Our dd is 7.5 in 1st grade. She is not an immature 1st grader as she was already held back in Kindergarten a year. She has an IEP, but it only addresses comprehension, writing and long-term memory. She gets minimal pull-out, no one-on-one - most of her goals are to be addressed by classroom teacher.We really felt she needed decoding help- she has moderate to severe phonological processing, and poor auditory working memory and auditory discrimination which we wanted addressed via speech language(her S/L is very poor - but they still do not qualify her). These were all denied to her because her academics in this area were average - despite there was still a 22pt. descrepency between ALL academic scores and WISC( she has a 30pt. split between VIQ and PIQ - PIQ is highest at 126).We are over half the year thru and at the beginning of school, she was one of top 3 readers in her class (she memorized all the sight words). As of date, she is at the bottom of 12. We do think she has improved, but not nearly at the same rate and pace as the rest of class. I think her comprehension is probably worse because as the words gets harder, she makes so many guesses she does not know what is going on. In writing, again, I see no improvement. Spelling is all phonetic - with lots of missed sounds. Cannot spell any of the sight words correctly(she can pass a spelling test after studying, but when writing - they are all wrong). The following week she has forgotten them.We are being told by school that she is progressing with no problems. I don’t see this? Do I have to wait until she is the bottom of her class in reading before she has any rights to get extra help? Because that’s where she is headed.What should we do?
Re: Should we be concerned?
It’s based on teacher observation. Matter of fact, her IEP has no baseline data in it, so I have no way to even tell what they are basing their observation on. When looking at the IEP, I’m questioning even the goals. Depending on what level of material they are using with her, I think she could achieve her goals way back at the beginning of year! (they are worthless goals in my opinion.We have not been told she’s immature, but we have been given the ‘it’s developmental’ line.
Re: Should we be concerned?
: A 30 pt, discrepancy btwn. PIQ and VIQ is very significant. Your daughter should have a complete language evaluation.Has she been assessed for phonological processing? This can be accomplished with several tests: the new Woodcock Johnson has several such subtests, plus the word attack subtest; the CTOPP covers this thoroughly and I believe the NEPSY has phonological processing; to name only three options. This must be assessed. Then a good IEP should be written addressing areas of need. As a public school based resource teacher, I can suggest sometimes it is wise to address first things first, start with the most important areas for early school success.If you want to post more data, we can advise you what a good IEP might include.
Re: Should we be concerned?
She was tested last May with a Woodcock Johnson- Basic Reading was 104 and Reading Comprehension was 96. (they tested 2 subtests on the reading - Letter-Word identification and Word Attack - they did not give me the SS scores, but indicated she fell in average range? On Comprehension, they scored the Passage Comprehension at SS 92 on vocabulary she had a SS of 104) To my knowledge the school did not do any phonological processing tests, unless they were part of the Basic Reading score? They did not qualify her for any reading ‘services’ because her score was 104 and they felt this was too high to warrant qualification (despite her past history and a 22pt spread between the WISC score).At Xmas, I had her evaluated by a private reading specialist. Here are her scores:Woodcock Word Attack Test - R, 2.2grade level 55%tileOn the WRAT3, spelling: 42%, 1.0 grade level, reading: 18%, 1.0 grade levelGray Oral Reading Test3, Rate: 37%, Accuracy:25%, Passage:25%, Comprehension: 50%LAC - 58/100 (which went down from a year ago, where she was at 71)Informal Phonolgical Processing Test: Phoneme Blending, 3/6 - Phoneme Segmenting, 5/6 - Phoneme Deletion 3/6.Overall comments were that she showed moderate to severe phonological processing and the word ‘unstable’ was used throughout the report. We felt that the reading center may have been a little aggressive in some of the tests given, but also felt that their descriptions of how she reads (and her problems) were right on the money. It described her exactly.When you state needing a full ‘language’ evaluation - what do you mean? She had supposedly a language eval - but I did not feel it was complete (only 3 subtests were given). She fell in average range on these.What would your thoughts be on first things first? I am feeling that the reading (phonological processing deficits) should have been a priority? If you can’t decode, then won’t it be hard to see any progress in writing and comprehension?
Re: Should we be concerned?(long)
Hi, something to look into is what the schools’ standards for a 1st grader are, I found with my son that in one state(1st half of 1st grade) he was needing help with reading, moved at Christmas time to another state and was told he was on grade level. Moved to a 3rd state just before 2nd grade started, was needing help and was given eval by school(at their suggestion) who came up with “late bloomer”. He was diagnosed ADD/inattentive in 1st grade. In 4th grade he was evaled again(same school, at their suggestion) was found to be impacted by his ADD. Now in a new school (6th grade) and ADD not a problem anymore. I believe each school has a different idea of what is acceptable work since we are talking about one kid who has been in 4 different schools in 3 different states and 1 overseas school in 6 years. Do watch out for the late bloomer label. I commented in the 4th grade eval that the flower has bloomed and fallen off the stem, now how do you explain his difficulties? At this point in 6th grade he has caught up a lot in his reading ability and a year in resource (5th grade) for language arts has helped him be ready for this year. Definitely get help for your daughters reading problem now as it makes school that much harder as she progresses. I think my son suffered from inadequate kindergarten and first grade teaching. He was given reading help in the first half of 1st grade but didn’t start on Ritalin til 1st of Nov. We moved in Dec. and he was no longer getting reading help. So he had a lot of catching up to do and it hasn’t been easy. The meds couldn’t do it alone.Hope this helps some, Best wishes: It’s based on teacher observation. Matter of fact, her IEP has no
: baseline data in it, so I have no way to even tell what they are
: basing their observation on. When looking at the IEP, I’m
: questioning even the goals. Depending on what level of material
: they are using with her, I think she could achieve her goals way
: back at the beginning of year! (they are worthless goals in my
: opinion.: We have not been told she’s immature, but we have been given the
: ‘it’s developmental’ line.
Re: Should we be concerned?
Yes, your child needs help. Contact your state education department and obtain a copy
of the law along with the more recent amendment.
Is there a chapter of the Orton Dyslexia Society in your city or state?
If a child has a deficiency in one area of testing such as reading or math, he/she IS
eligible for help
It sounds like your child may be dyslexic. It is difficult to obtain this diagnosis.
I retired from teaching (LD) last June. Two of my adult children have learning
disabilities—dyslexia. I am also an Orton-Gillingham tutor and member of the
International Dyslexia Society.
If I can help, pleassse contact me.
Shirley
Re: Should we be concerned?
That’s what I figured. If you want her IEP to be based on hard data, make sure you specify that in the next IEP, and you also have the right to call a new IEP at any time to fix this one. If you think she’s already met her IEP goals for this year, that makes a perfect reason for calling a new one, and this time tell them you want baseline data, and clear criteria spelled out in a way that you will know whether or not she has met them. Too many schools are getting away with this wishy-washy “teacher observation” stuff, and though many teachers may indeed be good at observation, as a parent I’d rather have that balanced by some more objective information. I realize as a Resource Specialist that this means I have to do a lot more testing than I would normally need to do, as our school is now making testing each year optional, but I continue to do it in spite of the extra paperwork, because I feel it is valuable information for ME, let alone the parents.
Please feel free to email if you decide to pursue the IEP with them, perhaps I can help you to come up with some suggestions for goals to take to the meeting that might be more meaningful. Parents are supposed to have input of this type into the IEP goals, though it rarely happens… they’ll probably fall out of their chairs if you bring your own goals to the meeting, but at least they’ll know you did your homework and won’t be so patronizing this time!
Sharon
On what do they base their opinion that she is progressing with no problems? Do they have any test scores to back it up? Just “teacher observation”? I’d challenge that opinion, based on your own observations, which are just as valid as theirs, and right on the money, it sounds like to me. At least they can’t tell you that she’s just “immature” and will grow out of it, which is what many first grade parents like your daughter are told!You are definitely right to be concerned, and there is help for your daughter, but I’m not sure your school will be able to give it to her. Sounds like their S/L program, for one thing, is of the type that only does “articulation” problems, and true early intervention programs are sadly lacking in most schools. Read up on the stuff that Reed Martin and others have written about what is needed at your daughter’s stage of development, and you’ll know exactly what to ask for, but as usual, getting it is another matter!I totally agree that you should not wait until she falls to the bottom of the class, or anywhere near that, before getting some help for her, as the consequences to her self-esteem will be devastating, and may last for years. If she gets help now, she may well avoid needing the long-term help so many LD kids fall into, but getting that help may not be cheap or easy. So I guess it depends on what you’re willing and able to do for her, on your own or with a lot of help… see my website, which is linked below, if you want some background on details on where to go next. Good luck and don’t give up, she sounds like a wonderful kid!Sharon