My son is 5 1./2 and in private kindergarten. He has attended the same private school for 3 years, nursery and Pre-K. We have a pretty severe history of learning disabilities which I have been metioning all along to school. They have been monitoring him since his start there at age 3. They have always at such a young age, his letter confusion and things of that nature may just be age related.
So this year I again explained the history to the kindergarten teacher and she has been watching him. She said after school vacation she noticed that everything seemed to be clicking for him and that everything was going well. However, last friday I met with her and she said that she has noticed a decline in his language arts development. He is having tons of trouble recognizing letters, letter sounds, it is all letter related. She said in every other subject math, science, spanish, that everything is fine and he is doing extremely well. She advised me that we should have him screened because that would really help her understand his learning style and if there were any underlying problems.
Sounds good to me. I sit my son down and explaing to him what she said and that we are going to meet with a lady who is going to ask him some questions and probably play some games with him. I told him that it is so we can tell me Jen how his brain likes to learn. He is fine with it and actually asks me a couple of times when we are going. Now the frustrating part comes. I finally get the guidance woman on the phone from the elementary school he is supposed to be in. She tells me that usually they don’t test this young. That if he is confusing letters and letters sounds that is perfectly normal, all kids that age do that. I explained to her that the teacher, the same teacher who sees him everyday 8am to 3pm, is seeing a problem. I also explain the severe family history. She tells me if the history is that bad that he should really be in public school because they can handle it better! AAAAHHHHH, sorry just needed to scream there!! I explain she had both my younger brother and sister and the school failed to properly diagnose my brother until age 13 and my sister until age 17, so I said”No thanks I’ll pass on public school!”
So basically she said I have to attend an open team meeting. She said it is held once a month and it is a group of who knows who and I have to basically plead my case and they will decide if it is warranted, which she doesn’t seem to think it is!!
Is this the new Massachusetts law? I remember that the head of the private school said there were some changes but I don’t remember that this is what they were?? So basically I am supposed to sit around until they think it is a good time?? I really can’t afford private testing, it is like $1000 bucks, which we don’t have! I found a test online that you order that is a home dyslexia assessment. Should I try that?? I am so annoyed that I could scream!!
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Dawn
I don't think I'd spend the money on the home dyslexia asses
online. Basically, all it is going to do is tell you what you already know from the teacher’s observations.
Check the “LD in Depth” section of this website, especially the articles under “assessments” and “IEP”. What you might want to do is request from the school district *in writing* a complete speech and language evaluation. Any requests you make should be in writing. One of the tests you would want given would be the LAC, which would give you an indication of reading readiness (phonological awareness). Another would be the SCAN, or some other screening for auditory processing problems.
Actually, you might also be able to get the speech and language evaluation from a private clinic, paid for by your medical insurance. If you call a clinic and ask, they should be able to tell you if your insurance will cover an evaluation. This can be a *lot* easier than going through a school system.
I would also advise taking your son to a developmental optometrist. A good website with more information is http://www.childrensvision.com. You can find developmental optometrists in your area at http://www.covd.org. A developmental vision eval includes about 20 tests of visual function not covered in a regular eye exam.
Yet another thing you can do is start Audiblox (http://www.audiblox2000.com) at home. You would need to be willing to spend 1/2-hour per day one-on-one doing the exercises, though. Most children start showing gains after about 6 weeks.
Relying on schools to provide appropriate diagnosis and remediation (especially preventive remediation!) is very risky. Your best bet is to do a lot of research on your own, and work as much as you can through private channels.
Mary
I lost the public versus private in your thread but the public school has to provide testing even if your child is in a private school. You need to request it in writing.
It is more difficult to qualify for services when they are young because the normal variation is so wide. This is what they are saying I think. Still, my son started K as speech impaired. His speech improved a lot in K (he had started as a preschooler as a disability) but noone was comfortable with declassifying him. His visual motor skills were weak and he ended up being classified as having a visual motor disabiity at the end of K. We then moved and he was put into a resource room in first grade. He didn’t know his letters and other expected things. The new school, based on informal testing, classified as having a specific language disability. I frankly don’t think he met the standard critieria at that point but he was in the special education system. If your interest is in understanding his weaknesses, then standardized testing by the public school ought to help with that regardless of the outcome.
Many private and parochial schools do not, however, want or feel they can adequately cope with LD kids. We have two of our kids in parochial school. Our LD child is in public. I will also say that a friend whose older LD child was pretty much failed by the public school system is doing much better with her younger child. The difference is that she has been much more proactive and understands how the system works much better. So, if it proves necessary to move your child, you may have a very different experience because you have learned from your siblings’ experiences.
Beth