Comments on: Things that bear repeating. https://ballastexistenz.wordpress.com/2006/02/08/things-that-bear-repeating/ Thu, 08 Feb 2007 11:39:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: andreashettle https://ballastexistenz.wordpress.com/2006/02/08/things-that-bear-repeating/#comment-10461 Thu, 08 Feb 2007 11:39:08 +0000 http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=34#comment-10461 I know I’m replying a year late so Susan probably won’t see this but: there seems to be a problem in general where not all psychologists (SOME but not all) take disabilities sufficiently into account when giving out IQ tests. For example, I have known deaf people who were diagnosed as retarded/low IQ because they couldn’t understand spoken instructions. Admittedly this was often before they were diagnosed as deaf, so the tester didn’t necessarily realize there was a problem. But you would think they would double check for the various types of common disabilities before administering IQ tests. Then, if the kid does have a disability, it should be the psychologist’s responsibility to read up on that disability (the most recent information, not whatever they remember from their training 15 years ago) and investigate how to APPROPRIATELY adapt the testing situation to that disability, or whether IQ tests have even been “normed” for people with that particular disability. (“Norming” means, a study has been done to see whether a particular test is even valid with a particular population of people — for example, if you develop a test with a group of white male middle-class college students, will that test still measure pretty much the same thing in the same way with poor black women in their 40s?) So a deaf kid might need to be referred to a psychologist who can sign, and if they haven’t had much exposure to language yet then maybe they should be given a non-verbal IQ test. Or an autistic child might need … well I don’t know enough to say, but clearly something.

]]> By: Susan https://ballastexistenz.wordpress.com/2006/02/08/things-that-bear-repeating/#comment-10460 Fri, 10 Feb 2006 05:13:00 +0000 http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=34#comment-10460 Hey – glad you visited my blog. I appreciate your insights into the prejudices and assumptions made in virtually all autism articles out there. Whenever I find something new in the media, even when I agree with certain premises, there is always some sort of generalization with biased language that is offensive. My son is not diseased, and not being able to speak is not a sign of intellectual inferiority. When I first was given the “IQ of 40” speech, I balked. As a teacher, I work with low intellectually functioning kids frequently…and it was obvious to me that his inability to follow directions/imitations – the criteria for this IQ test – were functions of sensory processing, not intelligence.

The world has a lot to learn when it comes to perceiving instead of projecting. BTW, I have quoted you many times to people I have working with Jakie. You are a great inspiration to me – may my son one day have as great a command of language as you do!

-Susan

]]> By: notmercury https://ballastexistenz.wordpress.com/2006/02/08/things-that-bear-repeating/#comment-10459 Thu, 09 Feb 2006 01:05:00 +0000 http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=34#comment-10459 Great post Ballastexistenz,
I enjoyed reading this and it may provide a few insights that can be applied to my child. Thank you

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