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formal speech eval & hearing test

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

Our pediatrician wants us to have a formal speech/language evaluation since the school only did a screening 3 years ago.

My son has no obvious speech delays (in my opinion, anyway). The ped said it helps in truly identifying the dyslexia and could give us a direction to go at school in case we are missing something.

Just wondering what kind of testing they will be doing, what I can expect them to be looking for and is there anything I should ask prior to the eval?

Also …

Several weeks ago he had a hearing test (again, school only did the screening). The audiologist said that the results were in normal range but (if I can remember this correctly) there is a slight variation in how he hears high vs. low sounds? She said its not cause for great concern right now, but needs to be monitored yearly.

All of this was scheduled prior to us getting what we wanted from the school. I’m going to go through with everything that the ped requested, just in case our new set-up with the school backfires.

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 09/18/2002 - 3:40 PM

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Lulu, I agree with your Dr. I think a complete language evaluation will give you some much needed information. My oldest son did not have obvious language concerns but like your son struggled mightly in school. When we had him tested the 1st few times language testing was not included because there were no “obvious signs” of a language disorder. Finally in 6th grade at the age of 12 someone said I think his problems are language based. Of course it was obvious now because at age 12 he still could not ask a simple question. His testing scores ranged from the 1st to 17th percentile. Here is a list of the tests they did: PPVT, Expressive vocab test, the Word test, the CELF, and the TOPS. I was totally shocked his scores were so low. He was referred to an audiologist who dx’d him with CAPD. The language disability definetly affected his ability to read and the APD the ability to pay attention. You really need to get the whole picture so you are sure where the underlying deficits are coming from.

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 09/18/2002 - 4:43 PM

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which my sons last school was pretty honed in on-I had to push hard to get anything else done related to language so you may have to be specific-above post has specific tests to request which would help

Just my experience, but inability to hear certain tones in one test can end up being a more serious hearing issue later on-my sons experience and that of some kids I saw in early intervention. The official answer is “it means nothing” but I would be vigilant because of what I have seen

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