Hello,
I have an 8yr old daughter (2nd grade). She has been core evaluation by the school. She was 7.9yrs when it was done and she had an IQ of 89 and a 20 point spread between verbal and performance. The school says she doesn’t qualify for sevices. However they want to retain her. She is in remedial reading and was last year also, she is not making the gains I feel she should. I don’t understand what the school thinks another year in 2nd grade will do for her. I think it will make her look like she is doing well until she is presented with new material to learn in 3rd grade and this will start all over again. What are we going to do, just keep retaining her?
The school wanted to retain her last year (I got a letter 3 days befor the end of the school year…no prior discussion with the teacher no recommendations for evluation) I declined. I feel the school is bound and determined to prove me wrong in my decision. All I get is she is not meeting 2nd grade expectations. I would like to know specifically what the state requires a 2nd grader to know and where she falls short. Is that a fair question to ask, since her evaluation revealed she is average to low average based on age equivalents.
These are her subtest scores..age equivalency
Coding: 6.6 yrs
Symbol Search: 7.2 yrs
Comprehension: 7.6yrs
Picture Arrangement: 7.6yrs
Vocabulary: 8.6yrs
Similarities: 9.2yrs
(Picture Completion): 9.6yrs
Digit Span: 10.1yrs
Block Design: <6.2ys
Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated…we are in the process of getting her an outside evaluation…school approved. We have also just hired a private tutor for her who is trained in Ortingillingham who she will see her twice weekly(1hr each session).
Re: Doesn't Qualify??
Standard scores would be easier to evaluate and are usually what is used to make LD determinations. Age equivalency is not a useful measure. Lots of folks misunderstand AE scores and think it means the child has scored at x-year-old level. It doesn’t. If you have an 8 year old child with an AE score of 10.5 on a particular test, it just means the child scored as well as the average child aged 10.5 would on that test. It does not mean the child is functioning at the same level as a 10 year old.
Re: Doesn't Qualify??
With half your scores, including vocabulary and digit span, quite high, it looks like this child has some abilities that have not yet been tapped.
The Orton-Gillingham tutoring is probably the best thing you can do. Give it some time to work and keep at it, but I suspect that this child may pull ahead once she gets the right start.
It sounds like you are are the right track getting her formally evlauated, but I highly suggest that you do not retain her. The school has no idea where the problems lie, how in the WORLD can they want to keep her back in the same environment with the same teaching strategies that will just keep her failing her because they dont’ know what the problems are?
Makes no sense to me. I would get her tested first then go from there.
Is there speech problems associated? AD /HD?