Frustrated! New Meeting May 23rd

She does not qualify as a student with an LD as far as I can see- there is no discrepency betwee her achievement and her capacity. Her language stuff looks very solid.

In order to qualify for Special Education you also need to demonstrate adverse effect- regardless of the handicapping condition. From this I am not seeing that- but the scores are only part of the picture. In my district she might qualify for a 504. That would get her support and services if needed. (like the fluency issue)

Robin

Perhaps her thryoid condition is causing the ADHD? Having problems with organizing and paying attention to details like spelling is symptomatic of ADD. I have students with ADD who are very verbal, can write about tons of things but their spelling is spotty and their attention to organization of what they want to say is poor as well.

Her problem is Hypothyroidism. So it wouldn’t mimic ADD like Hyperthyroidism would. At least thats what I’ve been lead to believe.
I’ve researched and looked for links between her learning dificulties and her thyroid condition. She takes medication for this condition and her DR. says so long as we keep a watch on the levels, the condition should have no effects on her preformance. Now if levels go up or down then she could experience periods of hyper or lethargic reactions. Right now this should be having no bearing on how she is doing her school work.. The first tri-mester of the school year she received all D’s and an F. The second tri-mester her grades did improve some in each subject. The teacher feels she is capable of doing the work, but just doesn’t try. So its been such a frustrating year !

Have you tried any medication yet for the adhd? Many people find success with medicine and appropriate educational practices. My own boys (10 and 13) both take Concerta, my oldest also has sp.ed support.

Did the school deny her an IEP? While I still can not seem to grasp evaluation scores ( possibly because I am LD;-)) I can deal with the wording and reccomendations written in the report. Sure as heck sounds like they are obligated to either do further testing,to “pinpoint” her needs,or give her an IEP and write all those very specific areas complete with examples of words,into good IEP goals.

So far what has the school said about this?

Socks:
Pulease- you grasp scores almost as well as I do:)

This looks fairly straightforward Socks- but I suspect we have folks trying to acknowledge performance issues that might be related to ADD w/o understanding exactly what they are… I do not have any sense of LD here but I do sense a child with issues that need to be accommodated. These #’s do not meet the adverse effect or specialized instruction gates under the law- but she does have a disabling condition that impacts performance on an irregular basis. That is what ADD is about. Inconsistancy is one of the hallmarks.

BTW- what a pretty and VERY flat state you have! Where did all the hills go?Our first visit there was a rousing success…

Shannon:

What precisely are you looking to have the school do or acknowledge? It is not clear -from the eval scores anyway- what the issues are…She is learning- which is a good thing. And she is capable- at least according to the measures we have- which is another good thing. So- what isn’t happening that has you worried?
Robin

Shannon, while I’m not expert, I am a mom, and I can offer this advice: do not fall for the she doesn’t try thing. That is the number 1 statememt made by schools, I always hear that my son doesn’t try, and I’ll be the first to admit, that he probably doesn’t, but who could blame him, if you try and fail, you just stop trying. It’s the schools responsibility to help her succeed. Can’t offer much advice on how to make that happen, I’m still working on that one myself. But at least I’m one step ahead of the game now….I know it’s not all my son’s fault.
Good Luck

no honest I really don’t grasp scores. Basicly I am looking at it from a parent advocate point of view,you know the part of IDEA that state all areas of potential need should be evaluated? And that an IQ should not be the sole measure.
Correct me if I am wrong,are these scores not matching up with what the professionals state in the report?

They state dyslexia twice. They state she mixes up spelling of words,her reading is choppy, math is of significant concern,where do they suggest ADD?

I still don’t see the suggestion of ADD aside from freedom of distractibility,and performance inconsistency is a hallmark of LD also?

Seems like to me they would have mentioned stuff like,she appears to have difficulty following directions,being organized,paying attention etc. Am I missing something here?

BTW. If YOU came to Florida and didn’t look me up,I am going to be very dissappointed! I have at least two kids right now that could use a very good IEE!. Seriously,would love to have met you:-) The Hills? Up in North Florida it does have a few more hills,but that’s getting close to Georgia,of course they probably are not defined as hills in your neck of the woods:-) Must of been down south,and there, the hills have melted into the ocean.

I have posted this before but my experience is that an eval. for diagnosis of LD, or ADHD is different from asking the public school system for an eval. for eligibility for sp. ed. services. For all these discussions it would help to name the state in which you live. In Massachusetts where I am, the school determines eligiblity through these questions: does the student have one of the disabilities in the Federal definition; is the student making effective progress in school; is the lack of progress caused by the disability; and does the student need special ed. to make effective progress. Your child may not be making effective progress in school(as are many non-LD kids for many reasons), but the answer may not be special ed. You may want to try the rec. of whatever MD diagnosed the ADHD and see if that makes a difference.

My daughter just started a trial of Aderall to see if it will help her .

The school is telling me everything is ok. There is no LD, because there is no gap between the IQ and Achievement testing. I was not comfortable with the freedom from distractibility score. So I took her to the Dr. after the testing because to me 39% is not normal, especially on a one-to-one basis. The Phychologist also recommended that she be a candidate if she was not already receiving assistance in the speech and language area. Again the County said.. we did our evaluation of speech and Language she didn’t qualify. So that is what lead me to the Hospital for a full Speech and Language Evaluation. She is now in speech for some minor articulation problems, and they are working on some complex sentence forming. The school system is telling me it doesn’t matter if she has ADHD, and they don’t recognize the term Dyslexia saying its a medical term, and they don’t use it. The school wants to be reactive, and I want proactive. They have told me I can go 504 but she will still receive no special servicies through special ed., no resource for reading ect.

I watch my daughter work twice as hard as everyone else and struggle to keep her head above water. I want her to get help in the areas she is struggling. I’m not sure that can be done by the classroom teacher. I know she is learning now but not up to the level she could be is my problem. I don’t believe she reads most tests or gets tired before they are finished so her test scores are very poor. I would like her to test orally, or be allowed extra time to finish.
I would like the directions to assignements read to her. But most of all, I want the attitude that she just doesn’t try and isn’t working to her ability stopped.

I hate to sound negative, but I doubt you will ever get them to stop saying she’s not trying or working to her potential. Seems to me, that’s a term the schools love. Sort of gets them off the hook. But if you find a way, please pass it on, I’ve been trying for years to get my son’s school to stop saying that, or passing that opinion on to him.
Good Luck, and we’re all here if you need us.

The state is Kentucky.I am frustrated that they don’t want to give help until she is so far behind that catching up would be almost impossible. I asked for the evaluations because she has been struggling since first grade. I have her in a Catholic school right now, but plan on moving her to a public school for fourth grade. My frustrations are with the County and State not her current school.
I know they don’t have to give my daughter special allowances. My hope was that she would qualify for help durring the school day. If she doesn’t then I will have alot of money saved by not pay tuition to use for private tutoring. She has been receiving help with reading at her current school for the last three years. We also did some private tutoring over the past couple years. I am sending her to a school that specializes in learning disabilities for a 4 week summer program. I wish she could go to this school year round but its just too expensive. $14,000.00 a year.

We did come- over our April break( 20-27). We stayed in Kissimmee and did Disney. It was wonderful. All of it. We only had a week- but we still have a day in the Disney pass so we will be back! I will let you know! Please don’t be mad! We should trade “real addresses” and phone#- I lost your email when I had browser trouble earlier this year- so send it to me.

Freedom from Distractibility does not indicate ADD- at least not without a lot of other information. And even so- 39% is average range and not a processing deficit by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t see LD in these scores- they are all pretty average. I did pick up from the comment comments- from Shannon who is clearly frustrated and from the quotes she included- about some performance issues. I don’t know if that means ADD- I am not there looking at this child:) but someone obviously did. There are lots of reasons why this child could be doing what she is doing besides LD- including anxiety about the testing process( and what she is doing doesn;t look all that awful from here really). But- as SAR said up there somewhere- that does not make it Special Education.

Robin

YES Robin,Please I would love to meet you in person:-) I live about an hour from disney. Email me..

Okay,all of the things you mention can be accomodations in a 504 plan,most definitely.

I just re read your post, a lot of what your daughter’s symptoms describes my older son, who is add/inattentive, except for letter reversals. He was tested in 2nd grade (in VA) per the teacher and reading teacher and found not eligible for sp.ed, I was told he was a ‘late bloomer’, he was tested again in 4th again at the urging of his teacher and found eligible under ohi because of his add/inattentive. He was struggling with everything and needed lots of repetition to learn. His tested reading levels were not as good as your daughter’s though. He was basically a non reader until 2nd grade. Partially the fault of a bad reading program in TX kindergarten and 1st grade.

He had been in a remedial reading class for part of 1st, all of 2nd, 3rd and 4th as well as tutoring during the summer between 2nd and 3rd and during 4th. At the eligibility meeting we went back and forth over the 504 vs. sp.ed, the sp.ed director and reg.teacher were in agreement with us that sp.ed would be more helpful, we are military and move a lot, we thought it would have more teeth at the new schools. His 4th grade teacher was putting forth a lot of effort and accommodations in class for him to be successful, she was a really good teacher and cared about him. A note about the 4th grade testing, he did poorly in the math area for the first time, this was because he was having trouble with multiplication tables, even now he can do plain multi. but it doesn’t carry over to other math applications well.

He was in a pullout model for lang.arts in 5th grade, it really pulled him up in a way that remedial reading classes didn’t. In 6th and currently 7th he has been in regular classes with sp.ed support and has been successful.

Most of his accommodations that he has currently in his 7th grade reg.classes with sp.ed support could be done with a 504 with the exception of taking tests or finishing assignments in the resource room. Under 504 your daughter could still take tests in a less distracting setting. He gets extended time for tests, has tests read to him (as needed these days, he took the terra nova with limited intervention from resource teacher per his request), can retake tests for grade improvement, we modify homework at home if needed (odd or even numbered problems in math for instance). He has opportunity to use a spell check device, a calculator for math. Since he has been in middle school, organization and turning in homework has been a big issue, we use a planner for his hw assignments that teachers and I have to sign, it helps with communication. He also has seating close to the main learning activity of the room, away from distractions (doors, windows) as well as a study buddy to help with notes, answer small questions (what page?).

You might have noticed that he has several accommodations for tests, my opinion about my son and tests is that he probably has test anxiety, he has historically not tested well in just about any setting. I am interested this year to see his terra nova results, this will have been his 3rd year taking a standardized test with accommodations, he didn’t pass the VA sol in 5th, he didn’t pass the lang.arts parts of the terra nova last year in 6th (although he did well on the accommodated parts) so this year should be interesting. Lang.arts/reading parts can’t be read to him.

I just thought I’d write because even if your daughter’s school doesn’t believe she has dyslexia, or in schoolese, a receptive/expressive lang. disorder, she could still qualify for accommodations under 504 for her adhd, which as you can see also can affect her ability to learn and succeed in the classroom. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

.Okay,yes,this is true she would not recieve special education services,such as time in the resource room,but what you stated was:

I don’t believe she reads most tests or gets tired before they are finished so her test scores are very poor. I would like her to test orally, or be allowed extra time to finish.
I would like the directions to assignements read to her. But most of all, I want the attitude that she just doesn’t try and isn’t working to her ability stopped.

This does not require being pulled out of class for resource room time. All of thes things the school should able to place on a 504 plan,and then comply with it.

I am starting to feel much better about my meeting next week.
I have a good friend who was a former principle in this school system.
He has advised me to take the 504 with as many accomidations as possible.
He tells me they hate to go 504, and are probably hoping I keep her in the private school she is in. He believes they will give the IEP instead of 504. If not I haven’t lost anything. I will have $4,000. I didn’t spend on tuition to spend on tutoring! Thanks for all the advice :)