My daughter is 10 years old. Since she started school she has had “mild” behavioral problems, fidgety behavior, average or below average grades, etc. Because she wasn’t “failing enough” the school district wouldn’t order an Child Study Team evaluation. We had her evaluated on our own, and the school accepted the report and findings of the evaluation we had done. We also had her evaluated by a psychologist. Everyone came up with the same conclusions, and nothing that we did not already know - she has some comprehension problems, “mild” learning disability, “slight” attention deficit hyperactivity. WHAT DO WE DO FOR HER? We are now trying Kumon Learning Center for math(we couldn’t afford the reading and math programs at the same time, maybe we should have gone with the reading, I don’t know). We always have a conference with the teacher at the beginning of the school year (usually a few weeks into the first marking period to give the teacher a chance to get to know our daughter). Going into sixth grade next year she will be in a “transition” sixth grade class. They are expected to do and taughter the same curriculum as the other sixth grade classes, but they have a more structured environment with only two main teachers instead of a different teacher for every subject. (sixth grade is middle school for us).
My point is that she is the kind of child who could “fall through the cracks”, just get pushed along, etc. We work diligently with her each night with homework, keep her on track with projects and tests. We have encouraged her to play the trumpet which she will continue next year. She enjoys playing basketball and played in some clinics and on a YMCA league over the winter. Does anyone out there have a child like mine? Getting her to work on her projects, etc. is a chore. We have the motto, “just do it”, because she complains and whines for a long time before getting to the task. I tell her every time “if you would just stop whining and complaining you could have been done already”, but she doesn’t seem to get the message. Other than that, her attitude in school is excellent, the teachers say she is a “joy” in class and they enjoy having her. She is eager to please her teachers, and she is always smiling. does anyone out there have a child like mine? I know my message is very long, but this is my first time on this website.
Thanks for reading!
Re: "mild" LD
Yes. There are others out here. Our son is 10 1/2 yrs old. You are describing him almost to the letter. He has been diagnosed with mild dyslexia, dysgraphia and visual preception difficulties. We noticed that something was different back in the first grade. We finally got the school to test for Reading Recovery (this is only in 1st grade). He too has an outgoing and pleasing personality and strives to do whatever is asked of him at school and loves sports. Second grade he went to Chapter 1 Reading, this being a group thing it did not give him the specialized teaching that he got with Reading Recovery. At the end of 2nd grade he was still doing letter and number reversal and spelled without vowel sounds. Again we went back to school and got him a mulitfacteral evaluation done. With this type of test there needs to be at least 2 areas that the score has a big enough differential in order to qualify for services. Of course he missed services by a couple of points. Our point at parents also was that he was going to fall through the cracks if we didn’t do anything or sit on that bubble of pass/fail. If we could just give him a boost then things would be better. Third grade we enrolled him at a local college in their Reading Program. It is one on one for 1.5 hrs a week. This has been our life line so far. The director becomes an advocate for all the childern in the program. He too tried to come the school and explain what our son was going through. He also referred us to a neurologist for testing which came back negative to any neuro ploblems. We have not gotten a good reception to making classroom modifications and making them stick due to a lack of quaifing for services. Teachers are too busy. Too many kiddos in a classroom and too many levels. We have tried Hooked on Phonics to try to help. We can’t find anyone to teach us some of the tricks to help deal with dyslexia. We take him to private couseling for his mental well being and learning better techniques to deal with what is going on. One suggestion I did get was when trying to do homework the fewer the words the better. Homework time starts now. Not another word to them unless requested. Notify then when homework time is over. What is done is done. Keep communication open with the teacher all year long. A note book back and forth between you and the teacher is a great help or use the internet. The other tidbit I would give anyone is to READ READ, READ up on the law for your state concerning the special ed laws and be informed. LDonline.org is a great place to start. The chats that they have with net-haven are great. You will find out that you and your child are not alone at all.
Our next step is the CAPD testing by an audiologist.
Best of Luck and Tell you child that you LOVE her.
Re: "mild" LD
It sounds like you’re very much on top of this and any child would be fortunate to have parents who clearly dedicate themselves as you’re doing. I’m also impressed with the 6th grade program as you’ve described it. It sounds like it could be just perfect for her.
I can’t say that either of my own sons quite fit the profile you’re describing but I’ve taught many children who are similar in their learning profile to your daughter. I’d only say that one of my sons also had a rough time settling down to do homework and I found that if I sat with him, it helped immensely. He didn’t like the isolation of homework and found it much easier to concentrate and “just do it” if he some company in the room. I’d read a book or do work of my own while he sat on the other sofa and did his work. That helped a great deal to end the complaining about homework.
Homework is an odd thing to me, even as a teacher. My husband works long hours to avoid bringing work home with him so he can spend his evenings with his family only to be met with the reality that his children have homework and have no free time to spend. Many of my teaching colleagues absolutely refuse to bring work home with them at night because they say they’ve been in school all day and can’t concentrate at night but then readily and unquestioningly assign homework to their students.
No wonder kids whine about it.
Good luck to you and your daughter. I think with caring parents like you she’s going to be just fine.
Re: "mild" LD
The letter reversals are a red flag for developmental vision delays. I would advise a developmental vision eval as well as the CAPD eval. You can find certified developmental optometrists in your area at http://www.covd.org (regular optometrists and opthalmologists do not have training in this area).
Mary
Re: "mild" LD
Have you tried meds yet? I ask this because I have ADD and two of my kids do. Meds have been a lifesaver for my kids. My daughter who is 12 told me..they help me concentrate! Kids with ADD want to succeed they just don’t know where to start. They are easily distracted and need consistency in a distraction free environment. It is one thing to say “just do it” but what happens is their brain is going a hundred miles an hour and they can’t settle down and “just do it” like a normal person can. The harder they try the worse it gets… It is hard to explain to someone what goes on in the ADD mind but having lived it and tutored many kids who have it I know. I have to literally teach them how to do things and walk them through projects. It isn’t easy.
I am not a fan of Kumon. I think you would be much better off with a qualified speech and language professional to work through her comprehension and language issues. The comprehension issues are tied to her command of oral language and/or her lack of decoding skills which slows up her reading and as she struggles with reading her comprehension goes out the window due to her ADD issues…Kids that have ADD pick up bits and pieces when they are tuned in and tuned out. What were her scores on the IQ tests in regards to verbal, and performance IQ’s? What was her processing speed?
Re: "mild" LD
My 11 year old is similar to your dau, he is ADDinattentive. Very quiet in school, not a behavior problem to teachers. He also doesn’t ask for help from the teachers so when he doesn’t understand something the teachers have to reach out to him to find this out.Not something that often occurs.He also is on low dose Ritalin(started on 5 mg 2xday now takes 20mg sustained release) and before he was dx (and if he hasn’t taken it) he would cry and whine, fall out of the chair, argue and basically do what he could to avoid any homework.When he has meds I say it is homework time, he gets his stuff and goes and does it.No comments about it.His dad and I do what you are doing, encourage outside interests, and keep an eye on class and homework(due dates and such).
You have had a few evals, have the evaluators made any suggestions? The other posters have made good suggestions.Perhaps you could also talk to the sp.ed. teacher at your dau’s school and see if she had some suggestions that you could use at home and also that might help in the classroom. The transition class sounds like a good idea, I wish they had one at my son’s middle school.
Anyway, there are many of us parents with kids like your dau, they are special ,delightful kids, and as long as we parents are keeping up, hopefully we will be able to fill in the cracks so our kids won’t fall in them.Best wishes.
Re: "mild" LD
My 7 year old is ADHD Inattentive, dyslexic (we’ve addressed this with private Orton Gilinghma tutoring and she’s above grade level now) and has remaining issues with writing (ugh…thought organization is her stumbling block, plus spelling) and uneven math skills. Very bright child and as others have said here - I wouldn’t take her any other way - she is fun, creative, spontaneous and has her own unique view of the world. She accepts her differences well so far because to her she 1000% agrees with the statement “wouldn’t life be boring if everyone was the same”. Our family life is fun with her learning differences “under control” for the time being anyway - keep your fingers crossed for us (dreaded annual IEP meeting coming up soon).
What I’ve learned about the ADHD Inattentive is:
Particularly in diagnosing girls and they tend to get the inattentive label more than boys - it can be very tricky. Girls often slip through the cracks becasue they have what I call “good little girl” syndrome. My daughter often is cited as a “delight to have in class” because she’s sitting there with a pleasant expression on her face - but absorbing a fraction of what the non-ADHD’re are learning. Because of this I am a ferocious advocate for her. Your daughter’s “mild” ADD may be causing her more difficulty than you think. I believe their attentional difficulties are misunderstood and probably underestimated by teachers and parents.
Medication has helped my daughter tremendously. It is a sometimes controversial, emotional and well considered decision for most parents. She’s on a low level dose and it has helped her so much. She tells me “school isn’t as hard this year as it was last year” and “it empties out my brain so I can fill it with education”. We also make sure she does her homework late afternoons before the medication wears off - which has dramtically improved our home life versus last year when 20 minutes of homework took 2+ hours.
Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would recommend trying Audiblox at home. This is a home-based cognitive skills training program that is inexpensive and often helps a lot. You need the video and book to get started, and the manipulatives kit is a good idea. Cost for this is about $80. It does require you to work one-on-one with your child for 1/2-hour to one hour a day. Some children get almost immediate benefit, but with most you need to stick with it for 6 weeks before seeing significant improvement. This is a program that works on the underlying skills required for academic learning.
Website is http://www.audiblox2000.com
You could work on the comprehension problem yourself using the Lindamood Bell book on Visualizing and Verbalizing. The free LMB packet includes ordering information for the book. Website is http://www.lindamoodbell.com
If it were my child, I would also get a CAPD eval and a developmental vision eval. The CAPD eval requires an audiologist who specializes in CAPD assessments (regular audiologists do not have the training), and the vision eval requires a developmental optometrist (again, regular optometrists and opthalmologists do not have the required training). These eval’s are often covered by medical insurance. If uncertain, you can call the professional’s office and they will usually be able to tell you if your medical insurance will cover it. You can find qualified professionals in your geographic area at http://pages.cthome.net/cbristol/ and http://www.covd.org
Mary