Ask Dr. Silver
The following are past questions and answers from Dr. Larry Silver on this topic.
How can a first year special education teacher learn more about how to document special education services?
This is my first year as a special education teacher. I am finding the paper work overwhelming and frustrating. I am so busy with the paperwork I have little time to work with my students, my classroom aide does most of the one-on-one. There is so much more to special education than even I knew as a five year classroom aide.
How do I understand the results of diagnostic testing? And after I understand the test, what does that tell me about what to actually do with the child? I did not have any training in how to give or even understand the results of any testing.
At the moment, I am trying to understand the WISC III and Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement results for a student who appears borderline. How can I understand it so if I can show that he needs special education services with my documentation ? Is there a book or something you could suggest that will help me in the future?
I cannot help with the overload of paperwork. This is a common complaint by special education professionals. The problem is that your school system must now document everything (time spent, materials used, base line, progress markers, plus IEPs).
Let's think about your second question. You probably have a non-categorical degree in special education. Thus, you may not have had training in diagnostic testing and how to use the results to develop an intervention strategy. I agree that it is essential that you learn this. There might be books that you can read. I am not familiar with this literature.
Options. Do you know any other professional within your school system who knows how to do this? If so, see if he/she might suggest readings or help you learn. Second, check with the nearest University that has a Department of Education that offers a degree in special education. Find out who on faculty might be able to help you.
(May 2008)
How do you evaluate a learning program to see if it is best for your child?
What do you think about cognitive skills training programs for improving attention, memory, auditory and visual processing, logic and reasoning? I recently heard great things about a program called "Learning RX" (that is the newer franchise name, the original, sister program is called "Pace").
It sounds fantastic and they published pre- and post-test scores that show an average of +3 years gain in cognitive skills that were below age level, using the Woodcock- Johnson lll cog. skills test. The speech-language pathologist who owns the Learning RX franchise near me told me that she has used many programs, including Lindamood-Bell and Fast Forword and this program gives phenomenal results in a much shorter time (six months) and across a broader range of skills. I'd love to know if this kind of training is recognized as valid by experts in the field of learning disorders. Thanks so much.
There are so many well-meaning and probably well-trained individuals who what to help our kids. My advice to parents is to do as much research on what is known vs what is claimed before using any, much as you would if you needed the best specialist for a serious medical problem.
Step One: Fully clarify what learning, language, and motor disabilities currently exist. This data would be found in the formal psycho-educational, speech-language, or occupational therapy evaluations. Then, discuss the needs clarified in these studies with someone who can integrate the full picture and develop the best interventions. Your speech therapist might be excellent. However, much as you would if you family doctor told you that your son needs an operation, you might want to get a second opinion.
(November 2007)
How do I help a six-year-old boy who is developing unevenly and might have language problems?
My son is six years old and appears to have a language disorder. We have not ruled out an auditory processing disorder because of his age, but have noticed some red flags for ADHD. He has an amazing memory and is a very visual child. He also is already reading on about a second grade level and is interested in doing simple math.
He starts kindergarten soon - how is he going to get an appropriate education when his development is so uneven? What can I do to make sure he is keeping up and being challenged? My child is both "gifted" and delayed - it seems the school system may not recognize these two together. I need advice.
First, might I comment that six-year-olds, especially boys, often develop unevenly. Their language and/or motor skills might be more advanced than the other. These differences often resolve themselves by age seven.
However, if you are concerned, I encourage you to meet with the principal of the school he attends. Present your concerns. If you have speech-language or other evaluations, provide a copy. Ask that the principal schedule a meeting with his assigned teacher and the appropriate special education team at his school. Discuss your concerns with this group and ask that they respond to your concerns.
Should the principal have a “wait and see” attitude, suggesting that you wait until mid-semester or later and you do not want to wait, you might want to get more information on his inconsistencies from the speech-language professional to present to the principal.
(October 2007)
Should the school system test a child to see if he should be put on prescription medication?
My seven-year-old son is in the first grade for the second time. Per his teacher and principal, they are encouraging me to have my son tested. I do not have a problem with having him tested.
My problem is this: all I'm hearing from them is he needs to be on a prescription drug. I can not see how a prescription drug is going to help him with his problems. After reading some of the articles LD OnLine has, I totally agree that he definitely has a learning disability, but the school system can not tell me why this requires prescription drugs.
I will do anything in my power to help my son develop. I will not shove prescription drugs down his throat until I understand how this will help him. Can you explain this to me?
Rebecca
Rebecca:
Good for you. School staff cannot tell a parent to put their child on medication. The question might be the one you raise. Are his academic problems the result of a learning disability, of ADHD, or of both.
If your son has been hyperactive, inattentive, and/or impulsive since early preschool, you might discuss ADHD with his family doctor. If the main issues relate to difficulty learning to read, to write, to putting thoughts on the page, and to learning basic math and/or relate to his ability to understand oral instructions or reply orally, formal testing is needed to explore for a learning disability. Request such testing.
Many school systems will not test children until the end of the third grade – a “wait until they fail” model. If this is your son’s school philosophy, you might need to have the testing done privately.
Go slowly and clarify the problems before starting treatment. What your school staff is doing is similar to a physician saying, “Your child has a stomachache. He should have his appendix out.” No – first you learn what is causing the stomachache and then you recommend treatment.
(August 2007)
Who should test a child for learning disabilities—the school or the doctor?
My nine-year-old daughter is in the third grade. Her work goes from good to okay to poor throughout the school year. She is getting ready to get out of school in less than two weeks. Since first grade, I have asked her teachers, school counselors, and her pediatrician to evaluation her for learning disabilities. Her biological father has ADHD and dyslexia.
I cannot get anyone to take the responsibility to test her. The school says it’s her doctor’s area, but her doctor says it is the school’s. Who really is the one who should be testing her? Her teacher says she spaces out in classes and she inverts digital 2’s and 5’s, the word “a” and “the,” and “b’s” and “d’s.” She also says her mind tells her to stand when she’s repeatedly told to sit, especially at her desk in school and at the table when eating anywhere.
Please help me help her. Her teacher even hinted she’d be better off staying back another year. I don’t know how she would handle that.
Thank you.
Wow!! Talk about passing the buck. Your descriptions suggest that she might have a learning disability and/or ADHD. One does not have to guess which. Given her difficulties with letter/number reversals and her not being where she should be academically at the end of third grade, the possibility of a learning disability is real. This possibility is even greater given that her biological father has a form of LD called dyslexia.
The only way to clarify is to have her take a battery of tests called a psycho-educational evaluation. Insist that her school professionals do such testing. See Sample Letter-Requesting an Initial Evaluation for Special Education Services. If she has LD, she will need special education services plus appropriate accommodations. The question of repeating third can only be answered after these data are available.
Should you have a history, going back to preschool of her being fidgety/hyperactive, inattentive, and/or impulsive, her family doctor should evaluate for ADHD. If she has this disorder, medication might help. Remember, it is not on or the other. Many children have both and both need to be addressed.
(August 2007)
How do you get a teenager with a learning disability to accept help when he says he doesn’t want services?
I work with a high school student who is in foster care and was on IEP that lapsed due to numerous placement changes and bouncing from school to school. He recently was evaluated and found eligible for special services. The student has refused to accept these services because he believes that special education means “retarded.” He is failing all classes. How can I influence this student's decision to accept services?
Joan
Your brief description suggests that this high school student has been through a lot. He probably does not feel very secure, safe, or good about himself. Getting him to accept yet another problem, “I’m dumb,” will not be easy.
Maybe the school counselor can help him. Maybe a concerned tutor can show him how the help will be useful. Maybe the concept of a learning disability might not be used but, “You know, you have had to move around so much that your education has not been good. You need help to make up for what your school did not teach you.”
(June 2007)
What are some symptoms of pervasive developmental disorder?
A student shows signs of inattentiveness. Often, he does not do work without constant one-on-one redirection. Still, minimal work is done. He is often playing with hands in an imaginary way, assuming they are action figures. He shows concern for only himself. He has no empathy for others, even when he uses inappropriate physical or verbal aggression. The child is 8 years old.
His parents are seeing him as gifted, but no classroom observation or information has been used in the diagnosis. Critical thinking activities and a diverse learning environment, as well as curriculum, are given. The child does not complete the basic work even when extensions are given to expand on the subject.
What are the steps to getting a child tested, evaluated as gifted, or having a disability? Can a child be gifted (only) and still not be able to interact with classmates and stay on task in order to get the introduction to a lesson. Thank you for your help.
Based on the descriptions you provide, your student might have what is called a Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Discuss this concept with your school consultants and explore how to get the student’s parents involved in a full evaluation. If my clinical impression is correct, the student will need special education services.
(May 2007)
What do you do when the school won’t test your child for learning disabilities?
Dr. Silver,
I am a parent of a 15-year-old son who has not been diagnosed. The school district he is in tells me that they do not have a way to assess him. Therefore, his needs are not being met. They keep sending me to all kinds of doctors to be diagnosed (i.e. medical, eye, psychologist) and they are all sending me back to the school district for testing.
What can I do? It is very frustrating to know that if my child is diagnosed, there are people and foundations that would fit him perfectly. His school's learning disability teacher does not know the techniques that are suggested in the articles at this site. Please help me.
I do not understand what your school professionals mean when they say they do not have a way to assess him. (Is it possible that you have not provided me with other important information?) Your public school system cannot send you to someone else to do studies.
Step one (if not already done), seek a parent consultant/advocate who can advise you on your rights. Step two, with this advocate, present a formal request to the principal of his public school, requesting an evaluation. Step three, if refused, ask for the procedure for filing an appeal and file one. Good luck.
(May 2007)
How can I help my sixteen year old son who has not been helped by the school for the past eight years?
My son is 16 years old. After eight years of requesting an evaluation, the school finally did it this past July. This showed my son is ADHD deficit in three areas of Auditory processing and has the age equivalency of an eight year old in speech.
I don't even know where to start with him. He's getting resource room and is repeating the ninth grade. I don't really know where he is at academically or where to begin. I filed complaints with the state education department and they found in my favor on ten findings. This child has been denied FAPE for eight years. How or who can help him?
He is very angry and is seeing someone for this. He says that suicide is not an option, because he loves his family, but it scares me. The first time he was seen by someone they said he was angry, which is something that I always suspected.
I really don't know what I can do to help him. He is meeting with success this year and feels good about it. He talks of summer school so he can join his peers in the eleventh grade. I'm not sure if he's ready for all of this. Your advice and help would be greatly appreciated.
Mary
Your story is a sad one. It is because of such stories that I try so hard to educate parents on what to look for and how to address a school system that is not seeing what the parents are seeing. Your legal victory supports that your school let you and your son down.
The real problem now is how to save him. The more he can stay with his friends and age group the better. Please get an outside educational consultant to advise you on what the school must do and what you may have to do privately. He might need psychotherapy to deal with his feelings of frustration and anger as well as the impact the past years has had on his self-esteem. Don't give up. He sounds like a good kid. Work on undoing the damage done over the past years.
(March 2007)
How can I help my dyslexic brother who is being homeschooled?
Hi. My little brother is almost 13 and was diagnosed with dyslexia a few months ago. He's homeschooled and has given up on anything that has to do with reading and writing. Our six-year-old little sister can read and write better than him. I'm worried and wondered what there is out there that I can do to help him?
Geri
You call it dyslexia. School systems call it learning disabilities. It is still the same problem. Your brother needs specific special education help if he is to overcome or compensate for his disabilities. The problem with home schooling is that most parents are not trained special education teachers and do not have the knowledge or skills to help remediate the problems. He must have skilled special education help if he is to improve with reading and writing. Show this answer to your mother and ask her to think about what I said.
(March 2007)
What should a parent do when a child does their homework and then doesn't turn it in?
My son is mildly dyslexic, 16 years old, and a sophomore in high school. Somehow homework and class work disappear between generation and turning it in. It has gotten worse. My son is taking AP Government and has a wonderful teacher. But how do we overcome this "missing link" where homework doesn't get turned it and occasionally class work doesn't get turned in.
Crystal
Many students with learning disabilities (a term used by school system rather than dyslexia) have problems with organization. They misplace or lose their papers, reports, homework; they leave things at home that are needed in school and in school things that are needed at home. Their backpack may be chaotic. This disorganization might include losing personal objects or keeping bedroom presentable. It sounds as if your son has such problems. He will need a special education tutor who can help him develop organizational skills much as special tutors helped him with reading and writing in the past. Getting upset with him won't work. Get him the help he needs.
(March 2007)
When is homeschooling appropriate for a child with many special learning needs?
My six-year-old daughter is very bright. I am home schooling her. Last year she went to a private school for Kindergarten. She coasted through with all A's. I felt she could have done more, but I didn't push because after all, it's only kindergarten. When she asked for more work after school, I gave her work from a first grade workbook. By letting her move at her own pace, she is finishing 2-4 days of school work in one day.
The only thing she will not do for me is read. She says it is boring. I gave her an easier book. She struggled and couldn't read it. I gave her a simple chapter book with a picture on each page and she read two pages with barely any help. It was marked as a level 4 book. After two pages, she was done. I tried to get her to read more of it the next day and she said she couldn't.
In other areas, she is a well behaved little girl. She does not like to be corrected, and will frequently roll her eyes when she is. She has difficulties being distracted, and can rarely fulfill a two-part command. (In fact, my mildly autistic son can perform a two-part command better than she can!) If you tell her that something is behind her, she is likely to turn around in a full circle, look up at the ceiling and say she can't find it. I was wondering if she could have ADD. And I was also wondering if it is important to get a diagnosis for her, even though I do not intend to medicate.
I am hoping to find solutions that can help her individual problems--including finding a curriculum that best suits her needs. But am I doing the right thing by her?
Liza
Your desire to help your daughter progress at her own rate of growth rather than the curriculum offered by a general education program is fine. However, I hear several other themes that concern me.
First, she appears to be struggling with reading. Reading is not a skill a student learns on their own. It needs to be taught by someone who knows how to teach reading. Is she behind because of your teaching or because she might have a potential problem with reading or because of some other factor. You need to clarify this question before you can decide how best to help her with her reading.
Second, you question if she might have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. As possible evidence you note that she can be distracted and she "rarely fulfills a two-part command." May I urge you to stop trying to be everything to her. If you do not have a degree in elementary school education; if you do not have a degree in speech-language therapy; if you do not have a professional degree in psychology or medicine, I urge you to see the advise of these individuals. Does she have a reading disability? Find out. Does she have a language disability? Find out. Does she have ADHD? Find out.
For your daughter's sake, love her, help her. But agree that you may not be able to answer all of the questions you ask.
(January 2007)
What happens if medication does not seem to be working well?
My son was diagnosed with ADHD and learning disabilities at the end of third grade. He is now in ninth grade and gets very frustrated to the fact that he can't concentrate and do well in school. I feel frustrated myself because I don't know how to help him get out of his frustration.
He used to take Concerta until last year. He now refuses to take the medicine because it makes him feel a different person and he gets angry and aggressive when he takes it. I stopped giving it to him.
Please provide me with some feedback as to how I can help him succeed.
Lvonne
Let me focus first on the ADHD. Maybe he can't concentrate in school because his ADHD is no longer being treated. You should know that there are two consequences of being on too high a dose of Ritalin (Concerta). First, the individual may be more emotionally fragile - more angry or upset. Second, the individual may feel spacey - like someone flattened his personality. Perhaps if he saw someone who knew how to adjust the dose and monitor the medication, he would not resist. Discuss this with your physician.
Second, he has learning disabilities. And, now he is in high school. Does he have the compensatory strategies to handle high school work? Does he have the necessary accommodations in class? Could his frustration also be because he is no longer receiving adequate services?
(January 2007)
Will having a student repeat a grade in school help them?
When is it appropriate to retain a student in the eighth grade? My daughter goes to a private Catholic school. She was previously diagnosed with ADHD Combined Type, Visual-Motor Processing Deficit and also appears to have difficulty with expressive writing.
Many interventions have taken place since Kindergarten. She has had years of private academic therapy, vision therapy, occupational therapy, and goes to a psychiatrist for medication management. In addition, she has accommodations as well as some modifications. She sees an Occupational therapist one day per week for two hours and an academic therapist twice a week.
I am also in the field with a (LMHC) & ESE background. In the past two years she has had many external stressors. She was taken off medication for ADHD due to "crashing" in sixth grade. She has also missed school due to a family crisis.
She is in the process of getting an IEP in public school. I know it will be a disaster if she moves on to a public high school and I am at a real loss as to what to do. If I retain her she will graduate with her class and then go to a public middle school for one year and move on to high school.
Should I retain her given the amount of previous and current interventions? I don't want to break her heart but I also want to do what's right for her. With the amount of school she has lost and the achievement level she is at, she might benefit with an additional year in eighth grade. (fourth grade math and beginning sixth grade reading skills according to the WJIIIR.) This is a terrible decision and she may loose what confidence she does have. Please give me your opinion if you can. I would sincerely appreciate it as a feel that I am all alone in the process.
Sincerely,
Janine
The question is not whether you want to retain your child in her grade or not. The question is what are the many problems your daughter faces and how best to address each. First, may I urge you to clarify exactly where your daughter's current learning disabilities are as well as her learning strengths. She may have had excellent services over the years; however, where is she now. Does she have the skills to handle her current academic needs? Is she provided the necessary services and accommodations to be successful?
Once these issues are clarified, you option would be to keep her in the private school, being sure that she receive all of the accommodations she will need. And, it will be critical that you provide all of the special education services she now needs privately. (You could try to get services from her public school. But, be sure that they are adequate and remember that she must travel to her nearest public school to receive these services.
Or, your option would be to transfer her to the public school. Even here, it will be essential that her IEP reflect all of her needs and services needed.
You also add other factors: She was taken off medication for ADHD due to crashing. No, you do not take students off medication for this side effect. You address this side effect. Second, you note serious family crises that cannot be minimized.
Maybe you need the advise of a good special education consultant regarding her school needs. And, you need to see a mental health professional who is knowledgeable about treating ADHD as well as LD as well as the emotional issues. Probably best to address each of these needs would be a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist.
(January 2007)
How do you distinguish between learning disabilities and brain damage?
My daughter, who is now eight, was born at 24 weeks gestation. As a result, she suffered from lack of oxygen and developed a grade 2 bleed. She does not need a shunt and functions fairly well, ambulatory, good verbal skills and such. She does have mild to moderate CP. The best diagnosis we have been given is global brain damage, which means the damage affects every part of her life.
She is in third grade at her neighborhood school. I believe she has been socially promoted). She was in a self-contained school for three years. Her label on her IEP is LD. Since Emily does have brain damage, should she or any child with this type of damage be considered LD?
I have a son who is LD in reading and writing. And they seem different. He learns differently. She, on the other hand, seems slower. There just seems to be missing pieces. She is roughly two years behind in reading and three years behind in math.
Would a change in labeling help with the way she is being served on her IEP? I don't think they take in mind that she does have this damage. The traditional special education instruction for LD may not be what she needs to progress. I am just finding it hard to believe that brain damage and LD are the same.
Thank you in advance,
Crystal
There is a category within IDEA for Traumatic Brain Injury; however, students with your daughter's history are usually identified based on how the prenatal trauma impacts on their ability to learn. In general, children with her history have a more global pattern of disabilities than the child usually seen as having a learning disability.
The key to your question is that your daughter is not making progress in her current placement and with her current services. What is critical is that the most current psychological and educational evaluations be used to assess her placement, types of interventions, and intensity of interventions. She was in a self-contained program for preschool. You feel that the program she has been in since Kindergarten has not been adequate.
I would advise you to see a private special education consultant who could review your daughter's current educational disabilities and status, review her current placement, and help you decide if you should appeal her IEP placement, asking for a more intensive program.
(December 2006)
For more information on this topic, please visit the Special Education section in LD InDepth.
