Told to assess my five yr old

[MrsFabuloso]

Fristly I have to say big hugs to you, it must be hard to hear peopel tell you these sorts of things about your little one. ButI would advise that if two pre school teachers have said that your child may have some sort of delay, then I would get her assessed. They are professionals, and I'm sure they have lots of experience in these sorts of things. Assessments on pre schoolers are not based on any kind of academic learning as such (not like reading/writing/maths...etc skills).If you do not believe that she has any kind of delay, then it can't hurt to have an assessment, they will just tell you she is fine., but if she does have a delay, then she is young enough to get some help and be integrated into school. I can understand that it must be difficult to hear that your child may have some sort of learning difficulties, but I would think it would be better to be safe than sorry later on.

[Floweryfields]

This must be very hard for you - but as has already been said, the teachers are professionals and as two have picked up the same things, have her assessed. You could look at it positively in that it has been picked up so soon and you have the chance to give her a great start at her schooling rather than having her struggle and fall well behind.

It is very tough, but trust those around you for help and you'll get through this.

[Inertia]

I will say that as parents of GTC and children with ASD, one of the biggest challenges we face is teaching some teachers the difference between "Learning Difficulty" and "Learning Differently".

The assessment certainly can't hurt and it is hard to hear, I know, but really it can help prepare the teachers for the unique style of your child.

[Smoke Jaguar]

Just to clarify my previous post:
As some of the other girls have said, it's not going to be a 'schooling' test - it will be assessments for cognitive ability, and there will be follow up assessments because of the way these results change in this age range. If they don't talk about monitoring it like this then ask the questions of them. These are not really predictive tests, just tests to see where children are at at the time of testing and indicative of what they need, if anything, to 'catch' up to a certain range.
The test can be suggested and recommended by the teachers, but they are conducted by people competent and qualified to do the testing (not like the stupid MCHN 'development' tests that are conducted like a game of monopoly...unless that was just MY nurse, grrrr!!) - they are not done by the teachers. It's then up to you to take the results and discussions back to the teacher or the school to see how you can best serve your daughter's educational needs.
It's not a reflection on you, it's just about giving your daughter a fair start

[LimeSlice]

I am a little confused...You are in WA?
Is your daughter in Pre-Primary or Grade one? Generally speaking they will not take a child into grade one that has not done pre-primary anyway would they? It is only a few days a week too and half days. It could be worth looking into anyway.

I wish you luck with the assessment should you take the teachers' advice and have it done.

[*Ali*]

Unfortunatly Alexis in WA kindy and pre-primary are pre compulsary so even though it is desirable a school can not actualley exclude a child that has not attended. However there is a very noticable difference between kids who have attended and kids who have not.

This is the quote from the DET website

Is attendance at kindergarten and pre-primary compulsory?
Although attendance at kindergarten and pre-primary is not compulsory (in accordance with the School Education Act 1999) more that 90% of children in Western Australia attend kindergarten and 95% of children attend a pre-primary program.

The Department of Education and Training is committed to providing a place for all eligible children.

Like others have said, I would get the assessment done, if it has been picked up by 2 consecutive teachers, then they are obviously seeing something. As teachers we do not suggest testing likely, thre is usually something that has caught our attention for us to be suggesting it. The test are not reading and writing tests at this age, more picture and conversation based.I am of the opionion the sooner the better, at least if there is a problem it is dealt with and you are on the road to finding some help for your child. Imagine how you would feel if your daughter did have a problem and a school ignore it, at the detriment to her learning!

[MantaRay]

Mayaness, I wouldn't think they'd necessarily do a cognitive assessment at that age. During our assessments so far they have suggested doing that at age 7 (although our issue is that DS is cognitively advanced and delayed in other areas, I still think that would apply). The assessments are more to do with overall development etc.

[LimeSlice]

ah I see, thanks Ali

[AliBaby]

Fristly I have to say big hugs to you, it must be hard to hear peopel tell you these sorts of things about your little one. ButI would advise that if two pre school teachers have said that your child may have some sort of delay, then I would get her assessed. They are professionals, and I'm sure they have lots of experience in these sorts of things. Assessments on pre schoolers are not based on any kind of academic learning as such (not like reading/writing/maths...etc skills).If you do not believe that she has any kind of delay, then it can't hurt to have an assessment, they will just tell you she is fine., but if she does have a delay, then she is young enough to get some help and be integrated into school. I can understand that it must be difficult to hear that your child may have some sort of learning difficulties, but I would think it would be better to be safe than sorry later on.

:yeahthat: exactly!

[Smoke Jaguar]

My understanding is that cognition encompasses verbal skills, comprehension etc in the context of developmental norms, given that cognitive abilities DO change a lot within this 5-12 age block anyway. It's still to do with how kids learn and what may impede learning progression if the teaching is delivered at a certain level of expectation. Cognition is pretty broad, whereas literacy testing is more specific and is not the kind of assessment in mind in this case.
I'm not an expert and my own kid isn't at this age yet, so I'm just demystifying what the assessment will be used for and how it should be conducted and what your rights are as the parent. It's not a scary thing, it will actually help you all

[Violet Star]

I just wanted to add to this, that a teacher can recommend for assessments out of wanting the best for your child. And teachers find it hard telling parents that they need to have their child assessed as well.

At the end of the day, the way things are organised now through educational departments, if you dont seek out assessment and unfortunately sometimes "label" the child, then they wont get any extra help with the learning that they need. Learning just doesnt cover the reading and writing, it covers the social skills as well. The extra help might come from a teachers aid, a specialised special education teacher or their might be a place for the child in a special class at a mainstream school.