Middle School & LD

It might be helpful to know a little more about the situation. How happy is your daughter in her current school? Does she mind that she is not successful academically? Does that bother her? Are her teachers kind and fair to her or do any of them pick on her for her lack of success?

Have you visited the new program in the new school? What do you think of it? Has your daughter visited? Does it seem like a school where she will be comfortable after some initial adjustment?

Those kind of questions and their answers can sometimes be helpful when considering making a change.

Good luck.

What were her scores on her IQ tests and speech and language tests? Has she ever had any attention issues or a hearing problem? If you give us a little more information we can help you with some appropriate suggestions.

My daughter is dyslexic and has add with a hearing problem. I am going to homeschool her in 7th grade. Have you thought about homeschooling your daughter to help her catch up? She could have speech and language issues that can be addressed through appropriate teaching techniques and one on one therapy. Otherwise she may end up with the label you don’t want for her. I would make sure that the label the psyche has given her is appropriate and in order to know if that is the case we need to see the numbers..

I guess more information would have been helpful. =)

My daughter has ADD, in addition to her learning disabilities. She is happy in the school where she is now. She has a lot of good friends (most of them of honor students), plays volleyball, and likes to attend school functions/sporting events. Her friends look past her LD, and like her for who she is.

Her teachers are wonderful, although sometimes Saundra (my daughter’s name) thinks they pick on her because she doesn’t always follow through with assignments. It seems she gets frustrated, then gives up. But we’ve met with her teachers several times this year (her math teacher even visited our home because he was so concerned for her), and our oldest daughter had these same teachers three years ago when she was in 7th grade, so we were already familiar with most of them. She also has a resource aid who, for the most part, follows her to each class to provide assistance to her, as well as other kids who need a little extra help.

We haven’t visited the other school, but we have an appointment on Friday to speak with the counselor over the program, as well as see the facility.

I’ve also been in contact with Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes. Has anyone heard of them? They’re sending me a packet of information. They’re extremely expensive, but if I can find some people who have used them that absolutely sing their praises, then we’ll do it. They have a lot of “endorsement” letters on their website (www.lblp.com), but I’d like more concrete evidence.

I would be most grateful to anyone who can provide additional information.

Thanks!
-Marcie

What were the test results that allowed the school to conclude that your daughter is “mildly mentally handicapped”? Something doesn’t seem quite right to me. Kids who are “mildly mentally handicapped” don’t usually have honor student friends. I am a parent of a child with both visual and auditory processing problems and because of this combination he didn’t initially test well on IQ tests. After therapy addressing some of his visual and auditory problems, he scored in the normal range (99) while two earlier tests indicated borderline normal (85). Anyway, my own experience makes me wonder if you don’t have a child with multiple LDs instead of mildly retarded. In K, my child’s best friend was the brightest boy in the class because he was the only who shared his passion for science. However, the low IQ scores allows schools to dismiss the failure of kids with multiple LDs, saying they are perfoming up to ability.

Beth

Saundra has an average IQ - 98 (this has been consistent since she was first tested in Kindergarten). But she scored so low in the tests administered by the school psychologist (I don’t have the test scores handy, as I’m at work currently). That, combined with her poor academic performance this year, have caused the teachers and the counselor to come to the conclusion that she needs to be “re-labeled”. If I have time this evening, I’ll dig out the report I received and share the results.

Saundra has always been successful in making friends, that is, when she wants to (she can be quite shy — especially before she reached the age of 10 or 11). Her best friend since 3rd grade has always been an “A” student, and has helped Saundra when she can on different projects. She talked Saundra into being a cheerleader in 6th grade, and although she wasn’t the most coordinated girl on the floor, her self-esteem soared, and all the girls on the squad got along fabulously! Then her friend talked her into playing volleyball when they started junior high last fall. Again, not the best player out there, but she improved, and so did her self-image (she’s looking forward to going to volleyball camp in July). I don’t know how Saundra has become so lucky to have friends that make good grades and don’t judge her for her academic performance. But I do thank God that she has. Even if her friends didn’t make good grades, I’m just thankful that they’re a bunch of good kids!

Thanks for listening and the advice. I’ll try to get online tonight at home and share those testing results.

Take care,
Marcie

Please do post them. I personally do not see how they can reclassify her when her IQ score is average. The gap you mention suggests to me that she is LD (no revelation) but whatever they have been doing has not been effective. They want to say she is incapable rather than they have not taught her properly (I know I sound like a cynic but has been born out of experience with the schools).

Beth

OK, here’s the report (this is long, sorry):

Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT)
Grade Equivalent Standard Score
Reading 2-6 60
Basing Reading 2-3 65
Reading Comprehension 3-3 75
Numerical Operations 4-0 67
Writing 1-2 54
Spelling 1-8 58
Written Expression 1-2 71

Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT)
Standard Score
Vocabulary 78
Matrices 82
IQ Composite 78

Results from the KBIT suggests that Saundra continues to function within the borderline range of capability. These results are consistent with testing from the previous evaluation. She worked through both Vocabulary and Matrices sections and scores equally well on both. The Vocabulary secton measures verbal concepts, school related skills such as learning development, understanding of verbal concepts, fund of information, and word knowledge. The Matrices section measures nonverbal skills that include the ability to solve
new problems, to understand relationships among pictures and designs, and to reason by analogy.

The ABES was completed by her team of junior high teachers. They indicate that she has very little skill in comprehending typical verbal communications such as directions and questions. She has difficulty providing relevant verbal responses in conversations. Her expressive vocabulary is poor both spoken and in written communication. Her thoughts are often incomplete and she has difficulty applying functional academics to basic communication. Her self help are adequate. The WIAT was administered to determine levels of academic achievement. Here we find that her basic reading skills score at the 2nd grade level with reading comprehension scoring at early third grade level. Spelling and written expression at about middle of first grade level. Numeric operations is a relative strength socring at the early 4th grade level. The Sentence Completion was completed by Saundra. She indicates she has much difficulty with grades and is very concerned about her poor school progress. She often feels unhappy and depressed at school and is also confused about her assignments. She is worried about graduation.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
Saundra’s strength is in her willingness to work and her perserverance. Her weaknesses are in all academic achievement.

Progress toward meeting goals:
Saundra is making very poor progress in school academically. In addition she expresses much happiness (sic) in her general demeanor. This affects her self-confidence and her ability to feel happy at school. Efforts need to be made to reassess her vocational goals including her post high school plans.

Programming suggesions/eligibility statement:
Saundra continues to be eligible for special education services. The Case Conference Committee may want to consider changing her program from the Learning Disabilities Program to the Mildly Mentally Handicapped Program. Saundra’s testing results score within a borderline range and adaptive behavior and academic achievement are both more consistent with a Mildly Mentally Handicapped Program. Her education plan may want to also address getting her involved with more school activities including recreational sports such as bowling.

-end-

I’m sorry this is so long, but I wanted to share the entire report in hopes that someone can share some light on the results.

Have a good evening, everyone!
-Marcie

with all do respect, if your daughters previous IQ score was 98, it is highly unlikly that her new IQ score would be 78 (unless she has suffered some form of brain damage). The school did a k-bit on her rather then a full comprhensive IQ test, I personally dont think I would be willing as a parent to accept such a flimsy new IQ score with something as serious a radical change of Identification and therefore future education and in fact future life prospects on the line.

did the school do any language tests? does she have any expressive or receptive language problems that could be interfering with the IQ test? has she ever been given a nonverbal IQ test? did you know that over half of the children previously ID’ED as ADHD are really CAPD? has she been tested for CAPD? what about visual processing?

If you dont understand the above questions or can not answer them, then you are not in a position to give your informed consent on this and you very seriously need to get in contact with a LD advocate (the learning disabilities association is nation wide and they dont charge a dime) before you agree to an dentification change. you will need to provide that advocate with copies of all multifactored evaluations and re-evaluations as well as all past IEP’s, report cards and any other standardized testing that has been done, and you will need to do all of this before you agree that your daughter has suddenly been transformed from a normal child with learning disabilities to a child with mental retardation.

Wow. That’s some strong stuff. But that’s the reason I turned to this message board. There is so much I need to learn.

My husband and I are going to get out all of her evaluations, IEP’s, and report cards that we can find so we can trend what’s been going on since she was seven years old.

Thanks to *everyone* who provided help! I’m going to stick around to see what else I can learn, as well as share my findings with you.

This message board is truly a Godsend!

Have a good day, all!
-Marcie

I have to agree with Mia. There is a big difference between 98 and 78 in IQ scores. Also, I would not agree to a change in placement without full IQ test.

As MIA suggests, you just want to be sure that the 78 reflects her “true IQ” before making a change in placement. Other problems like difficulties following directions, characteristic of CAPD, can impact IQ scores.

Still, I want to tell you that a friend of mine’s daughter’s IQ tests as 78 and she can read, after intervention, on a sixth grade level. So your daughter may be capable of more than she has achieved and benefit from additional intervention.

I agree with you. I know my daughter is brighter than these tests reflect. Part of the problem, I think, is she is an auditory learner. Another factor is that I don’t think the school system has given her 100% of what she needs. We fight every year for what help she does receive, and fight with teachers who don’t want to “deal” with a child w/LD. It digusts and angers me. That is precisely why when they mentioned moving her to the mildly mentally handicapped program at another school, I broke down and cried. My husband and I feel the school has given up on our daughter, but *we* haven’t.

I’m nearly 100% sure that her previous IQ scores were 98 because I remember feeling relieved that it was in the normal range.

I’ve put in a call to the director of special education in our school system. I want to talk to him about her file and previous testing results. I’ve also left a message with her LD teacher from elementary school. Saundra was with her for four years, so she knows better than the junior high teachers what she’s capable of doing. That teacher brought her a long, long way from where she was in first grade.

Anyway, I’ve rambled on long enough. Again, I appreciate all the advice being given and the comments, so please feel free to continue.

I’ll keep you posted.

-Marcie