What is the difference between LD's and Developmental Delays

A learning disability is when there is an average or higher IQ but the actual ability is lower than that. If taught a specific way the abilities can rise up to the IQ or at least the gap can be closed up some.

A developmental delay is when development of whatever - gross motor skills for example - is slower than average.

Add another one - a slow learner is someone with a below average IQ or very low average IQ.

I don’t think I did a very good job of those definitions. Hopefully, others will chime in.

LD always involves certain developmental delays, such as in reading or writing. Developmental delays can also be present where there is cognitive impairment or physical impairment. What kind of delays does your child have? At 8, you probably should be trying hard to pinpoint whether there is an LD.

To keep it very simple and leave out all the details:

Remember that diagnoses are not written in stone. Everyone including doctors and psychologists makes mistakes. And there are approaches to teaching that can improve a child’s learning ability. So get second opinions if the diagnosis seems really not to match the child, and work on teaching as best you can.

If the diagnosis is Learning Disability then the child’s IQ is at least average and often high, and given appropriate support he/she can do well and perhaps even excel in some kinds of academic studies.

If the diagnosis is *overall* Developmentally Delayed (not just delayed in certain areas), then the child’s IQ is well below average and he/she will need to be helped to learn as much as possible in school, while he/she will probably succeed best looking for a career that doesn’t demand a lot of academic background.

Well he is now in grade 4. He has always struggled in school. They did do some testing on him. I was not very pleased with it. He has a bad memory, cognitive, and autitory problems. His IQ is below average too :( . He has no physical delays, is left handed and very co ordinated. The school recommended DS classes. I did agree to this, as I felt I had no choice and I don’t want him to just sit in a class not being able to do anything because I can’t follow directions.
School started this week and only the FIRST day, he brough home a book stating what he did that day ONLY. Nothing since. I want to know what they are teaching him in that class.
I am so far very disappointed. He is also started to act, how can I put this nicely. :oops: Very dumb. He has nothing wrong with his speetch, yet he is talking like he stutters,etc. He thinks it is funny. He has Phys Ed with children in wheel chairs, I don’t think this is right either. He is very athletic and knows HOW to play sports and knows the rules.
I am worried this class might hold him back, from learning. I want him to learn reading, printing and math. Not how to cook. He KNOWS how to cook, tie his shoes, and do life skills. I feel these things are taking time away from what he should be learning.

I want to add that, he was a “normal” baby and toddler. He crawled at 10 , months, and at 1 and a half yrs of age I taught him colours and shapes, and he was able to point out the colors I told asked him to , etc.
He is my third child BTW, and his milestones were average as my older two kids.
I just want to know what could have happened too.His teacher from his old school basically patted me on the back, while she told me his test results. I said to her, “Are you telling me, my child is retarded?” She told me that in Canada they don’t use that word anymore.
Should I take him to a doctor?
Is my son retarded? Can IQ alone show this?
I want to do the best for my child, but I don’t know where to begin? :cry:

Can you have him evaluated again outside the school? A 2nd opinion would be good. Can he be placed in the regular class with modifications until you get a second group of scores? His current class doesn’t sound quite right for him.

Thanks so much for the replys everyone. So sorry about the typos in my last post. :oops:
I did walk to the school today, I wanted to stand in the hall outside the classroom and listen, but the class had gone outside.At the time I didn’t know this.
I will phone the teacher on monday, to discuss my concerns.
How do you go about avaluating a child out of the school? Through a physician?

Oh I can’t go back to edit.
I’ll have to remember this.

Normal learning milestones and recognizing colours and shapes, followed by trouble in school and auditory problems — sounds like a lot of people hjere who have kids with CAPD or other learning disabilities.

Yes, the class placement definitely sounds wrong. Work on getting him something better. You will have to do the ins and outs of the administration but keep at it. Polite but persistent.

IQ is tricky. If he really has a learning disability, the usual screening tests will *not* give an accurate measure on him. He needs an individual test done by a specialist. And make sure what kind of specialist — someone who works with academic testing, not the Freudian like they gave my daughter. If the school can;t come up with anyone, go to the university teaching hospital.

It’s funny, the same people who will no longer use the word retarded in public will still take a basic group test as written in stone and warehouse a kid based on it — watch out for the double-think attitude.

You will have to fight to get him tested properly for CAPD and other LD’s. Try through the school — work up the line from principal to district office to district superintendent to provincial government ministry of education. Keep your requests polite but firm.

Try also going to your nearest university teaching hospital and seeing what they have there. I know McGill and University of Montreal and UQAM all have APD and speech-language pathologist people here — look at your local university hospital. Even if it’s a long drive it’s worth it.

Thanks So much Victoria. CAPD sounds EXACTLY like my son.

I don’t know how low your son’s IQ tested but mine tested at 84 at age 3 and 5, which considered a “slow learner”. In his first school district, they realized that these scores did not represent his potential but when we moved they were used as an excuse not to teach him.

My son was diagnosed with auditory processing disorder at age 7. AFter some remediation, he was reevaluated and his IQ was average (99). The child did not get smarter–he just was able to follow directions better.

IQ tests can be very tricky for kids with certain types of processing disorders.

The school wrote my son off too. At the end of first grade, they basically told me that the problem wasn’t that they couldn’t teach but that we had not accepted that we had a child with a disability. I was so mad that I vowed to teach him myself.

To give you some hope my son is now 11 and doing well after years of work on our part. He is still LD but is getting A’s and B’s for the most part at a demanding parochial school with some accomodations (spelling not counted except on tests, can type instead of doing cursive). We did have him repeat fourth grade last year when we moved him out of special ed and into the paroachial school which was ahead of the public school.

Beth

Are there any links on info, that can tell a parent how they can “work” with their child?
I refuse to except this. Maybe I am in denile, but something just does not seem right.

There is a program called Audiblox that is affordable as a do-it-yourself and many parents calim excellent results. However you have to dedicate a *lot* of time and serious work to it — every day for months to get the results you want. But if you are willing to put the effort in, other people here say will see the benefits.

There is a program caled Fast ForWord which *may* be helpful, depending on what is going on with your son. It is quite expensive, but you can buy the parent/teacher CD and do this one yourself.

You can do a web search for these two and talk to other parents on this board who have used them.

I regularly send out copies of my how-to-tutor do-it-yourself teaching notes, and if you’re interested, just give me an email at [email protected]