Timed Tests?? Is it really that necessary?

Our 3rd grader has to pass off these timed math tests called 36's. They are addition, subraction, multiplication, or all division math problem tests where there are 36 problems that must be finished in a minute and 30 seconds.

OK, so sure, this is a great way to get practice with your math problems, and it helps you get speedier, but must they really be timed, and for a pass or fail grade?

This has been the death of us this school year. Oh, our oldest knows all the answers, but he just can't write them quick enough. It all falls back to his thinking processing disorder that goes along with his Autism/Asperger's, but what do we do?

He simply can't process in time to meet this timed requirement. Yes, he know the answers, but by the time it gets from his brain to function into handwriting, it is just too long.

When we met with his teacher at the beginning of the year, we discussed this and she offered to test him orally, but this still imposes the same problem---he will still know the answer, but it takes his brain an extra few seconds before it can process it into words, so often it is still too slow.

Why does there have to be things timed? OK, yes, I agree with having time limits for how long you are taking an essay test or you know, you can't take forever to answer a question, but with a kid who is so smart but can't do things fast enough, where is your solution???

I guess he will never be able to be on Jeopardy or whatever other game shows are all timed, but that is a sad thing. What about all those geniuses who can't communicate or produce their answers as quickly as others? Does that make them any less of a person? Is it that important?

Obviously it is to this class he's in. He actually has passed off several of these tests orally with the teacher giving him an extra 10 seconds, but there has been no passing them off written and she insists that he finish the remaining tests written or he will fail.

It upsets me so to know what to do or not. I don't just disagree with these tests because they don't fit with our child with autism, but why would any kid have to pass off a minute and 30 second timed math quiz? I think it is great for practice, but really, should it be causing people to get 0's and fail math if they were a little too slow? I think it is wrong. If they know their math, they know it. Why do this??

I know this will be a continued struggle with our oldest. All these things that come in terms of his Autism and Asperger's seem to keep dragging him down. It's like he is at a super high level of learning and knowledge, but then because of his disabilities, the level is dropped down to a much lower level.

What should be done then? Remove him from the gifted, advanced program that he is in to a regular classroom where he would be bored and unchallenged, but able to "keep up" as far as speed, or leave him in the program and let him seem like he is dumb to the other kids?

There is no balance, and no answer we have found yet. Tuesday we are meeting with the gifted program's district coordinator to see what our options are and how having a child with a disability fits into a gifted program.

As always, if you are interested with our experiences more specific to Asperger's, see our other blog www.ourlifewithaspergers.blogspot.com.

Incredibly Smart, but Sloppy and Slow

We are having a tough time right now with our oldest. He is so so smart. We know he has such this massive amount of knowledge and ability, yet everything comes out so jumbled and messy. Yes, as before we suppose a lot of it has to do with his Asperger's that he is so unorganized, and his handwriting is so incredibly sloppy, but these little things are starting to take effect in school and with what grades he's getting.

Yes, it's important to be neat and all that, but right now it seems as if he's getting so much more sloppy with his handwriting and everything. I know his teacher counts a lot toward neatness and organization if he remembers things or whatever, and it's started to count against him.

Another thing is a big part of school this year is that things are timed. It's like you can be smart but you must also be fast. (Maybe that's why his handwriting is becoming so much more sloppy because he's being rushed.) In math it is mandatory that they must pass off these minute and 30 second timed math problem sheets. I know it is important to get to know your multiplication tables down pat, but must you insist that they pass them off in a timed test and if not then fail? OK, so I don't know how much they are going to take off points wise, but it seems like this is a big part.

It's not just this, but a lot of things are all about time, and with our oldest who has Asperger's, his connection from brain to mouth or brain to hand is not as fast as the other kids and so he is lagging behind a lot.

Oh, and one more thing--you must show ALL your work for math problems, even if you do them in your head--if you get the right answer but didn't mark a little 1 next to the tens when working out your problem, then you will get points marked off.

This is incredibly frustrating to us to see such a smart kid go down hill in school because of these little nit-picky things. Yes, I agree it is important to get kids in the habit of doing all these things a little more quickly or to show your work if you're not understanding it, or to see later where you made a mistake, but he's not making mistakes, he's just getting docked points for things the teacher wants.

My husband and I feel very frustrated and saddened at times to see such a smart kid still not be able to show his full potential, and then on top of it, it's like he's being graded not for what he knows, but how he produces it.

When he was being diagnosed with this type of high functioning autism they were telling us how stunned they were that his intelligence and academic abilities were scoring so far off the charts that they couldn't even justify telling us how they compared to others. They mapped his IQ as "in the genius range". I promise I'm not bragging. This is what they said and what we have on paper as record from countless doctors and tests. But yet here we are with our #1 being so smart, and yet as we've said before---he'll never be able to show it.

I suppose that's how the world works though. You must be fast, you must do it "this way" or "that way", and this is the way to be successful in life. Is the world going to wait for a genius who might take an extra minute to answer a question or write a report?

My husband continues to ask for other options in schooling for our kids. He says they are just going to hate school and it's not going to be enough for them. It's not challenging enough he says, but just picky and busy with projects but not really new things to learn. I continue to wait it out. I hope things will be different once the kids enter junior high and can choose a little more what classes they will take. Husband says they won't last that long. Only time will tell.