Teenage daughter - in Australia - any others out there???

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

I’m just starting on this [i]Learning Difficulty[/i] cause, as her, what I thought were mild-ish problems, are much more evident that now she’s in high school.

I’ve just had a conversation with one of her teachers who suggested I get her assessed by a specialised learning difficulties phychologist.

Are there any other mum’s here in Australia? I understand that kids are kids the world over and I’ve only just found this site, so my apologies if anyone think’s I’m not interested in anything everyone has to say, as that’s the furtherest thing from the truth. It’s just that I would like to compare notes with someone else, going thru our school system as well.

Thanks

Submitted by jnuttallphd on Wed, 06/06/2007 - 4:26 PM

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Hello Desmo:

I would recommend that you get a full valuation from a qualified professional. Then you will know what you’re dealing with.

Sorry I’m not from Australia. So I can’t help you there.

James Nuttall — Michigan, USA

Submitted by desmo on Thu, 06/07/2007 - 11:54 PM

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Thanks for your reply.

I’ve spent the last few days, searching for the best help for her. I was advised by one of her teachers to get her assessed by SPELD, I rang them and they don’t have a free appointment for the rest of this year! so she’s put me on a cancelled appointment list. This must be so much more prevalent than what I ever realised.

I’m starting to think she has a form of dyslexia - she doesn’t have trouble with reading or words, but really struggles with maths. Also, one of the sites I looked at had a checklist and it was like a lightbulb moment - things like speech, she has a stutter; handwriting, her’s is hardly legible and very childlike at times; she’s fidgety & has difficulty concentrating; poor organisational skills; teachers had said it takes her longer than the rest of the class to understand a concept, so they’ll take the time one-on-one with her and then when she comes back the next day, its back to square one again.

She’s generally a lovely kid, is liked by others, has some good friends etc, which is why I suppose I was never really sure if she had a problem, or whether it was just normal teenage stuff. So I’ll get her assessed and then can work out strategies for where she goes from there.

Thanks for this site - its helpful to know you’r not on your own.

Submitted by Brookelea on Fri, 06/08/2007 - 5:03 AM

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i’m in australia and can fully appreciate your frustration.. my daughter is 12 and in year 7.. everytime i believe that we have turned a corner, something else pops up..
the problem in australia is that everything costs so much - the “therapies”, “tutors” etc.. and it’s still very taboo in schools, especially in high school where schools can be very reluctant to recognise the problem..
what city are you in?? some universities also assess students..
[Modified by: Brookelea on June 08, 2007 01:05 AM]

Submitted by geodob on Fri, 06/08/2007 - 10:24 AM

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Hi,
It looks like we have an Aussie thread here, I’m over here in the West.
I also run a forum for something called Dyscalculia, which is a Maths Dyslexia.
Where a major sub-type of Dyscalculia is Visual-Spatial Dyscalculia.
The Visual refers to the ability to Visualise images in your mind. Where doing ‘mental maths’, involves visualising the numbers to do the calculation.
Also in regard to spelling, we need to be able to visualise how a word is spelled.
Then when it comes hand-writing, we need to be able to visually recall what a letter looks like.
But perhaps you could imagine how difficult hand writing would be, if you couldn’t visualise what letters look like?
I would also mention that being able to visualise, is not something that we are born with, but is a skill that we need to practise doing.
This could be her underlying difficulty?
Geoff,
http://www.dyscalculiaforum.com/

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