ECE 353 Week 5 Discussion 2

Educators in the United States public school classroom often work with children of varying levels of ability. Children in your classroom may have Individualized Education Plans (IEP) that require specific accommodations and modifications. As part of the process of an IEP, a school psychologist evaluates the child’s intellectual functioning using a variety of intellectual and achievement tests. Once the IEP meeting takes place, various providers (including possibly speech therapy and occupational therapy) will also be present at the meeting. For the purpose of this discussion, we focus specifically on the role of a school psychologist and intelligence testing using a case study from your textbook. In addition to using the case study as support for your initial reply, read and include support from the article Intelligence: Foundations and Issues in Assessment (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.(Gottfredson & Saklofske, 2009). Before responding in this discussion, review the Week Five Instructor Guidance page for additional information, resources, and support.

http://hwacer.com/Tutorial/ece-353-week-5-discussion-2/

Case Study: Please refer to the case study in the Introduction section of Chapter 10 of your textbook to review the case study for this week’s discussion. After reading the case study and article, reflect on the following in your initial reply:

• Discuss the importance of intelligence testing and one of the controversies discussed in the article and/or the course textbook.
• Explain whether or not it would have been appropriate for Dr. Williams to provide some hints to help the child during testing. Why or why not?
• Discuss whether or not you believe an intelligence test would provide enough information to make a decision about Michael’s educational placement. Why or why not? If not, what other information should Dr. Williams gather?
• Considering that Michael is a very young child, explain how her age could factor into the decision in favor of or against placement into a special education program.
• Describe other factors (e.g., environmental, genetic, biological, etc.) that may be contributing to Michael’s performance and IQ score during testing (without mentioning any diagnoses).

Guided Response: Respond to at least two peers. Discuss whether or not you agree or disagree with your peer regarding the need for additional information in order to place Michael in a special education program. Also, discuss how your views are similar or different from your peer’s view on the importance of standardized testing, including administration and scoring procedures conducted by Dr. Williams. Though two replies is the basic expectation, for deeper engagement and learning, you are encouraged to provide responses to any comments or questions others have given to you. This will further the conversation and provide you with opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real-world experiences with this topic.