This week has been packed full with appointments. Atti turns three in a couple of weeks, and once he’s three he’ll start school. Before that happens, though, we have to meet with an army of experts who put him through a barrage of tests to determine where the best place for him will be.
Today we met with a school psychologist. He has the job of determining Atti’s intellectual ability and using that to recommend which classroom he goes into. It did not go so well.
Atti performed about the same way he always does on these tests, which is not great, but the tests are really not geared towards a child who has motor delays. Because there really isn’t a great way to test a child with motor delays. At least until they can speak fluently, which Atti can’t. We’re going back on Friday for another try, but I’m not hopeful. There wasn’t anything Atti can do that he wouldn’t do.
At the end of the meeting the psychologist said that he guessed Atti had an IQ of about 70. Which is considered intellectually impaired.
And I’ve been crying ever since.
I know he’s not right. I know that Atti is as sharp as a tack. I showed the psychologist how Atti can count to 20, knows the whole alphabet by sight forwards and backwards, can sing every song ever sung to him, but because he won’t express himself in the manner dictated by the test, it must be indicative of a mental retardation.
But what the test wants to see are things that all revolve around motor skills. He won’t stack blocks, he won’t push a toy car, he won’t do a puzzle, because all of those things are hard to do laying on your stomach and with limited fine motor skills. And all of the higher level stuff he can do doesn’t seem to matter. Those are “splinter skills.”
I’m just so angry right now. How in the world would you be able to determine how well my child will be able to learn based on whether or not he can stack blocks? My little guy has a bright mind, and it’s trapped inside an often uncompliant body. He has work enough to do, I’m not going to let anyone else make his road harder. I will not accept this.