[blindlaw] IQ Testing

Russell J. Thomas, Jr. rjtlawfirm at yahoo.com
Mon Nov 10 17:38:48 UTC 2008


Briefly, testing is a topic covered under the ADA. If the City of New York
is giving this test, as a recipient of federal funds §504 of the
Rehabilitation act may come into play. Based upon some cases I have been
involved in, I also know that the City of New York has its own
anti-discrimination  ordinance. That ordinance may be of help to you.

 
-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Prevost, Ann Marie
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 8:40 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] IQ Testing

Hello-

I am an attorney in NYC and the mother of a 4 year old visually
impaired/legally blind daughter. She is also a triplet which makes this
interesting. I have recently had all three tested for a particular Gifted
and Talented program in the City. The results have come in. I am not
surprised - however - I am angry. The boys tested within 2 points of each
other and will very easily make the cut-off for at least some of the G&T
programs in the City. My daughter's score was more than 20 points less then
the boys. Yes they supposedly made accommodations - a few enlargements I
believe. However the test is geared toward children with vision. No matter
how bright she is she has a disadvantage in that she does not receive her
information the same way. Maybe when she is older these tests will even out
- but as a 4 year old I don't think they can possibly be accurate. If she
had been 5 or 10 points behind I wouldn't be so upset - but not 20. 

My daughter is lucky because she is set to go to the public school my older
son is already in. However, that is not the point. What upsets me is that we
are supposed to accept this score instead of insisting on a test for the
visually impaired - which don't seem to exist. Heck, I would like to test
all the other children who took the test on the things she knows and
does!!!!!! 

What I am more worried about is the future when she needs to take other
tests which do not adequately reflect her ability. 

Has anyone had any experience with this? 

I can't thank you all enough. Being on this list serve has been so helpful
to me.

Ann Marie Prevost

Ann Marie Prevost
Sidley Austin LLP
787 Seventh Avenue
New York, New York 10019
aprevost at sidley.com
212-839-5408


 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure: To comply with certain U.S. Treasury
regulations, we inform you
that, unless expressly stated otherwise, any U.S. federal tax advice
contained in this
communication, including attachments, was not intended or written to be
used, and cannot be
used, by any taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding any penalties that may be
imposed on such 
taxpayer by the Internal Revenue Service. In addition, if any such tax
advice is used or referred
to by other parties in promoting, marketing or recommending any partnership
or other entity,
investment plan or arrangement, then (i) the advice should be construed as
written in connection
with the promotion or marketing by others of the transaction(s) or matter(s)
addressed in this
communication and (ii) the taxpayer should seek advice based on the
taxpayer's particular
circumstances from an independent tax advisor.
****************************************************************************
************************
This e-mail is sent by a law firm and may contain information that is
privileged or confidential.
If you are not the intended recipient, please delete the e-mail and any
attachments and notify us
immediately.
****************************************************************************
************************

_______________________________________________
blindlaw mailing list
blindlaw at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blindlaw:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/rjtlawfirm%40yahoo
.com






More information about the BlindLaw mailing list