I can tell, there is no penalty for not doing well on the tests. Char can still read more advanced materials. Which makes the whole thing quite possibly not worth pursuing, as I mentioned in the OP.

[Deleted]

Does her school use the A-Z app? I was just doing this today with DS. He is reading level F books and there are questions at the end, so maybe what the teacher uses to assess? He was averaging 4 out of 5 on the reading comprehension so it seems on level. Perhaps your DD would be interested since it is an app so they think of it more like a game since screen time is so appealing to them. And then you can see how she answers the more standardized questions to see how it appears at school.

[akafred]

Oct 30, 2016 18:51:44 GMT -5 @clarypax said:

Does her school use the A-Z app? I was just doing this today with DS. He is reading level F books and there are questions at the end, so maybe what the teacher uses to assess? He was averaging 4 out of 5 on the reading comprehension so it seems on level. Perhaps your DD would be interested since it is an app so they think of it more like a game since screen time is so appealing to them. And then you can see how she answers the more standardized questions to see how it appears at school.

It may be the same questions but they don't use an app. I will file that away, thanks.

[anintrovert]

My kid consistently tests below where he's reading. A lot of it has to do with the timed nature of the tests. Some of it does have to do with true deficits in abstract comprehension. I roll with it. His teachers have him in a reading group at the level he's truly capable and send books home at that level (ie he tested at a G but the most recent book to come home is an K, I think I've seen an M too). Him testing poorly keeps his IEP minutes. Last year when he tested right at level for the end of 1st grade there was talk of pulling back his minutes. After he tested lower at the beginning of 2nd we added minutes.

[akafred]

Oct 30, 2016 20:35:18 GMT -5 anintrovert said:

My kid consistently tests below where he's reading. A lot of it has to do with the timed nature of the tests. Some of it does have to do with true deficits in abstract comprehension. I roll with it. His teachers have him in a reading group at the level he's truly capable and send books home at that level (ie he tested at a G but the most recent book to come home is an K, I think I've seen an M too). Him testing poorly keeps his IEP minutes. Last year when he tested right at level for the end of 1st grade there was talk of pulling back his minutes. After he tested lower at the beginning of 2nd we added minutes.

Thanks. We don't have an IEP because it's a private school but they are very willing to work with us on what might help DD best. That's why I posted. Thanks.

[mrsbuttinski]

I would sit tight around this until you have completed the psychooeducational testing.

This is a conversation to have with that professional. They will have a better idea of what is driving the assessment results and can come up with a more appropriate approach to managing it. If you were to say, assume it's an LD issue like auditory processing that requires more scaffolding but it's anxiety, you could make things worse.

If it is a manifestation of anxiety, therapy and modeling "non-perfectionist" behavior at home could be an answer. Or perhaps she needs a more robust Rx for her anxiety. Strattera isn't as effective for anxiety as an SSRI.

Often when a kid "won't" do something, it's because it's hard for them. This is a common enough MO for brighter kids who are used to things coming easily for them. The disconnect between decoding (high) and comprehension (average) could be temporary and fade with maturity.

It could be that in reading ahead of her age cohort, she is reading books with themes that are beyond her level of emotional maturity. DS had a couple of friends who were really strong readers and were constantly reading books that were intended for older kids. The downside is that they often missed more subtle themes because of their own relative emotional immaturity.

It could be this is a personality issue that would be addressed with behavior mods.

[mirandah]

Not sure if this applies to your situation- but I noticed a huge discrepancy between DS's guided reading score and his "FAST" test they did this fall. He scored in the bottom 25% for reading in FAST but is at or above grade level via guided reading. His teacher admitted that the guided reading is more subjective, and she noted that she tested him on a nonfiction book, which he always has better comprehension of (ASD), whereas the FAST was fiction.

My kid also refuses to play in the reindeer games- my response has been, well, you'll get it wrong then, to which he will reluctantly play along. I have often suggested "wrong" answers like you did to cull out a response. But it's purely on his own volition- if it was a book he loves, he'd recount every detail. He finished his monthly book report last night and had a tough time with the question "Would you suggest this book for a friend- why or why not?", but on the question: "who were the suspects in your mystery" he patiently typed out with one finger the name of all 12 of the suspects.