Tests, Reports, Realities

Its such a long, hard road.

You are doing a wonderful job. Your son is lucky to have you as a parent.

Wow, he had really high IQ scores in a some areas. Ceiling scores. And I don’t understand the Woodcock Johnson scores, if the median is 50%, and you have a 16 year old reading at a 4th grade level, how can that be 67%. That would mean that 67% of 16 years olds taking that test score lower than he does. Unless the percentages you are giving aren’t standard percentiles, that doesn’t seem possible. What diagnosis did he have before? What testing has he had in the past? Are these scores similar? Are you happy with the school he is at now?

I know the Gifted Development Center in Denver will review test scores and records and for a fee do a phone consultation. They are reported to be very knowledgeable in figuring out what widely scattered scores like that mean. I don’t have a NLD child, but I didn’t think that affected their reading ability that much. I could be wrong.

Very interesting scores, I’m puzzled.

Molly

Well, I looked at those percents again. The 4.0 reading is 1% (67 was the SS) and the written language is .5% (61 SS). Part of my error was hurrying (reading the wrong column) and I’m sure part is just DENIAL (not just a river in Egypt). Testing done when he was 10 years old showed reading at 1.3 grade level on the Peabody and 1.0 on the Weschler. So, he has improved! I know that we observe him reading passages/pages at a higher level, maybe 5th or 6th grade level. He read his driving permit test by himself and passed. The WISC that was done at age 10 has similar scores with some up a little and some down. Placing him in a private LD school was probably the smartest thing we have done. He is happy and successful there. Part of the current testing was a self esteem inventory and he scored 92 where 70-80 are abverage for his age group. He feels confident about himself and his abilities. He has written (dictated) his first novel, written the script for a computer game, performs stand-up comedy, is on the honor roll even with an AP English class. It has been a hard and lonely road, but the sacrifices have been worth it. We’re preparing for SAT exams with accomodations and looking around at colleges.

You give me hope!! You and Jonathon Mooney.

An articulate, creative, productive, confident young man who prefers his data in not-in-written-language format. Very impressive.

So did you do about foreign language?

Keep us posted, now and then, how the college testing/accomodations/search goes, pleeeeeeeze.

Is this the Angela who chucked it all in, moved her family so that her child could attend an LD school?

Yes, it’s me! Still hanging in here, sometimes one day at a time!! My former friends have abandoned me, but the three of us (my husband, son and myself) have stuck together. We have met a few new people and keep our eyes straight ahead on a bright future for us all. We have not done a foreign language. Hope to find a college that understands the need to waive that requirement. I’m looking for productive things for him to do this summer and a conversational/cultural language class is one possibility. More though, I’m looking into a community college class to help him use the computer to read and write for him. We have tried those things unsuccessfully ourselves. I’m still doing a lot of his reading to him and type his papers. I’m NOT going to college with him…so I’m in high gear to make this summer and senior year a big step towards independence. Truely, the support of other parents on this board means the world to me. Thank you all for caring.

It sounds like his schoolperformance far exceeds what one would expect looking at those scores

What a victory for him(and his supporting family)

You might try to see if a college would count sign language for his language requirement

There are many 2 year degrees out there nowadays that lead to wonderful careers and financial success

Four year degrees provide no guarantees. I read 1/5 people with a 4 yr college degree is in a job that doesnt require one. I was surprised since I expected it to be higher. I know MANY MANY unemployed and underemployed people with degrees, incuding masters. We had our home painted recently by 4 gentlemen-3/4 had bachelors and one had a masters

I am certainly NOT trying to discourage him from college-golly, he is doing such a great job-just remember what I suspect you see as “worst case scenario” really isnt that bad.

I believe there are a lot of higher education urban myths out there.

He’s a great candidate for college if he gets accommodations for the reading issues and takes a reduced load. WHat’s he interested in, though? Those ceilings in the verbal end mean he’s going to fool a lot of teachers…
And just curious, what interventions has he had to teach the reading — or has he been compensating for lo these many years? Could be using his mature brain to work on some decoding skills could help bring them closer to his oral/aural langauge skills. Come on out to Illinois — he could go to Parkland College now :-)

How about some summer tutoring to help bring up those reading skills? If you get a tutor who gets down to basics and uses his intelligence to access those basic reading skills, he may be able to take off — I do this myself and have seen some real progress in a short time with adults.

He had LiPS in elementary school and a summer with PG. He takes a reading class daily at his private school. They use a mixed OG type program. He has also been doing Read Right since July - twice a week tutoring. I don’t think we did programs with enough intensity, but we did what we could afford. He does read things which are higher than those WJ scores, but reading and spelling are still such a difficult job especially compared with his verbal skills. He want to be a writer of video games or a stand up comedian. Since he is so smart and so verbal, I feel a good liberal arts education in college is the best starting place. He is interested in so many topics. I also think a small college would be best where he could live on campus and find a group of friends with similar interests. That has always been a challenge. His reading and writing are a little better. This summer I hope to have him learn computer skills at the community college, so that he can be more independent.

Do encourage him and advocate and do whatever it takes to get him in with other bright folks. Try not to let his numbers shuffle him into a world where he doesn’t fit at all… where people will just think his verbal gifts are weird :-) So when you’re looking for a small college, you want one where there are poets, not just engineers. In the big ol’ books of college info, look at the clubs that they have and in thecollege catalog, look at course offerings — does he know how to use speech recognition software? He would be a really good candidate for it… our community college does at least one workshop a semester to help people learn how to use it, sponsored by the company that sells the stuff, and you don’t have to buy it to do the workshop; worth checking out. It could free up his writing. Those weaknesses in the spatial end could cause him frustrations working wiht the creative folks in graphic design, but on the other hand, he could be the ‘missing link’ on a creative design team. This college has a pretty excellent 2-year program in Graphic Design but there’s a lot of emphasis on the visual end.

As your son attends a private LD high school, you could also consider a private LD college where accomodations should be granted without a psychological. If he would attend a private LD college, he’d find them all listed in the K&W Guide To Colleges for Students with Learning Differences.

The good news is my own son attends a ‘non-LD’ college where he is granted time and a half on all his tests and where most of his professors have been very accomodating of his learning difference.

Good luck to you and your son.

Angela,

My heart went out to you when I read your post. My son too has nonverbal weaknesses and dyslexia. It is a combination that I really don’t think the experts understand right now. My son’s Neuronet therapist has repeatedly told me she thinks it is all motor with him. We certainly have seen progress that way but he has been a child who has pushed her professionally….he has made her a better therapist, I think.

Which is all to say that I think it is a fairly uncharted territory with children like ours and you have done wonderfully with him. Most important, I think, is that he feels good about himself. He has many talents, more than most kids, as well as the weaknesses. Feeling good about himself will allow him to use those talents.

One thing I know our NN therapist did with her oldest son (who is LD—with a combination of nonverbal and verbal weaknesses too) is have him do two years of community college in three years. He lived at home and their goal was to get him to be independent. He then transferred to a four year school and lived away from home. He did fine—B average. He is now, believe it or not, in graduate school and doing well.

Beth

Thanks for the comments, suggestions, caring. We have a positive outlook on the next few years with a variety of choices to continue to help our son to continue his progress. This summer may mean a job, volunteer work, a class at a community college with a strong assistive technology program or perhaps even a pre-college program where he lives on campus. There are a couple of college nights coming up where we can look at some possible choices. Also an SAT prep class and the test with accomodations. He continues with Read Right twice a week, plus the reading class at school. I do appreciate having people to share my hopes and frustrations. Life definitely goes on and we don’t intend to be left on the sidelines looking back!

Good luck, Angela! Your son is obviously extremely bright and just needs to find his niche in life as well as a very accommodating college.

Janis