Re: Needing Intervention along w/ homeschooling--how??

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

My daughter was just evaluated and found to have Auditory Decoding Deficit. Her results were very unusual and atypical—her left ear is dominant vs. the right. The result is that what she hears is poorly connected to her language/speech abilities. The audiologist recommended reading, language, and speech intervention for her using a formal reading program, a SLP familiar w/ one-on-one language/auditory processing therapy, and Earobics at home.

My son is now attending a school that addresses many (but not all) of these problems—he is only there by voucher. We cannot pay for the tuition and we sent him to public school in order for him to attend the private school. My daughter was only in public school for 2 months—she would have to go back to school, attend for a year, plus be tested by the school system, have an IEP written, and be in ESE for a year in order to qualify for the scholarship. It’s not a given, either. I’m not even sure if the district recognizes APD as a legitimate LD (they don’t w/ dyslexia—just call it ‘specific learning disorder’.)

Is it worth it to send her to public school to try to get a voucher? This school has helped my son out tremendously. But he is very different from his sister—he is very mild-mannered, rarely frustrated, and very laid-back. His sister is just the opposite and I can only imagine how she would be in public school when the setting clashes with her auditory problems. However, private intervention is very expensive—if we could afford it, then we could send her to private school w/out the need for a voucher.

I am in need of some ideas, advice, suggestions, and turned-on light bulbs. If you’d like to e-mail me privately ([email protected]), please feel free to do so. Hope everyone is having a good winter and thank you all!

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 12/11/2004 - 9:55 PM

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I think the first thing you have to do is determine whether the school district recognizes APD as a disability. Mine does not, as they regularly told me. But I just as regularly told them that he qualified for help as having a specific learning disability.

This is because he was (at that time) way behind in reading. In FL anyway, classification would only occur if the core academics are way behind. It really doesn’t matter what the cause is. We were able to try out a sound field system (it didn’t help) because he was classified as having a specific learning disability. It was our key to getting more help.

How old is your daughter and where are you located?

Beth

Submitted by Drae on Sun, 12/12/2004 - 7:35 AM

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My daughter is 6 now. She will be 7 in January. I have been homeschooling her this year but she is very behind. Doing ok in math, improving in handwriting, drawing, etc…just about in everything that doesn’t require oral/reading/auditory instruction.

We’re in Florida, too…Duval county.

My son didn’t qualify for SLD because they said his scores we’re within range. I got a private eval for him and despite the findings and recommendations from the doc, they said the only problem was ADD (that came from a p-doc). I am afraid the same thing will occur w/ her but she doesn’t have ADD.

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 12/13/2004 - 12:43 AM

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OK. I can’t remember if it is Broward county law or Florida law on the APD. I would suspect it is Florida. But that means she would have to qualify for an IEP on some other basis to get help. I looked into using the McKay scholarships for my LD son so I have some familarity with them (I assume that is what you are referring to). You’d have to get her classified and then have her in class for some period but anyone who has an IEP can get one by going through the proper channels. You don’t have to prove that the school can’t serve her or anything like that.

Florida still uses a discrepancy formula and that is the difficulty with young children. It is hard for them to be enough behind to qualify. My son came on an IEP from NY and they just continued it.

So it seems to me the biggie is getting her on an IEP to start with. You can request testing now, even with her not in the public school system (in writing). Maybe if you could get her classified you could just have her in the school system next year.

Beth

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