dyslexia

PASSWORD>aaI221mi7wL3IHe is functioning in the low average range. I have some questions for you. Is his reading slow and labored? How is his spelling and writing? Can he put his thoughts together? How is his vocabulary? Does he enjoy reading or is it like pulling teeth? There is one other senario you may want to investigate…I have worked with kids who are ADD-Inattentive and have low self-esteem because they know they are smarter than what they are producing. One child was constantly failing classes before I started working with her. She was always fidgeting and spacing out in class and couldn’t even concentrate one on one to do her work. She was in 7th grade, her parents knew she had ADD way back in kindergarten and they chose to not do anything about it. As a result, she spent 7 years in school struggling, always scraping the barrel of low average, but she was very smart but not performing to her potential. It was so frustrating for the girl and her parents as well. She started meds in January and it is like a light bulb went on in her head. She is getting it, her writing which used to be so disorganized, messy and sloppy is neat and precise. I showed her stuff she did in summer before meds and what she was doing now and you can see the difference. Her brain is firing on all cylinders and she is feeling so good about herself. She isn’t on Ritalin she is on an anti-depressant Zoloft but it has worked wonders for her. Her mom told me last night, “I wish we had done the meds years ago, they have helped her so much.”

First of all, Pattim is right on! It is often extremely difficult to tease apart ADD/ADHD and dyslexia, which is why ALL diagnostic evaluations we do in our clinic INCLUDE an objective test for an attention issue as well as our neuropsych doing an additional interview and eval.In addition–—Research has shown that any individual with an unremediated learning disability (and, yes, dyslexia is the single most common learning disability) will raise their I.Q. from between 5 to 45 pts. after appropriate remediation. It is simply too difficult for a person with dyslexia to gain the expected information and knowledge, let alone gain experience in learning and testing, so they test poorly.So…….whenever we have a client that does not meet the severe discrepancy formula (most likely because of the above) but does have the test score “pattern”, we switch to the option of “professional opinion” which the law clearly allows.I would encourage you to have a conversation with the examiner and make certain that they understand the law, that they have the appropriate qualifications that allow them to use the “professional opinion” approach to diagnosing, etc. Then, ask if your child has the ‘pattern of dyslexia’.I hope this helps rather than confuses you further!Kay Harlan

: If you’re dyslexic, you have a learning difference. Your son, though, is only two years behind in his reading. While we’d like all students to be reading on grade level, schools are sometimes reluctant to say that a student has learning differences when they’re only two years behind.You can encourage the school to address his needs by simply not going away on this. Keep after them. Or you could get an outside tutor to work with him on his reading but that does involve expense.Do you know other parents whose children have been considered to have learning differences in your son’s school? Sometimes it can help to find out what they know about how best to work with the school.Recently had my 12 yr old 7th grader tested at the suggestion of his
: school (the teacher who suggested it is dyslexic) test came back
: with the result “lacks a statistically significant
: discrepancy”… (Private testing) My son exhibits practically
: every symptom of dyslexia I’ve seen. He scored very low on
: “required working memory” and was assessed at a 3rd
: grade level on writing samples and 4th grade on written mechanics.
: But apparently this was considered average. His verbal I.Q. was
: 102; performance I.Q. 103. Can you be dyslexic without being LD.
: P.S. He’s reading on a 5th gr. level which is also considered
: average by the evaluator. The issue of a ld was raised when he was
: in 5th gr. too. I chose to put my head in the sand. Now I would
: like to get this resolved correctly. It’s affecting his
: self-esteem. Any advise?

It is indeed possible to have a processing deficit that creates a learning disability and not meet the discrepency criterion under the law. In order to qualify for Special Education services, there needs to be- in addition to the processing deficit, which I guess you have- a significant difference between his cognitive scores and his achievement. Most states use 1.5 standard deviations, which is anywhere from 18-22.5 points depending on where you live and how your state (or district) choses to interpret the numbers. Average range standard scores on most measures are anywhere from 90-110. 100 SHOULD come out fairly close to your child’s age or grade level. A caution- the grade and age level scores on these tests are not particularly valuable except as benchmarks because of the way they are determined. They are derived from the norming sample- not regular classroom instruction- and they really don’t transfer very well. It just means that most of the fifth graders, or whatever, in that sample could achieve at that level. Determining instructional level is a different sort of assessment altogether. Does this help?Robin

Pattim,Can I get my son tested for Dyslexia? He will be 6 years old in April of this year. Is he too young to be tested? When the school does their evaluations…do they test for Dyslexia automatically or do you have to ask for it? I saw in a newpaper article that most people who have Dyslexia have an above average IQ and that it affects a person’s ability to read, to write, to hear and to do basic arithmetic. He is doing colors right now and the speech pathologist said that right now he has an IQ of an almost 3 year old. With that in mind, do you think that he should be tested for Dyslexia??? Any input would be appreciated!THANKS!!Susan

PASSWORD>aaRgLUv0BRb4s: Pattim,: Can I get my son tested for Dyslexia? Yes, You can have his phonemic awareness tested, his knowledge of orthography, which is the which letter combination goes with which sound…. but…. from what you have shared I have a strong hunch that your son probably has language based learing deficits. An IQ test I have heard shows what you don’t know and what you haven’t been exposed to. A language based LD would contribute to the immaturity and his inability to express himself appropriately. Has he had any IQ or Achievement testing done? What about the language testing that has been done to receive services this kind of information would help me make a better recommendation to you. I am kind of busy right now and I realized that I hadn’t answered your e-mail, I am sorry about the delay.Sincerely, P

EMAILNOTICES>no: He is functioning in the low average range. I have some questions for
: you. Is his reading slow and labored? How is his spelling and
: writing? Can he put his thoughts together? How is his vocabulary?
: Does he enjoy reading or is it like pulling teeth? There is one
: other senario you may want to investigate…: I have worked with kids who are ADD-Inattentive and have low
: self-esteem because they know they are smarter than what they are
: producing. One child was constantly failing classes before I
: started working with her. She was always fidgeting and spacing out
: in class and couldn’t even concentrate one on one to do her work.
: She was in 7th grade, her parents knew she had ADD way back in
: kindergarten and they chose to not do anything about it. As a
: result, she spent 7 years in school struggling, always scraping
: the barrel of low average, but she was very smart but not
: performing to her potential. It was so frustrating for the girl
: and her parents as well. She started meds in January and it is
: like a light bulb went on in her head. She is getting it, her
: writing which used to be so disorganized, messy and sloppy is neat
: and precise. I showed her stuff she did in summer before meds and
: what she was doing now and you can see the difference. Her brain
: is firing on all cylinders and she is feeling so good about
: herself. She isn’t on Ritalin she is on an anti-depressant Zoloft
: but it has worked wonders for her. Her mom told me last night,
: “I wish we had done the meds years ago, they have helped her
: so much.”Pattim, have I your permission to repost your message on an NG I frequent? There’s a thread on there at present about ADHD, and I really feel the anecdote you shared would open some eyes on that NG. Thanks!Yours truly, Kathy G.