Hi,
I’m new to your site and am seeking anyones advice/comments. To briefly bring you up to date, my dd went to a special needs preschool for 2 years at the public school system. She received PT, OT, ST and LD services. They released her in May 2003. She no longer qualified for services. Her preschool teacher reassured me she was reading for Kindergarten(and I trust this women with my life) and would be fine no matter which school I sent her to. She is now 6 and in Kindergarten at a Catholic school. This is where my other children went/go. Eight weeks into school we have a conference and her teacher said she wants her re-evaluted by the public school system for ADD/LD She says Katie is having trouble following directions and always has to work individually with her to get her papers done. Her attention span is extremely short and is easily distracted. (She has never been one to sit and color or work a puzzle or play a board game.) Her teacher constantly sends notes home about how much she has to work with her and how Katie is a big “concern for her”. We have an appointment next week with her pediatritian for possible ADD diagnosis and her school has yet to set up appt. for re-eval, so I took it upon myself to get that going. Just waiting for the principal to call me about a time. Her teacher has no patience with the children and has high expectations. I feel she sees Katie as a burden due to the fact she has to spend so much time with her. If she qualifies for services, we’ll have to move her to public school, which is fine. Whatever is best for her. My question-Should we try switching teachers and catholic school before moving her to public school? You know how different teachers have different teaching styles and some are more tolerant of small children? Should we move her to public school reagardless because the teacher has already labeled her as LD? What would be less traumatizing for Katie? I don’t want her to think she is bad or something is wrong with her. Should I wait for the doctors diagnosis and try the medicine for awhile to see if it helps? How long should I give it? I don’t want tooo much time to go by if she truely needs additional help. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you so much…
Re: Many questions regarding possible LD diagnosis??
I think you need more information. Short attention span, for example, can be due to many things and ADD is only one of them. My son was diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder after first grade and with appropriate therapy improved a lot.
As far as the school goes, you need to determine whether this teacher is typical of the school or not. My LD child is now in a parochial school and it is going very well. The school is dedicated to serving a broad range of children and they knew from day one, he was LD. However, I think this is very school specific and private schools are not obligated to accomodate LD.
I think you also have to figure out what your child needs, which again means more information, before deciding what to do. Not every teacher can meet all children’s needs. I have to agree that this teacher doesn’t seem like a good match for your child. Is your daughter happy? If she is, I wouldn’t switch her in the middle of the year.
REalize also that you may be lucky. I have talked to several parents in my son’s fourth grade class who are just pursuing LD testing. My son, who was clearly LD in K, is way ahead of them academically.
Finally, we have done most of the remediation of our son privately. So in my experience you shouldn’t hold your breathe for help from public school system. I think it depends on expectations and the like. The parochial school is much more advanced here than public and we were better off in public while we were remediating his deficits. It would have been too tough to keep up in those early grades. Now, at age 10, he is doing well and the more traditional approach to education is serving him well (he is actually being taught grammar, for example).
Beth
Re: Many questions regarding possible LD diagnosis??
I took my son out of a parachial school in Oct of his Kirdergarten year. I hadn’t had him evaluated yet, but it was clear he was “not getting it.” That school couldn’t do anything for him.
I withdrew him with no warning. I just came home from the conference and said, “You don’t go to that school anymore. You will start at the neighborhood school all the other kids go to.” He was fine with that and had no adjustment problems. Course I knew after 2 weeks that private school wasn’t the right one, but it took me two months to get the guts to pull him. Public school was fine for Kinder and 1st. During 2nd grade his teacher got fired and there was a string of subs, then a long-term sub who hadn’t taught in 15 years. My son only learned an hour a day - when he was in resource - and the rest was a waste.
This year, 3rd graade, he is in a private LD/ADHD school and I can’t tell you enough how amazing it is and how that much WORSE it makes the public school look especially in the way they handle ADHD/LD kids. It’s an Exemplary school for reg ed kids, but not my kid.
Re: Many questions regarding possible LD diagnosis??
I agree…get an evaluation before making a decision. If it simply is ADD and you decide to try medication, that might solve much of the problem. As the other messages mention, public schools rarely remediate learning problems. You will likely have to do that on the side privately regardless of which school you choose.
I already would be concerned that your public school released your child from special ed. when she clearly still had problems.
Janis
First, regardless of where you end up sending your daughter to school, she needs a really thorough evaluation by a doctor who specializes in diagnosing LD and ADHD. You could get an evaluation by the school district, but it probably would not be as thorough or as helpful. Also, since the public schoo now says your child does not need services, they may not be willing to change their views on that and that could delay getting her help if she needs it. Delay is a terrible thing when treating LD and ADHD. You got a great early start and you surely want that to continue. So, if you can swing the expense, opt for a private evaluation. If the evaluation show she is doing okay, then you can take that back to her current school and put them in their place. If it shows continuing issues, then you will know what they are and will be better able to decide what would be best for your child.
My own experience has been that some Catholic schools are not able to and don’t want to deal with ADHD/LD. It often depends where you live. I took my kid out of Catholic school after first grade, because they wanted to kick him out anyway. This was a child who received OT beginning in preschool and exhibted signs of LD by first grade and he just needed alot more help than a parochial school could give him He was in a self-contained classes in our public school system for several years. I put him back into an independent Catholic school for middle school and he is now in the mainstream and doing great there. The key to his success and happiness has been getting him into the right educational environment and obtaining effective treatment for his ADHD and effective remediation and support for his LD.