Once you've scheduled an assessment at Langsford Learning Acceleration Center, an intricate process begins taking place behind the scenes. All of the pieces of this process are specifically designed to insure that when we meet with you, we will have a clear understanding of your child and his or her specific needs.
When you arrive for the assessment, you will be greeted by someone at the front desk, most likely Jenny who is our office manager and scheduler. You will then be greeted by the examiner assigned to do the testing. All of our examiners are highly trained and experienced, and your child's examiner will already have reviewed your concerns and have a battery of pre-selected tests ready to administer.
GETTING COMFORTABLE
In order to get reliable scores, it is important that your child feel relaxed and comfortable. The examiner will be sure to make your child feel welcome and reassured that the testing is not going to be a scary or unpleasant experience. Before going to the testing room, your child will be given a tour of our facility (you can come along if you like!) so that they will know where the restroom and water fountain are, see where other children are working, and get a glimpse of where they will be working. They will be told that many of the tests are fun and like games, that all we ask is that they do their best, and that they will be given some breaks where they can return to the waiting area for a snack or a few minutes of play with our toys and puzzles.
Getting Started
Once your child goes to the testing room, the examiner will spend a few more minutes further developing rapport. She will ask your child questions about how he or she feels about reading and school, what tasks are easy or difficult, and what they would like to be easier. She will explain that most of the subtests administered are constructed in such a way that they may feel easy at the start but later begin to feel hard. This is because they are designed to find a point of stability for the student and then pinpoint as precisely as possible the point at which the student's skills become unstable. Your child will likely feel better knowing that they are not supposed to know all of the answers.
Interactive Evaluation
The examiner will be in the room working interactively with your child throughout the evaluation. In addition to noting your child's responses, she will also be subtly monitoring your child's emotional behavior and responses. She will take detailed notes that will help the team have an accurate and all-encompassing perception of your child's abilities. This is done because we know test scores don't always present the whole picture. For example, a good or adequate test score starts to look a little different if it is noted that the responses were slow and labored in coming.
Every 40 minutes or so, or as needed, your child will be offered the opportunity to take a short break. This provides them a brief respite while also allowing the examiner to confer with one or more of the Learning Coordinators or Directors if she feels the testing battery should be adjusted in any way.
All Done!
At the end of the evaluation, your child will be thanked for his or her hard work and cooperation. Younger clients are allowed a trip to our "treasure box," where they can pick out an item to take with them. They are then accompanied back out front and returned to their parents. Usually parents are surprised to find that their child actually enjoyed the assessment and feel good about the whole experience.
Well, that's the part of the evaluation you see. Next comes a lot of behind the scenes work to determine your child's specific strengths and weaknesses and what is needed to address any difficulties they may be having. Stay tuned for the next installment to see what happens between the time your child is tested and when you meet with a Langsford representative to go over the test results.
