We are just starting out with the possiblity of a learning disability evaluation. My husband and I have struggled to have my 7 yo daughter tested for years with no success. She was a late talker and is still quite difficult to understand. Since kindergarten she had speech but her first school did not have “time” to see her more than once a week with 5 other children. Half way through first she went to a new school that saw her three times a week but still in an even larger group. Now is second grade she is in another school that has offered her endless assistance to include a private session every morning. Even with this this is showing very little progress.
She also is commonly writing letters, numbers and/or words backwards. She has had assistance with reading in the last year with success but that is only after the new school provided two tutors during the day, a buddy helper and we have her in tutoring after school twice a week. Even with that she is barely reading at a first grade level. Socially she is slipping behind her peers. It feels like she did great in that field until she was in the middle of first grade then just stopped growing.
I could go on but what I was hoping to learn today is what to expect now that the school is discussing testing her? Does anyone have advice on specific testing I should ask for? When the testing is done is there a site I can go to for assistance to insure she is getting all the help she needs/deserves?[p]
Re: Just starting with LD eval--help?
Hi Mom22,
You have just begun on a journey, where you really need to become the expert. Where to get the help that she needs, most often you will have to explain to them what to do?
The first distinction is between language Reception and Expression?
Does she have average comprehension?
That she effectively process incoming information.
The other side is Expression.
Where the 2 main processes involved, are firstly the retrieval of words from memory, to express what one wants to say.
The other side, is the motor skills involved with using the tongue, mouth/lips and breathing, to produce words.
So the first question, is whether she can find the words to express what she wants to say. But then has difficulty in physically producing the words?
Or does she have a difficulty in finding the right words, in the first place?
Re: Just starting with LD eval--help?
Hello. My daughter began to show signs of difficulty in school in first grade. She was quite, shy, and displayed attentional difficulties. Her biggest issues were in math, although writing was very difficult as well. They told me “don’t worry - she’ll catch up”. Well she didn’t. By third grade she hit the wall and couldn’t cope at school any more. At this point she was no longer progressing in reading, and she was behind in all area of acedemics. We brought her to a private educational evaluator for a full evaluation. She was diagnosed with a receptive and expressive lanquage impairment, a very below average processing speed, and a very below average working memory. This was a lot to swallow, but she started receiving the help she needed and slowly began to have sucess in school. She is now in high school, on an IEP and doing very well. She likes school now.
Your daughter sounds like she could use some specialized services, and you are smart to start looking at this now. A full acedemic evaluation would identify the areas that she needs help, so they could put a program together for her. Once the program is in place and running regularly, you will begin to notice small steps in the right direction. The steps are small, nothing happens overnight. Remember this - you are putting services in place so that she can learn, according to her learning style. Catching up on lost time, takes time.
As her parent, you have the right to request an evaluation from the school. Ask your school for a copy of “A parent’s rights to special education” packet. This will outline all of your rights covered under law.
Keep pushing to you get what you want, the squeeky wheel always gets the most grease!
Good luck, and your daughter is lucky to have such a caring parent!
Hi
I understand your frustrations. My husband and I have been there. My now, 10 yr old son, has been dx with Non-Verbal LD among some other LD’s. He has problems with language receptive and expressive as well as processing issues and motor skills def’s.
We first had him tested in 1st grade, full core evaluation which consisted of speech/language eval, OT eval, math/reading eval with an eval by the schools pyscologist. All evals determined he needed an IEP…specialized services provided by the school. Speech/Language..worked on his language problems, OT..worked on fine and gross motor skills, reading/math with a resource teacher. However, by the time he reached 3rd grade it was more evident than ever he would not be able to stay in a regular classroom of 24 children and 1 teacher. His neorologist indicated to us initially on this, but we did not want to hear it. He is now in a language-based class with 12 children, one teacher and one aide and is doing very well. It is a struggle and will continue to be a struggle. Just now what you feel in your gut, is probably what you should go with. She your daughter and you want her to get what she deserves. The school is required to give you information on “No Child Left Behind” act. Here is the link http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml Hope this helps.
Good Luck!