Hello,
My son is almost 8 and we recently had him tested because we home schooled in the first grade and suspected he may have some inattentive ADD issues. We were surprised by the test results. The “doctor” told us he has severe learning disabilities including problems with auditory and visual processing. He said our son has an IQ of 72 and that he is “borderline mentally retarded.” Having worked in schools for over 20 years, just hearing the use of the “MR” world absolutely devastated and shocked me.
My son is reading and doing math at second grade level, and just started the second grade two weeks ago. He does have problems with his pencil grip (Which I have seen even in average high school boys over the years) and his writing is sloppy, but whe others have conversations with him they think he sounds like a much older kid.
My big issue is, after discussing the test results with the “doctor,” I asked him how he felt about CAPD and he told me in no uncertain terms that it DOES NOT EXIST! Because there is no official, scientific diagnosis for the condition, he does not believe in it. So my son has “delays/disabilities in auditory and visual processing” but that’s not related to CAPD…?
Now I don’t know what to think. I am going to have the school run more tests and am doing research on CAPD as I truly believe he has the disorder, but I have the test results showing a very low IQ and I don’t agree with the results at all.
Am I just a mother who knows nothing about my own child’s dis/abilities? I have been a sign language interpreter for 20 years and it’s so hard to believe I’ve been blind to this issue. Am I just in denial?
What do I do now? Where do I start to try to get services for my son and a real diagnosis before he starts to slip through the cracks of the educational system?
[Modified by: StaceyW on September 30, 2011 02:28 PM]
Re: CAPD
Nowadays, the desigination of MR is not used much, because there is so much more understanding of learning disabilities, including CAPD, attention issues, etc., that the learning issues need to be addressed first. I think the “doctor” who tested your son must not have up to date knowledge. What were the qualifications of the tester? Was the testing done at your son’s school, or did you pay for it privately?
I paid for testing privately twice, in 1996 and 2003, the second time at the prestegious Northwestern University. Both times, I was told my daughter had “no learning disabilities, just her own learning style.” She got through elementary school and high school with lots of tutoring and mother’s help/support as a scribe, typist, educational enrichment provider, emotional supportor and constant homework monitor. (it was pretty exhausting for both of us, but it was part of being the mother of this wonderful child—fortunately I had the skill set and a similar temperament, so we did not have terminally destructive conflicts, but the conflicts did get bad at times…imagine nagging a teen to do her homework!).Her learning problems and struggles continued, though, despite the first two brilliant experts, so she was tested after high schoold graduation at age 18 and found to have a slew of learning disabilities, and later, attention problems. BTW, her IQ was calculated at 118 at age 8, 105 at age 16 and 118 at age 18.
She is 23 now, on her way to coping with her LD’s and succeeding in college. But, despite lots of help, she still feels stupid when she is faced with a challenge, and this feeling of being stupid creates a funk of emotion that is hard to climb out of. It has been a “habit” to feel stupid, and its a hard neurologic connection to break out of now, so well established by years of academic problems.
The moral of this story is to not give up if you know there is a problem, and do everything you can to do this while your son is still young. Remarkable positive cahnge can occur and problems avoided when learning problems are addressed early on. Get the proper and thorough evaluation for your son. If one evaluation does not seem right, keep looking. Don’t accept information that does not seem right to you. Educate yourself, too. Get a thorough evaluation from someone who knows about CAPD and knows how LD’s affect full scale and sub scores on IQ tests. You will need to ask around, find recommendations from others in organizations like the International Dyslexia Association, millermom.proboards.com, and CHADD. AND, beware of the hundreds of internet vendors who promise quick fixes for learning problems. They are [b]vendors[/b], and most of the “fixes” have no scientific evidence nor study of effectiveness. Lastly, don’t give up in your quest, don’t get terminally discouraged.
Re: CAPD
Your post doesn’t say clearly - is your son in the educational system now? In 2nd grade?
In my experience, children don’t ‘slip through the cracks’ though it’s a common and popular phrase. A lot of teachers do a lot of screaming and sadly sometimes at the child rather than the child slipping through the cracks.
You also don’t clearly say what doctor told you this. Has your son’s teacher told you anything? I too would doubt that your son has an IQ of 72 - if that were true, you’d know.
What would you have liked the school to do - if he’s in a traditional school setting now. The outcome you’re seeking is what should guide your next steps.
It may help to have him tested by an audiologist. It is strange the doctor who tested him completely denies that CAPD could even exist. We had an audiologist do a slew of tests on our daughter, and our insurance even helped pay for it. If auditory processing disorders did not exist, why would there by a bunch of tests to check for them?
My daughter’s test showed she had an auditory disorder, though she did not have the full-fledged CAPD, which involves trouble in multiple auditory areas. That said, she definitely has had attention issues. The good news is that her problems have tended to be developmental, and she has gotten much better with age.
The one thing that may be more baffling for your son is the IQ score. My daughter’s auditory problems did not appear to affect her IQ testing when she had an evaluation. The auditory problems did affect her performance on other tests though. The IQ tests are supposed to capture abilities that normally are not as obvious in children with learning disabilities. Perhaps if your son has visual problems as well, this may be why. It is hard to test a child with both hearing and vision issues. To start though, you can try the audiologist. Good luck!