I have been following this thread with great interest. I
have a few short comments but first it is only fair to warn
you of my background and bias.
I am trained cognitive psychologist with a specialty in
learning and memory. I can administer and interpret
Psycho-Educational testing (including the WAIS) and
currently work as a disability compliance officer at an
American university.
Higher Education in America is far from uniform agreement or
acceptance of the ETS criteria. There is still a great deal
of debate about what constitutes appropriate documentation
for Dyslexia and the whole family of Specific Learning
Disabilities.
This debate has been cyclical and in the last few years has
swung in the direction of the ETS guidelines and more
"psychometric rigor". I believe the pendulum is about to
shift. Our primary and secondary education systems are
moving away from re-administering psycho-educational
batteries to adolescents and towards holistic, curriculum
based clinical assessment that may or may not be
supplemented with the targeted and judicious use of formal
psychometrics.
I believe that you need good information on a student's
functioning in order to determine the presence of
disability, understand its impacts and develop appropriate
modifications and services. I don't think the answer always
lays in psychometrics but can be found in a well written
narrative of a clinical evaluation.
While the WAIS can be a wonderful diagnostic tool it can not
prescribe modifications and services; in the hands of a good
clinician it suggests appropriate modifications and
services. I am a firm believer that the best decisions begin
with a dialogue between a disabled individual and a service
provider/assessor/disability officer in the context of the
chosen educational setting. I would caution you not to
advocate for a system that emphasizes psychometrics over
local clinical/professional judgment in decision making
L. Scott Lissner
ADA Coordinator, Academic Affairs
2054 Drake
1849 Cannon Drive
Columbus, Ohio 43210-1266
(614) 292-6207 (v); (614) 688-8605 (tty); (614) 688-3665
(Fax)
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