language scores

It couldn’t hurt. Why did they say this would best be addressed in the classroom? What were their reasons? Will his classroom teacher work with him on these issues and will he/she have time to do so?

Referal concerns were word retrivial problems, immature use of language, and low volume mumbling style to voice. His written language scores were significantly low at the 3.5 grade level hence the skills placement (this is a writing class). They opted not to do individual speech because he has difficulties with transitions and organizational skills. He already has 6 classes so they thought the burden of speech once a week would be a bit much. I am considering getting him individual help through the local university after school. He does have a diagnosis of CAPD.

It always helps to have more detailed information on score breakdowns in testing, especially the ones with low scores. The older a student is, the more you want them in the regular classroom for a number of reasons: missing work is harder, the scoail reality is more pressing and you want treatment to built around what goes on in the classroom. Conult services from a speech therapist might be appropriate esp. with CAPD. Were you given a list of modifications from the audiologist who did the testing? What about accomodations of suggestions from the speech therapist? Problem solving is a skill that has a high impact on classroom performance and should be addressed in some way even if not in individual pull-out. CELF scores always run higher than they should too. You can email me, I don’t log on here much. I’m a speech therapist.

These issues are not issues that classrooms can traditionally address but I understand the point of not wanting to burden him with an extra transition every week.

I think private therapy would be really good for him. Was the Word test, The Word test for Adolescents? Or just the Word Test? I am very familiar with the Word Test. I would need more information about the subtests in order to help you interpret the results. And the TOPS was that the Test of Problem
Solving? Are these the percentile scores or the Stanine Scores?

In the sessions the SLP could teach him the pragmatics skills he is lacking, giving eye contact, appropriate volume to his voice, how to take turns in conversations. Then within the safety of a small group of students he could practice his new skills and then use them outside of therapy. The next session could be to trouble shoot what worked and what didn’t. He isn’t going to learn these skills without them being taught to him and he needs them to be successful in communicating with other people. What about using an assisitive listening device for the CAPD? This would also help him with auditory memory, discrimination and hopefully improve his speech.

With middle school SLP’s they usually want to leave them in the classroom but if this child was on my caseload I would definitely work with him privately specifically on his pragmatics and auditory processing skills.

How is his self-esteem, is he shy and insecure? Perhaps you can find a private therapist to work with him after school.

Patti Yes, the tests you mentioned were the ones given. These were the only scores they gave, they did not break them down. The scores provided were his standard scores. For the TOPS and the WORD tests they said it was below test norms and did not provide an age equivilant or percentile rank. For the other tests they did give a age equivelant along with the SS. He is a extremely quiet student but does maintain friendships well and has good self-esteem. Thanks for everyones input, we are gonna get him some private speech to address these issues before he enters high school in a year and a half.