I have a child that has had in the past and present many sensory issues. He has been through OT therapy for sensory integration and was released about 2 years ago, but recently it seems he is still fighting some issues. He had anxiety in early kindergarten but now in middle school has developed claustrophobia. He has had speech in the past for articulation, receptive, and expressive language. Articulation is better but he now insists on speaking the new slang or accents often heard in rap. I think he still needs speech for language both receptive and expressive. He is still reversing his “b” and “d” when he writes. He has had vision therapy, wears glasses for an astigmatism and amblyopia. He seems to talk loud. I’m constantly telling him to lower his voice. He has been evaluated several times. His IQ ranges from low average to borderline to deficient; but outside of school, he is an intelligent boy. He has quick appropriate responses to questions. People seem to like him. He is very polite. He is easily frustrated, especially with school or menial tasks. He always does poorly on tests and evaluations. Schools and teachers are so quick to look at the scores, and then look at the child. Isn’t there a time when someone can get to know a child and then wonder why he tests out different from the person they know or see? I am so stressed out because of issues with the school and what I should begin again or do next.
Re: can several sensory issues lead to a misdianosis?
I have had 3 outside evaluations beginning at 5 1/2 years old because of the anxiety. Possible ld’s were diagnosed if smaller classes and different learning styles were not used. We did change school for the smaller classrooms but the difficulties weren’t being addressed at school; they weren’t equipped for it. Switching back to public school, the school did its own evaluation in mid elementary. In the school evaluation, he scored higher than the private evals. I’m thinking he was more relaxed in the school atmosphere but they didn’t answer all of the questions and I continued to search for answers and the recommendations for the issues that showed up (per private evals). The other private reports done by psychologist and neuropsychologist reported the lower reports. His scores are falling, instead of improving. Granted last year, all we could afford was LMB for reading. Speech and OT had been discontinued. An earlier speech pathologist’s report showed both receptive and expressive difficulties with mild articulation. He was seeing the speech therapist at school and another private therapist at the same time one year because speech at school was unreliable, due to schedule mixups, absences (both his or the therapists), he and his teacher forgetting about speech, etc. Better for me to make sure he saw at least the private therapist! OT results were verrrry slooow and probably took longer than I or the therapist imagined. Private reading intervention was more successful than leaving it up to the school, but still needs to continue. It looks as if we will seek private math remediation; and go back to some speech or ot therapy. I have had his hearing checked a couple of times. Hearing is fine. I thought I was seeing the pathologist for auditory processing but was misinformed. His private speech therapists (there have been 2) have worked with him on auditory processing but never wrote up an evaluation about the auditory processing. These are my concerns but I’m not sure what to do when, how long to coninue, and…I’m afraid that they will begin to make comments about placing him in a lower functioning classroom. He is currently in an SLD class. I’m not sure if placing him in the SLD was a good idea. I have seen the same kids in the class for the past 3 years. The comments from the teacher is “we’re may appear to be hard on the kids because we want them to eventually progress out of this class.” The selling point on this classroom was (1) smaller class instruction, (2) multi-sensory teaching, (3) more attention and individual attention to the child, (4) instruction broken down to “piece meal” instruction. I’m afraid I’m not seeing the results. I have seen what kind of instruction works for him and his success. It is simple…teach the way he learns. One thing the teacher isn’t doing.
This child needs an extremely thorough evaluation by a professional in diagnosing language-based LD and by an audiologist experienced in diagnosing auditory processing disorders. Don’t rely on the school for this stuff. What remediation has he had, beyond VT and OT. Those are fine, but unlikely to be enough for a child with severe LD as it appears may be the case with your son. Obviously, his learning issues are interfering with the ability of the school to test him, which is why you need to look for outside help. You need real experts, not just a school psychologist.