reading eval/program decisions/opinions needed

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

I took my own child (7 yrs.) yesterday to have some reading testing that I couldn’t get locally. I wanted her to have the CTOPP and TOWRE.

The SLP/reading specialist did not score everything while I was there, but she said she definitely has a fluency disorder. She has good word attack skills, but she bombed on the timed subtest of the TOWRE nonsense syllables: 5 correct in 45 seconds. This shows up in the classroom as poor comprehension. Right now, the only WJ score that has a 15 point discrepancy is reading comp, but I may press for an LD reading placement based on the new testing plus the comprehension in order to get more services. She gets S/L now.

Anyway, for those of you who don’t recall this, my child also has been diagnosed with APD. FastForWord was recommended again (also by the audiologist) so I am planning to do that this summer. This reading specialist said she would need a structured language approach and she recommends Language! for her, although she has training and experience in some LB, PG, and OG.

Now, Language! training may or may not be accessible. So here is my question. Would PG advanced code and multi-syllable work plus Read Naturally accomplish the same thing? How about LB Seeing Stars and Read Naturally? (She may need a little vocabulary and comprehension work which Language! would include, but these could be supplemented as well). Seeing Stars will be offered close by and I am thinking that the LD teacher may be more willing to do that since she has already had V/V.

I just need to give the school more than one option but I want to be sure they are the best possible options.

Thanks,
Janis

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 04/17/2003 - 10:42 AM

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Remember to NOT ask for the “best” when describing what you need from the school for your daughter. They are not required to provide the “best” only what’s “appropriate”.

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 04/17/2003 - 11:31 AM

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Yes, you are very correct! Best is my word for acceptable, actually, but I won’t use it at school! ;-) I emailed the reading specialist last might and she told me Anna has a severe phonological memory deficit. She said she has not written the report so will give three options. I won’t name them yet because I want to see if any of our reading experts here reply! I like second opinions!

Janis

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 04/17/2003 - 9:51 PM

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Janis,

I would go the LMB route, with LiPS and a stong music program that can be done using rhymes to help her with her phonological processing in a fun way. Project Read is another program I like and I like PG too but the problem here is her WEAK phonological memory, that has to be built up and I feel that you need to hit the auditory channel full board. I would strongly suggest an auditory trainer if the SLP hasn’t suggested one yet. This would be the fastest way to help her develop auditory memory. My daugther used one for years and we never did FFW. We did Autoskills academy of reading, and Earobics, Somonas, Read Naturally, LMB LiPS, VV, Seeing Stars, PACE you name it we did it..

I remember when I worked at the public school 4 years ago as a reading intervention specialist that the kindergarten teachers had access to a Hartcourt Brace phonological awareness kit that they never used the kit but I sure did!! Perhaps your school has one… There were fun games in the kit, that worked on phonemic awareness and there was a tape that had music with music and words that emphasized the sounds in words. It had some classics on it Ooodles and Bananas and some other ones…

I have done this approach with kids and it has worked well for my daughter. What used to be her weakest link her auditory memory is now her strongest link because we worked so hard and for so long on developing her auditory memory.

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 04/17/2003 - 10:24 PM

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Hey, Patti,

I hoped you would stop by! I was really glad to get the CTOPP done. They say that it really taps the underlying issues…much better indicator of true LD as opposed to the achievement/discrepancy requirement. Of course, I knew from the low TAPS-R that we had auditory memory problems, but the CTOPP just means more to those who are thinking about reading disorders.

We have been doing Earobics and I can see some improvement just from that. But I think we will go ahead and do FFW. LiPS/Seeing Stars is one of the three choices she gave me for structured language programs. Fortunately, the LD teacher took V/V training and is very interested in getting the others. Also, the private SLP contracted by the school had training funds set aside for LB training this summer, too. So that may end up being the program she gets at school. Of course, some of my PG friends think I should use that, but the SLP did not name that as one of the three even though she is trained in it, too. So, I’ll have to sort this out and go with something!

Regarding the auditory trainer, when Anna was tested for APD, she passed the speech-in-noise tests with flying colors. So they did not recommend one for her.

I am going to have Anna start piano lessons this fall. I know memory for music is different than memory for language or speech sounds, but I am anxious to see if she can learn to retain music.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I’m sure we may use many of them!

Janis

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/18/2003 - 1:15 AM

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Hi Janis,

I am in the middle of comps…I graduate in a little over a month…Can you believe that…The auditory trainer..would help with development of her auditory memory and phonological processing…don’t discount it…I will see if I can find the article in Advance about using Auditory trainers with kids who have ADD and how much they improved..with comprehension of language, focus etc….the same goes for kids with APD.

I think the reason she didn’t go with PG is because your daughter needs more kinesthetic input and LiPs would be good for that..

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 04/22/2003 - 3:09 PM

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Can I jump in with a question? I’ve been looking for someplace where I can get more info on visual processing issues that we think our daughter has (based on what my sister, a pediatrician, said she thinks). My daughter is 9. We had her tested last year and the psychologist said she had borderline ADD (ie, it wasn’t perfectly clear). But she has been taking Adderall, which my daugher says helps her. However, she still feels like she is not a good reader — and we see that she struggles somewhat in her reading. We think this affects her comprehension.

I have been trying to find out how we figure out what it’s like for her to read and why she’s having the difficulty she herself says that she has. We’ve talked to the school, our own pediatrician, a psychologist at school, and my daughter has a tutor to help her (though not trained in learning disabilities). Any suggestions?

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 04/22/2003 - 4:31 PM

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David,

I think you would be wise to get a private reading evaluation just as we did. A small percentage of poor readers do have visual processing issues, but the majority have phonological (or auditory) processing problems.

For testing sources go to the International Dyslexia Association web-site.

http://www.interdys.org/

Find the branch for your state and call the contact person. Ask them who does good reading evaluations in your area. I’d look for an evaluator who does the CTOPP as part of the evaluation, as they are probably up on the current research on reading disorders.

Janis

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