Tests Fail

The beginning of the novel addresses the issue of prenatal testing in quite lengthy detail. Should a mother get prenatal testing? Should a mother rely in the results of that testing? Does she have the child if the results are not a perfectly healthy baby? I personally feel the decision to get the testing one way or another is not the main issue; the real issue lies in a parent’s decision of whether to trust in the results or not. Test results are not always accurate; they sometimes fail.

The second half of the novel addresses yet another set of tests though—tests after the baby is actually born. Special needs children are tested in a multitude of areas from speech and identification to hearing and motor skills. One of the tests Jamie must undergo is a hearing test. The results are less than favorable when they conclude he has “moderate to moderately severe hearing loss” (130). However, the problem with these types of tests is not necessarily the failure of the results, but the failure of the tests themselves.

When you test a ‘normal’ child in math, a problem is written down on a piece of paper, such as 1+1. If the child writes down the answer 2, then the child has successfully passed the test. However, the problem within the test (1+1) is that it is both constant and consistent for all of the ‘normal’ children participating in it.

When you test a special needs child in different areas, there is no constant and consistent way to produce a result. For example, Janet explains how the hearing test Jamie took was an inaccurate test: “Well, first of all, Jamie didn’t respond to the voice half the time because it wasn’t one of his parents’ voices. Second, we rarely call him ‘James,’ and we never said ‘uh-oh.’ Third, he turned half the time simply to see the elephant and/or monkey, and not because he heard a voice” (131). The test was consistent and constant in terms of how hearing is tested, however, it is not consistent or constant for each special needs child. Therefore, Jamie did not fail (had such poor results), the test failed.

My own brother Austin (having cerebral palsy) has also taken part in his fair share of tests that fail. The results are not always accurate because they are not geared to the individual. For example, Austin loves oreos. When he was younger, he was once asked to identify the cookie between two different pictures (one was an animal cookie and the other was a saltine cracker) he failed to pick the appropriate picture. I’m not sure if Austin has ever had either. However, if an oreo had been one of the pictures he would have surely known the correct response. His test results, like Jamie’s were extremely upsetting and negative. However, as Janet noted the test was inaccurate. My mother would strongly agree based on Austin as an individual and the progress he has made.

When it comes to testing before birth, parents need to take into account that results are not always accurate. However, especially after birth, parents should rely on the individual because when it comes to special needs children, tests can fail.