Testing for Intelligence?

In considering a commitment to viewing young children holistically it is our commitment as educators, parent’s and other professionals connected to the growth and development of all children rights to ensure the well-being and protection, privacy and safety and understanding of the children as a individual whole person. Therefore what, how and when a child mental and physical ability can play a important role of their health considering if any psychological disorder influence their personal factors involving decision making that may affect him or her mentally and physically in the future within their society. Why? I believe all children should be a protective factor for being measured or assessed upon their psychological disorder. The reason I believe genetic testing plays a valid role in the child physical ability to perform for the well-being of the child. It can cause an impact of a child mind, health and physical, abilities in performance social and emotional in school and society up to adulthood. The effective way children growth and development in each of these domains plays an important role that involves their cognitive, social emotional, physical abilities when implemented in an individual test is not always measure and assessed based on all children genetic testing some children are not evaluated are diagnosed incorrectly and go undiagnosed there are some who are altogether over looked in public schools, parents, and by medical physicians didn’t detected. The reason I can say it is important for parents and teachers to suggest or recommend Genetic testing is base on  true story about myself and one of my children and what we experienced in our own personal life having a disability and what challenges we faced.  I graduated from High School in 1977 and I was born July 28, 1959 I attended public school for 12 years of being a child who could have fell though the cracks of education but I was blessed with a creative mind and a supporting family, plus I was determine to learn. Considering, I was one of the children who had a disability but no one notice and if they did they never had referred or tested me. I suffered from embarrassment, children made fun of me because I couldn’t read as good as they could when the teacher had us to read out loud in front of our peers. I couldn’t comprehend the information enough to pass a lot of my testes so they made better grades then me and sometimes, called me dumb which that hurt. Growing up with a disability impacts a life of a child though out their adulthood. I put a lot of effort in studying and trying to learn my school work. Therefore, without being consider for having a learning disability during this time in my life cause challenges that impacted my life and will impact other children physically and mentally abilities if they go undetected at a young age. During this time I knew I was different then most of my friends in school as far as learning.  I tried clues and strategies and had longer then usual study hours, but that was my creative way of helping me overcome fear in learning, because I didn’t want to fail in school.  Therefore, I created will-power. I convinced my self I could learn I just needed support from my family, friends, and teacher’s. If it meant sometimes putting  in extra time applying myself in studying my class work. I went unnoticed, undetected and undiagnosed for 12 years in the public school system. The only way I passed my classes in public school is by doing extra credit work or loosing play time. However, once I attended Junior Collage, I discover I had a problem remembering or comprehending information when studying for a test. Therefore, I took upon myself to I speak to a counselor about my problem who preferred me to go and have a Genetic test for mentally and physically pertaining to my educational performance abilities. I made an appointment to The Department for Students with Disabilities Services. Once I was tested and diagnosed with a disability, I was able to get support services threw them to help me maintain my grade level and comprehend information at a given time to overcome my challenges that were created by poverty and become successful academically. When I was attending public school my parent wasn’t educated on every different disability that could effect a child educational performance and the school didn’t have (IEP) Individualized Education Program to evaluated or tested a student mentally or physically abilities in academic performance. My parent couldn’t afford to pay to have me to take a Genetic test for Psychological Disorders. the services help me to prepared how, what and when I needed to use certain strategies about how I could cope with my daily or weekly assignments and testing in school. For example, “Although dyslexia is one of the most common neurobehavioral disorders affecting children, prevalence is uncertain and available data are scanty and dated. The objective of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of dyslexia in an unselected school population using clearly defined and rigorous diagnostic criteria and methods.” (http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0048082)  “Results; We recruited 1774 children aged 8–10 years, of which 1528 received parents’ consent to participate. After applying exclusion criteria, 1357 pupils constituted the final working sample. The prevalence of dyslexia in the enrolled population ranged from 3.1% (95% CI 2.2–4.1%) to 3.2% (95% CI 2.4–4.3%) depending on different criteria adopted. In two out of three children with dyslexia the disorder had not been previously diagnosed.” A cross national comparison of dyslexia prevalence in Italy and in the United States confirmed that dyslexia is more prevalent in the United States than in Italy. (http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0048082.)
The ways school-age children assessed in Niagara I don’t have a personal affinity for the way the school-age children are assessed in Niagara because I think it is great they have individual help that are trained and offer parent involvement, also, the program is designed to help parents understand their child disability. Plus, it will educate the parent about what intervention plan to use for their child disability. “According to The Learning Disabilities Association of Niagara Region currently offers multiple programs: Reading Rocks!, Reading Rocks Junior, Let's R.E.A.D., B.E.S.T., and S.L.A.M. for children and youth who have undiagnosed /diagnosed learning disabilities/ADHD. For parents, P.A.C.E. is offered to provide information, strategies, tools and support for raising a child with a learning disability, and an Adult Support Group is offered when interest is shown for adults who are living with a learning disability/ADHD.  Furthermore;  Please note applicants will be screened for other exceptionalities (i.e. autism, down syndrome, FAS, developmental delays, etc.) as LDANR's mandate is to offer programs and services for those with learning disabilities.  LDANR is not designed to treat students with severe mental health or students with severe emotional and behavioral issues. B.E.S.T. and S.L.A.M. programs are not behavioral programs, but rather programs to support children with learning disabilities through LD awareness, self-advocacy, building self-esteem and social skills.
All participants must have the ability to behave in a small group setting. Reading Rocks! is our flagship program that we have been offering at Brock for the past 6 years. In this program, children will work one-to-one with a trained literacy volunteer. The Reading Rocks program responds to an identified need for some students who benefit from explicit instruction and positive re-enforcement and motivation as they develop their phonological awareness and processing skills. This program targets children and youth who struggle with reading and writing skills because of a reading disability. Through one-on-one instruction students work on a variety of literacy skills including: phonics, sight words, fluency, reading and listening comprehension, spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and more. Trained therapy dogs from St. John’s Ambulance also visit the program where the children practice reading to the dogs to help improve their reading abilities! (ages: 5 – 16 years)Furthermore LDANR is the fortunate recipient of an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant that supports these three programs (Reading Rocks! B.E.S.T. & S.T.E.P.S.). Therefore, there is no fee for these three programs while LDANR receives the OTF grant. However, LDANR is a non-profit organization and relies on donations to continue offering services and programs in the Niagara Region. There are many families that now have access to these programs at no cost thanks to the OTF grant. We do ask of those who can afford to make a donation to please do so when registering for a program so that LDANR can continue offering these programs to families at no cost
once the OTF grant ends.”( http://www.ldaniagara.org/programs.php)
Also, of one of my children faced challenges in school it started in Head Start and enter in the public school she was consider to be target as a child with behavior problem in kindergarten. Everyday I was called at work that she was a hitting other children and being a distraction in the classroom. Never once did the teacher consider a plan of action that she may need to use interventions to help my child or myself on how to cope control impulses, concentrate, and organize. Such as, implementing a (IEP) which stands for Individual Educational Program, handouts on positive or negative prevention or intervention signs to look for or learn how to develop a plan of action on helping a child cope with different stressful situations. For instance, therapy and a support team in order for her to focus in a school setting with other children. However, I decided to talk to one of the school counselors and she suggested that she be tested. The counselor set up a meeting with the teacher, administrator and myself meeting in which they implemented the (IEP) In the United States an Individualized Education Program, commonly referred to as an IEP, is mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In Canada and the United Kingdom, an equivalent document is called an Individual Education Plan. An IEP defines the individualized objectives of a child who has been found with a disability, as defined by federal regulations. The IEP is intended to help children reach educational goals more easily than they otherwise would. In all cases the IEP must be tailored to the individual student's needs as identified by the IEP evaluation process, and must especially help teachers and related service providers (such as paraprofessional educators) understand the student's disability and how the disability affects the learning process. The IEP describes how the student learns, how the student best demonstrates that learning and what teachers and service providers will do to help the student learn more effectively. Developing an IEP requires assessing students in all areas related to the known disabilities, simultaneously considering ability to access the general curriculum, considering how the disability affects the student’s learning, forming goals and objectives that correspond to the needs of the student, and choosing a placement in the least restrictive environment possible for the student.”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individualized_Education_Program). Therefore, there is no charge for any parent like myself willing to take part in helping a child become successful in life.  The government pays for it.  However, (ADHD) stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It is condition that affects the areas of the brain that help us to control impulses, concentrate, and organize. Studies have shown that it can be treated with medicine, therapy, and other support. (http://www.quillivantxr.com/understanding-adhd)  doesn’t have anything to do with a child behavior. Therefore, my point is genetic testing should be consider because it can affect a child learning capabilities and physical abilities to perform the best of their abilities and every parent, educator and other professions should be educated and train as for as performance and commitment to the well-being of a child to ensure a safe, healthy setting in the public school where children can gain the highest quality of education to meet their individual needs. In considering to viewing young children holistically it is our commitment as educators, parents and other professionals to have a plan of action and I don’t’ believe it should consist of a child taking medication in order to cope with the educational activities in school. Why? For example the prescription drug Quillivant XR that treats ADHD is a “federally controlled substance (CII) because it can be abused or lead to dependence. Keep Quillivant XR in a safe place to prevent misuse and abuse. Selling or giving away Quillivant XR may harm others and is against the law. Tell your doctor if you or your child have (or have a family history of) ever abused or been dependent on alcohol, prescription medicines, or street drugs.”(http://www.quillivantxr.com/understanding-adhd)  The additional suggestions and/or concerns related to assessing young children I would like to share with your colleagues will to keep and open mind. If you feel that their may be a concern about a child’s performance don’t be so quick to judge them because there is a reason for a child not being able to gain knowledge due to the evidence of their mentally or physical performance. For example, It maybe children are intelligent or maybe not be intelligent and may need more of a challenge therefore we as educators need to suggest a plan of action to gain their interest in learning. I believe every individual learns differently and we have to find out what’s best for their individual needs. I suggest asking the parent what are their concerns about their child and what do they think can help them in their long term goal? Whether, it’s the child’s mental and physical abilities to become productive in meeting their individual goals in the future. Next, ask the parent what is it they would like from you as their child or children educational care provider in order to help their child or children to become skillful and successful in education and their life in general within society.