I have posted before about my daughter having a possible auditory processing disorder. Since she could not complete the testing, we were never given that as a diagnosis. Her biggest issue is a language disorder, but I’m not sure where it comes from.
She is up for her triennial testing in the fall (beginning grade 3). No one has ever said that she is retarded, but as I have said before, the school psychologist keeps insinuating that she should go into the self contained classroom when she is in the upper grades, like grade 4 I guess. Anyway, she has never said that outright, but has suggested that we consider a smaller classroom environment for her in the upper grades. My fear is that the school psychologist, in all the testing they do in the fall, will tell me that she is mentally retarded. I don’t even know what signs to look for.
She is learning new things all the time, but the language problem is really an obstacle for her. How far behind in school is considered REALLY BAD? She is about 1 grade level behind in reading, but is somewhat hanging in there for math, although has difficulties in word problems for obvioius language reasons. In reading, she is excellent at those sight words and can learn things visually very well, but comprehending what she is reading is hard.
I only worry about this since reading the other post on this board where they told the mom that her daughter is retarded in her IEP meeting and have heard others say the same. When I told the pediatrician that I feared they would tell me this he said almost immediately “they wont”. I’m not sure if he meant they wont because she’s not or they wont be allowed to tell you that. I didn’t know what he meant. I should have asked, but didn’t think to ask why he said that.
Does anyone know if they would do an IQ test on someone with a language disorder and how that would impact test scores?
Thanks in advance,
Kathryn
Re: Question about Mental Retardation
Hi there,
Yes, she is getting speech therapy at school 2x per week and is in the resource room 4 days/week at 40 min each time. That is for remediation basically. She is on an IEP and has had speech therapy since age 2yrs 5mo through an early intervention program then to the public school system at age 3.
She gets lots of help and is making progress. I’m just never sure how bad is REALLY bad. I have absolutely no benchmarks. If someone is mentally retarded, wouldn’t it be diagnosed at a young age? She has been tested so many times and every time they tell me SLI, speech language impairment and of course on the net SLI is Specific Language Impairment. I just don’t know if there is an underlying cause or if the school has not yet been able to determine that.
And it’s not so much that I’m afraid that the school will determine that, but rather that I’m afraid of the devastation I will feel if it is true and I certainly don’t want to be told that in a cold environment such as an IEP meeting with everyone staring at me waiting for me to cry.
Probably over dramatizing things here, but just curious if anyone knows the signs of mental retardation and what to be looking for at this age. She is 8, by the way.
Thanks,
Kathryn
Question about Mental Retardation
You could ask for non-verbal IQ test. If the score in areas are above 90 then she is not retarded.
Question about Mental Retardation
Let’s see…..
My dd was reading at barely a 3rd grade level in 6th grade but has an IQ of 123. Being at grade level in a subject doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with a person’s IQ level or ability to learn, it just means they may have other things getting in the way of learning in a typical way. Finding her strengths and using them to support her weaknesses will help her more than worrying about her being labeled retarded.
Re: Question about Mental Retardation
Look at http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs8txt.htm to get an idea of some signs to look for.
For IQ testing, you may want to ask for a non verbal IQ test…TONI and UNIT are two I can think of.
Good luck with your daughter. And if she needs a smaller classroom environment, don’t take it personally…just do what you can to provide the best opportunities for her.
Re: Question about Mental Retardation
Although the info from an IQ test can be valuable, I would not get one through the school. Generally speaking, it is used to establish a dx of MR and cheat kids of a decent education. This link is my sister’s blog; she’s a neurologist with a lot of experience, and this discusses the IQ test in some depth.
http://cluelesschristian.classicalanglican.net/index.php?cat=10 is my
There are actually IQ tests for those with language issues so that an accurate IQ measure can be taken. Is your daughter getting any help for her language disorder? If not, you can request testing by a speech pathologist to address the language disorder.
Also, if you disagree with the testing done by the school, you always have the option of requesting Independent Educational Evaluations at public expense.