Testing Day

Today's the day. I've tried to prepare AJ for the testing situation, but not for the actual tests --we don't really know exactly how those will work anyhow. But AJ hasn't ever been evaluated individually before and has never been alone with a strange adult without a parent or teacher he knows well in the room. We wanted to do what we can to make sure he feels comfortable with the situation and, hopefully, to make sure he has fun.


We told him that we didn't know exactly what the test was going to be like. I told him that he'd be in a room with a doctor that we didn't know, but that he or she was someone he should trust and talk to and that we'd be right outside and he should answer all his/her questions as best he can. We talked through the types of things he might be asked to do -- draw a picture of a person with all the details he thinks of, look at patterns and figure out what comes next, etc. These are all things he likes to do and he's excited to try some new ones. I also told him that there may be some questions that are really easy and some that are really hard and that they may keep trying to ask him questions until he can't answer them. I wanted to make sure that he didn't feel bad when he didn't know the answers. Sometimes he shuts down in frustration and embarrassment when he can't do things, particularly in front of people. I'm hoping being aware that they're expecting him to not know everything will help. We also let him know that if he doesn't understand anything, he should ask questions, and that they are also likely to just want to talk to him and find out more about him.

He's in a great mood this morning, excited about his adventure. It's a beautiful sunny day for a drive to the lake. I'll post later/tomorrow with our experiences.