Hi - My 13 yr old daughter has a long and frustrating history with our school. Now that she is going to high school all of a sudden her LD is considered severe. The testing the school psychologist did this year was a joke. No history on her nothing. WISC show IQ 55. Not possible! Mildly mental retardation. Yet felt no need to tell us this. She is using the grade 4 math book this year and still struggles,money is very confusing for her, her biggest problem seems to be reading comprehension. They tell me her decoding is a strength yet when asked to pick out an important part or idea of a paragraph she’ll say…the boy had red hair (which he did) or get things mixed up. She reads fairly fluently, sounds out new words, not always correct but trys. We are currently seeking indepenant help to try and figure out where exactly the problem is. She is emotionally a little immature. Maybe 11-12 yrs. Yet responsible enough to go to mall, movies with friends, use a bank card, does her chores, organizes homework. She is very outgoing and a little naive.
I guess what I am trying to get at is when they test her she just shuts down. If you asked her what color the sky is she would shrug or say I don’t know. If I know that and I am her parent and the psychologists didn’t take a history or anything how can the psychoeducational testing be even remotely accurate??
Re: Help - We know DD has LD of "Some" kind.
Be sure to insist testing by a competant professional for auditory processing disorder, possibly the commonly overlooked neurological condition which causes LD’s.
Re: Help - We know DD has LD of "Some" kind.
Definitely get better testing. There is a site called Wrightslaw which has all sorts of info that you need to be aware of about your rights — you have more than you think, but don’t go overboard and expect unrealistic results. If you make a written request for formal testing, the school has a limited time in which they have to comply. However many people here find private testing is much more helpful.
Your daughter could almost certainly benefit from one-to-one reading tutoring. NOT the commercial centers, but a private specialist who plans genuinely individual work and who know research-based methods.
I always have questions about testing results of “strong decoding”. On investigation, I have found in many cases that means “strong for a kindergartner”. Often only single consonants are tested, maybe a few short vowels. A good start, but you *also* need vowel pairs, digraphs, blends, and common irregular patterns and silent letters, and lots of knowledge of syllables. When you say she *tries* to decode new word, this strengthens my suspicions in this area. Most students I meet need the second and third levels of phonics/decoding, desperately.
For comprehension, she needs to read with someone who will work with her directly on this. I work with students alternating pages in a novel. We slog through two to five pages a day each, and we discuss things as they come up. It takes time and work but I have seen notable improvements.
The attitude problem is common. Most of the time, when the student starts to feel some success and is able to function as a real member of the class group, the attitude gets better as a consequence. No magic, no quick and easy solutions, but steady work does get there.
Re: Help - We know DD has LD of "Some" kind.
I would first address the anxiety issues that basically render that testing invalid. You have **no idea** what she is capable of.
Re: Help - We know DD has LD of "Some" kind.
We finallyy have another pediatrician appt. Found out that the ped. we saw in grade 4 told fam. dr. he was going to follow up but never called us. I will have to discuss the anxiety thing with him. It sometimes seems so overwhelming. I just want to help my daughter but it is always this hurry up and wait and never any answers.
Any ideas on the “anxiety thing”?
Re: Help - We know DD has LD of "Some" kind.
My dd sees a psychiatrist for her anxiety. She takes medication to get it under control enough that therapy can work on the rest. It could be that your child only needs therapy, so that is where I would probably start. If that doesn’t show improvement, it may mean that the chemicals are unbalanced and a combination of medication and therapy would be beneficial.
http://www.childhoodanxietynetwork.org/ is a helpful site on children and anxiety.
http://www.adaa.org/ This site has a lot of good information and a great chart on medications.
http://www.childanxiety.net/ another site specific to children.
I would get an independent evaluation.
Schools don’t always search out “all” the details. Often they stop when they find “something” that qualifies.
You need to get a full comprehensive evaluation independently, ASAP. Insurance, or state medical can pay for it. If you follow the law about notification etc. you might be able to get the school to pay for it, or reimburse you.
You will need to know all you can about her disability before you can get the school to do anything else about it.
Try to find an Advocate, they would have the answers to the “rules” and the places you could get the evaluation.
Good Luck!