Borderline/Slow Learner

Don’t trust the school’s evaluation for IQ score for one thing. It’s expensive, but a private evaluation by a pschologist who specializes in children with learning differences may give you a more accurate result. My son was low average, as tested by the school, but scored nearly forty points higher in an independent evaluation. Some types of LD’s can skew the score. My son has auditory processing issues and at the time he was tested in kindergarten, he was able to understand and process only about every other word. Of course he didn’t do well.

The school is not motivated, however, to test your child for a higher IQ. A lower IQ score translates into lower expectations from the school, and they cut services rather than provide them. It saves them money that they don’t relly have anyway. You have to have it done yourself, if you truly believe that the low IQ is inaccurate. Do you believe your son is a slow learner? Don’t judge by reading and math skills alone. If he comes up with ways to do things that are peculiar but clever, you may have a misdiagnosis.

Early in August I made an appointment for an independent evaluation. A week before school started I made an appointment with the school principal as this was going to be a new school for my son. This school has programs that his old elementary never heard of……only 3 miles apart. When I asked for a re-evaluation they said it was not necessary. So I’m glad I made that appointment. Just this afternoon I got a call for him to come in Sept. 11, to start testing.
Thanks for your relpy.

Yes, re-evaluate, definitely.

Also get DETAILED evaluations of hearing and vision — not a nurse’s ten-minute screen, but a real measure by a specialist.

Then, if he’s a slow learner, good teaching methods are still good methods. He will go somewhat more slowly, but he can do a lot.
Go to the Teaching Reading and Teaching Math websites and find out what really works. You can tutor a lot yourself, and you can try to get effective approacheds into his IEP.

In particular, do not fall for the old “he can’t learn phonics” gag. In fact, phonics approaches are the MOST effective with slower learners — they can’t memorize huge lists of words by sight (If a kid couldn’t learn 100 or so common spelling patterns, how could he be expected to memorize over 3000 words??). Work with him yourself and take your time, and try to get the school on board.

victoria, thanks for your reply.
I have him tested for his hearing every year. As a baby he had tubes put in twice. First time they fell out to soon. At the age of 4.5 he started to stutter, sent him to the P.E.P.P.E.R. Program in 1995 for Speech. As for his vision is 20/20 but wears glasses just for reading the small print or from the black board. He went for visual therapy for 16 weeks for his visual perception problem. His handwriting is not that bad but his spelling is horrid, only he knows what he has written.
I’m hoping that with this independent evaluation we can find out what is really wrong. He once told his Doctor to please check his head because nothing stays in.
I’ve tryed the Hooked on Phonics program……he had a hard time with the sounds and putting them together. Whole language is forget it!
I have the Books on Tape that I ordered…..but he get bored just listing, he cant read as fast as they talk.
Well that’s all for now…….sometimes it hard for me to talk about it.
Thanks again.

If your son is saying “nothing stays in” look at some of the sights on NLD. The best way to describe my NLD stepdaughter is that she “cannot remember how to remember”. She learns it and vaguely remember learning it but cannot find “the file” as I put it.

Her TCS as tested by the school was way below average but a WISC done by a professional showed a high discrepancy between VIQ and PIQ. Her school had basically written her off due to the score they got and placed her in classes with high percentages of ESL students so that the class would move more slowly but did not think of a learning disability.

Look at the sites and see if other things click for you. Definitely don’t trust their test and get the private testing done. Good luck.

I am seeing red flags for auditory processing disorders. Chronic ear or sinus infections that warrant ear tubes is pretty common in children with these difficulties. Phonics might not be working because he can’t distinguish the sounds clearly enough to make permanent connections to the letters that they represent.

Try talking with your hand barely touching your lips and then imagine that type of sound being used to teach you a foreign language. A normal hearing test would not catch this disability, and in fact a lot of these kids have hypersensitive hearing and cannot tolerate loud noises or noise with lots of background humming, like in a crowd or with machinery operating. They can’t filter out which noises are important, and they eventually tune out most of it, and it gives the impression to strangers that the child is slow.

On the home page of this site, type in CAPD in the search engine, and you’ll get several good articles. Your independent evaluator may be able to guide you speech and language clinics in your area. If not, lots of universities have language clinics, but the waiting list is usually pretty long and the talent of the staff is wildly inconsistent. We’ve had great success with a clinic affiliated with Scottish Rites, which is sponsored by the Freemasons. You can look them up on line, or call your local chapter of the Masons. Most public schools simply do not have enough money to provide what your child needs.

I’ve been in your position, and it is really hard, lots of crying, worrying, and sleepless nights. Hang in there, my thoughts are with you.

I had a feeling audio was also the problem….. when he was much younger he could never stand loud noises, would hold his ears all the time. It seems to have gotten better over time. I know I will have to ask him, he hasn’t complaint of any noise interference so far. But, what I don’t understand is why he didn’t qualify for ESE services? I hate to say it but the school system really let this child down.
So now we are looking at visual and audio perception problems. Right?
So now maybe we have to go back to Speech/Lang and vision therapy again.
I’m going to have to wait for him to start this indep. evaluation on the 11 of this month, to see how he tested and will defenitely look into what ever the outcome will be.
Thanks so much Tired Mom, I tired too.

The problem is LD services are usually defined by a descrepancy between IQ score and academic performance. Otherwise, the school will just say that his performance is consistent with his IQ. I had this problem with my son in first grade. His IQ score was 84. When he didn’t learn to read, they told me I hadn’t accepted that my child had a disability. It couldn’t be their teaching.

The IQ tester, however, had noted that he had trouble following directions. He was diagnosed with CAPD and did Fast Forward in the summer following first grade. He was retested in second grade and his IQ was 99. Now he was also 7, not 5, and IQ testing is more valid at 7 than 5. But we noticed, following fast forward, that he understood everything around him much better.

This gave me an advantage with the school because now they could not argue that his lack of reading was due to his IQ.

Beth

Beth,
I had asked the Principal of his new school for a re-evaluation with letter in hand. She said it was not necessary! Was it because he was evaluated in April of 2000 and it’s only 2 years later or what? I’m from Fl too, nice to meet ya.

mjm,

Reevaluations are required every three years. Perhaps all the principal was saying was you didn’t HAVE to redo this. My son was evaluted before entering K for elgibility. He had been classified as a preschooler with a disability because of speech issues. We moved to Florida when he was starting first grade. I requested an evaluation (two years after first) because the school was classifying him as having a specific language disability but he had never had a comprehensive evaluation done. He had come into the school classified as having a Visual-motor integration disorder (his speech improved markedly in K but new issues reared their heads).

I would put your request in writing and send it to the ESE director. I will tell you that the school psychologist did a really lousy job of interpreting his test scores so have realistic expectations about what you can get through the school. I also know lots of people who say their kids score higher on IQ tests outside the school setting. I think it is because school personnel don’t take as much time to make the kids comfortable. We got an average IQ score so I didn’t pursue private testing at the time. Now, however, two years later, I am planning to have a complete neuropsychological exam done. New things just keep popping up with my son.

Beth

It was because the principal’s job is to make sure none of the money is spent.

I have found dealing with the principal as little as possible to be the best route to take. It is amazing to me that you can ask the principal for something numerous times and hit a brick wall. Then you go to someone else like the school psych or the sped director and get a totally different response. There are often reasonable people at the school who will work with you if you work with them. It sometimes just takes a little work to find them.

Beth and Linda F, Thanks for your input. I am concerned thou, do I by pass the Principle and go directly to the IEP team to discuss my son, eventhough I don’t have any IEP set up for him? Will they see me?
Or do you think I should wait until the indep. evaluation is complete and then take the results to them?
Thanks again.

Well, if you have an independent evaluation scheduled, then you could just wait. You don’t typically deal with a principal on these sorts of things so I wouldn’t worry about that part. Usually, I have spoken to the ESE director who has given me the appropriate paperwork to fill out. I’d probably have the independent evaluation done, see what it says, and see if there is anything the school should still do. You might have them do academic evaluation for example. You can’t have two IQ tests done in one year—or the second is invalid so not point to repeating same tests.

Beth

You should post a new topic and title it “A Question for Socks.” Socks is a regular poster on this board and she really knows what’s what. I would think that she would know what you can do legally, and she is from Florida, too. My instinct would be to wait for the results and then contact an advocate to represent your child before you meet with the school. I’m from Florida, too, but I never get the details quite right, particularly state education law. Socks really knows her stuff.

By the way, I thought that your little guy asking the doctor to check his head was awfully clever! It sounds to me that he’s got more on the ball than the school is giving him credit for.

Thanks I will post to Socks.
I have an advocate, she also tutors Orton-Gillingham. We are meeting up tomorrow to set up a time for her to tutor my son.
Things will be on hold for a while until the testing is over.
Thanks again….mj

Hooked on Phonics is not wrong, but insufficient. It just isn’t a complete program. Email me for an outline and program suggestions I made for another parent.