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Post by dhfl143 on Jun 4, 2010 19:51:54 GMT -5
They wrote:
"Hello I am looking for help understanding scores that were given to me during my 9 y/o son's ARD meeting this week. They told me that his scores were too high for him to be considered for a learning disability but he does qualify for emotionally disturbed. My son gets C's and B's in class and they keep telling me that it is him that is holding himself back. He is fully capable and his scores show it. Yet when I try to have him read things about something he is really interested in and motivated to know he simply cannot do it. Either their scores are wrong or he has a learning disability....right?
Here are the scores that I was given:
The WJ-III/KABC-II test showed the following results:
Auditory Processing: 133
Processing Speed: 84
Sequential/Gsm: 140
Simultaneous/Gv: 126
Learning/Glr: 123
Planning/Gf: 132
Knowledge/Gc: 120
Fluid-Crystallized Index(FCI): 143 which ranked him at 99.8% for the nation
His achievment scores on the KTEA-II was as follows:
Letter & Word Recognition: 96
Reading Comprehension: 108
Math Concepts & Applications: 119
Math Computation: 108"
Any insights that all of you could provide, I am sure would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, in advance.
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Post by healthy11 on Jun 4, 2010 20:29:49 GMT -5
I am not as familiar with KABC/KTEA testing as I am with other evaluation tools, but I would definitely have this parent look at the "2e" resource thread.
I can't help but wonder what the child does/how he acts such that the school would qualify him as Emotionally Disturbed? To me, the low processing speed seems far more indicative of a probable attentional issue. Since ADHD is considered a medical diagnosis, and school personnel generally aren't qualified to make that determination, I strongly recommend that the parent speak with a child psychiatrist (I'm not recommending a pediatrician, because if there really is some kind of emotional disturbance, a specialist needs to be consulted.)
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Post by jmt91277 on Jun 4, 2010 23:33:17 GMT -5
Hello I am the mother. He usually has severe melt downs when asked to do assingments related to reading or writing. This usually involves kicking his desk, crying, throwing his pencil and screaming. He is in the Special Education group right now and has been for 3 years. Although he has made a slight gain in reading and writing skills he seems to be slowly following more and more behind.
He was diagnosed with ADHD and Mood Disorder NOS in March and has been on medicine to help. In his ARD meeting they agreed to add enrichment assignments in lieu of normal classwork but that he would not be allowed to attend the Gifted and Talented program due to his behavior issues even though his scores above qualified his evaluation for the program.
So right now my focus is getting his reading and writing skills up to grade level. That is where we are having an issue. They say that he is more than capable and just won't do the work. I think he needs help building his core skill in these areas but they dont feel that is an issue due to his achievment scores being at grade level and his cognitive abilities scores being in the upper extreme. I am thinking his abilities mask that a possible disability that may exist.
Right now I feel as though maybe I am looking at it the wrong way and the school is slowly getting tired of my "over" concern. I just want to help my child be successful.....and happy at the end of the day.
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Post by sleepy on Jun 5, 2010 8:23:25 GMT -5
My DS has issues with processing speed and the neurologist said probably not ADHD. Tried meds without success. However, my son has visual processing issues and visual/motor issues both of which interfere with the processing speed subtests. He also has a react first process second because decsion speed is normal. He decides on what he has processed.
Good luck. Look into visual too if possible.
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Post by healthy11 on Jun 5, 2010 10:07:01 GMT -5
jmt91277, welcome to Millermom's. Sleepy does have a point about ensuring that your son doesn't have some underlying visual problems; a developmental optometrist would be good to consult with. I'm glad you're already seeing someone with a background in children's mental health issues (hopefully not just a pediatrician) but I'm wondering exactly what qualified your son for Special Ed 3 years ago, if he was just recently diagnosed with ADHD and the mood disorder. What medication is he taking, and do you feel it's making any difference?
Your suspicion about your son's abilities possibly masking learning disabilities is a realistic concern. My own son had an IQ ranked 99.9%, but his achievement scores were also very mediocre, with spelling being a low area on the WIAT (which is probably akin to your son's lower letter and word recognition score on the KTEA.) While my son's ADHD was diagnosed in 2nd grade, the public school also told me he was an "underachiever" because "he was smart and could clearly do the work if he wanted to." They refused to test him for LDs, and wouldn't qualify him for their gifted program.
We had our son tested privately, and the evaluator noted his difficulties with printed word (spelling/writing and reading.) At that point, we moved our son to a private school for gifted kids so he'd have some opportunities to realize his strengths, while we paid for private tutoring to address his weaknesses, and yet he still lagged his peers in those areas. When trying to decide where he should attend high school, we again approached the public school and insisted they do testing, and finally, in 8th grade, they concurred with our private evaluators, acknowledging Specific Learning Disabilities in Reading and Written Expression. Truthfully, while it enabled my son to finally get an IEP, the remediation services they offered for high school amounted to little more than a "supervised study hall" with 10-15 students working on computer programs under the direction of a single resource teacher. We decided instead to just send our son to a local parochial high school that honored an accommodation plan for allowing him things like extended time for taking tests in a quiet room, and not penalizing him for spelling errors on handwritten in-class work, where he didn't have access to a keyboard/spell-checking. My son is now in his late teens, and in college. His ADHD and LDs still mean he has to work harder than some other students to pass classes, but when he was the age of your son, I remember wondering if he'd be a H.S. dropout or ever have friends, so things have improved.
In your situation, I recommend that you request an IEE (Independent Educational Evaluation) which is basically a "2nd opinion," because you disagree with the school's evaluation. I'd like to see testing including the GORT (Grey Oral Reading Test) and TOWRE (Test of Word Reading Efficiency) and TOWL (Test of Written Language) to better determine if your son had LD's, because what the school has done up to this point isn't specific enough. THEN decide how to proceed.
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Post by jmt91277 on Jun 5, 2010 21:50:34 GMT -5
Healthy, he was placed in the Special Ed program when we lived in New York. He was diagnosed as being bi-polar when he was 6. After looking into things on my own and a seriously failed attempt wth meds by his then psychiatrist we chose to stop. This was not the main deciding factor in his admittance to the special ed program. He also had a BASC evalution by teachers and myself. These showed elevated signs of depression, anxiety and hyperactivity. Right now my son is taking Concerta and Abilify. He seems to be doing very good so far. After his first try with meds I was not too happy about trying again and really wanted to take a hollistic approach. But just the other day my daughter said that she really loves the new brother that doesn't just explode over everything and really tries to listen now. I am hoping that this will help him next year in school and very happy that he is easier to reason with but.....he is still really depressed. I am not in the position to be able to send my son to a private school and wish I could. It sounds like the private school approach worked very well for you! I would love to send my son off to college and see him graduate:) I hope I will be able to work with his current school district and provide the same opportunities. You mentioned that you wondered if your son would ever have any friends when he was younger. Were you able to address this issue? My son is getting to the age where his friends are migrating away from him and I know it is because of his behavior and demeanor. I would love any advice you have. As for the other testing they did give him the Oral Written Language Scales(OWLS) and his Written Expression Raw Score was 44 Standard Score 97 Percentile Rank 42 Test-Age Equivalent 9-2. They told me that this is average when compared to age peers in the norm population. I will definately suggest more testing when his next school year begins and thank you for the information on the IEE. I was wondering if I could do that and how I should approach them with it. Thanks for all your advice it has been very helpful. I finally found a few places with children like mine and parents who have dealt with the schools which is so relieving  They also did a psychological evaluation which noted the he showed issues with depression, anxiety, hyperactivity and shows social skill issues. In my studies so far these can sometimes be a symptom of "gifted" children that are underachievers. I read an article that dhfl143 sent me at this link www.nea.org/assets/docs/twiceexceptional.pdf which seems to state about the same thing. |
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Post by dwolen on Jun 5, 2010 22:48:38 GMT -5
There are some real geniuses, like healthy11, who can help you interpret your son's scores some more. However, I just wanted to say that you have to be careful when you are told that since your son's scores are in "the normal range," meaning in the standard deviation around 50%, then there is no problem.
My daughter was tested at age 8 and 16 and some of her scores were in a superior range, some above average and some were average. So, I was told by the "experts" who tested her and interpreted the results, that because even the lowest scores were still in a "normal range," that she had no LD's. I am not an educator, so not knowing any better at the time, I believed the educational experts. Even though my daughter had difficulties with school from the 2nd grade onward. I now know better, but meanwhile, my dd is a young adult quite impaired by her learning problems.
Now I know that the discrepancies in her educational testing scores indicated LD's and described ADHD all along.
So, beware when you are told that everything is ok because all the scores are "normal" or above normal. The written expression test score is so discrepant with most of the scores, even I can see it is a red flag.
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Post by healthy11 on Jun 6, 2010 0:09:54 GMT -5
Thank you, dwolen, but I'm only a parent who's been dealing with a "complex child" for many years. Unfortunately, I'm not a degreed psych, and the OWLS isn't one of the tests I'm familiar with. I'm hoping some other posters will see the scores, and be able to comment. jmt, I'm hoping one day to see my son graduate from college, too, but at the moment he's struggling a bit. On one hand, I think his ADHD and executive (dis)functioning are still problematic (he doesn't like to take his medication unless he has a big test or assignment that's due, even though I know he would be far better off studying every day) HOWEVER my son also seems to be "making up for lost time" and spending time socializing and with his girlfriend when he probably should be studying. (It doesn't help that he opted to attend a competitive technical university with a high international student percentage, and their focus on academics is extremely intense.) Anyway, with regards to your son and difficulties maintaining friendships, what helped us get through the most difficult periods (late elementary and middle school) was getting our son involved in small-group, well-supervised activities, like scouting, taekwondo and a lego-league robotics club. My husband and I volunteered to help out with those, too. We kept him away from unstructured situations, as well as "team" sports, because of our son's low frustration tolerance. It seemed like when other children only spent short amounts of time with him, they could better tolerate his behaviors. We enrolled him in a youth social skills class led by a local psychologist one summer when he was about 10, but what he learned did not transfer into other settings, since not all of the children had been given "the same ground rules." (Cues given in a practitioner's office aren't universally known on the playground without a teacher around...) I guess the other thing I did was try to invite children over to our house for "one-on-one playdates" and I usually tried to plan ahead for what they might do...one neighborhood boy shared my son's interest in hands-on building, so they often would construct things out of glued pieces of scrap wood, or model rockets, etc. while I sat nearby, ready to intervene if necessary. (Or distract them by serving a snack, if they were getting upset over something!) It's worth noting that I had doubts about involving our son in martial arts, but it, and swimming, are considered among the best athletic activities for children with "issues." They can feel like part of a "team," but it's their individual effort and performance that matters most. (In contrast to a soccer goalie, for example, who might incur the wrath of everyone if they miss a play and the team loses.) In taekwondo, self-discipline is emphasized, and there are clear expectations for what is required, with movements (forms) clearly demonstrated both visually and verbally. I think taekwondo also helped boost our son's confidence, as he was the victim of a bullying incident in 5th grade (instigated by another ADHD boy, no less!) On other topics, this may be useful information regarding about IEE's: www.wrightslaw.com/info/test.iee.steedman.htmwww.concordspedpac.org/RequestEval.htmAnd if you haven't already looked at the "2e" resources at the top of this forum, I think you'll find a lot more of interest: www.millermom.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Education&action=display&thread=9972 |
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Post by dhfl143 on Jun 6, 2010 0:28:26 GMT -5
Thanks for being so responsive. You are the best!
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Post by michellea on Jun 6, 2010 10:22:27 GMT -5
I’m a bit late chiming in, but I wanted to give just a bit more perspective. You clearly have a child that is very bright. In all areas of abstract reasoning he posts scores in the above average to superior range. Sequential/Gsm: 140 Simultaneous/Gv: 126 Learning/Glr: 123 Planning/Gf: 132 Knowledge/Gc: 120 Fluid-Crystallized Index(FCI): 143 These scores are extremely strong and are the best predictors of his “thinking” ability. In contrast, his processing speed is low average, and hanging onto low average by a thread at 84. Processing speed is how efficient/fast one is able to make sense of the input/output. The WJ test involves a visual motor component and his trouble could relate to his ability to process visual stimuli efficienctly and then respond using a motor component. Ie sleepy’s suggestion to look at the visual piece. His auditory processing is sound at 133 – so when stimuli is presented via that system (ie oral language) he seems just fine. Do you see that he has a hard time responding? Does it take him a bit longer to actually get work done? How is his handwriting/fine motor skills? Slow processing is very much like a slow processor in a computer. Even if the storage and memory is ok, if it takes too long to work through the information, new input can be missed, the pages can freeze, and output can be delayed or superficial because not all new data can actually be worked. In school, this could mean more time to complete assignments, difficulty with new and complex information even though he has the intellect to handle it, work that does not reflect his knowledge, understanding and problem solving ability. SharonF from this board compares it to having a high performance sports car, stuck in rush hour, stop and go traffic. Sometimes I think of it as having top notch hardware with a lawnmower engine. This can result in huge frustration for the student and the teachers. I also see that although your son’s academic scores are all in the middle of average range, they are MUCH lower than what you’d expect from one with his intellectual horsepower. He is very very smart – at least in the top 5% across the board, yet his scores hover near the 50 percentile. Look at his letter word recognition – a 96 – that is at least 24 points lower than his lowest cognitive score. It’s 47 points lower than his highest. 15 points is considering statistically significant. His comprehension is better, but still comparatively low and most likely higher because he can fill in the missing pieces based on his overall intellect – not because his reading is good. His math computation is also relatively low. This is not unusual for people with language based learning disabilities such as dyslexia. In fact, I know of some evaluators that use math computation tests to help test for reading disorders. The difficulty with rote information with math is closely related to the difficulty with rote decoding skills. I agree that you need more information. I recommend that you get further testing that helps explore his abilities in the areas of written language (reading, writing, spelling) and executive functioning (planning, initiating, attention, self monitoring etc). www.concordspedpac.org has a section on evaluations. I’d read up on tests of reading and executive functioning. “Straight Talk About Educational Testing” is a great book to help you understand more about evaluations. These are good articles about executive functioning: www.greatschools.org/special-education/health/executive-function-lens-to-view-your-child.gs?content=1017www.ldonline.org/article/What_Is_Executive_Functioning%3Fwww.chrisdendy.com/executive.htmBest of luck! |
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Post by jisp on Jun 6, 2010 12:01:59 GMT -5
Hi,
I am late to this discussion but I wanted to say that I am the parent of a child who had the sort of temper tantrums and outbursts you are describing with your child. In fact I could of written much of what you wrote many years ago. In our case our son was first diagnosed with dyslexia. But looking back the dyslexia was really minor compared to his mood disorder/bipolar. As the illness gets worse and the child is increasingly not stable, cognitive function and school performance are impaired. And this can lead to a child falling seriously behind regardless of how smart they are.
Even once a child, like your son is stabilized on medications, there will likely continue to be cognitive issues. Mainly because many of the drugs that are used to treat a child for a mood disorder have cognitive blunting as a side effect. Almost all children who are diagnosed with mood disorders, benefit from cognitive therapy and specific instruction that teaches them how to learn and work despite limitations that they might have in processing speed, short term memory and attention as a result of the mood disorder. You say he is depressed. Depression will impact just about every single neuropsychological test they give your son and might not be a good indication of what your son's real ability is in those areas. Addressing mood disorders effectively is tricky business. Your child is of an age where their body is changing rapidly. What works one month might not work the next. Dosings will need to be constantly reevaluated. If you don't already have a close working relationship with your child's psychiatrist, you will, as the next couple of years as your son goes through puberty and adolescence will be rough.
Friendships during this time can be difficult. Again getting your child into therapy will help. Group therapy can also be helpful. But not all children who have mood disorders have friendship problems. Many do not. There is a subset of kids who initially are diagnosed as having mood disorders who end up later getting a diagnoses of Aspergers or PDD in addition. I would not rule this out and it might be good to see if your child can be evaluated by somebody who is an autism expert. Although the treatment won't necessarily vary, some of the therapeutic interventions will. Also there exists additional money and resources for children who are on the spectrum and if your child is then you will want to tap into those.
As for private school. There are many parents whose children have mood disorders who eventually find that they can not function in the public school. It is either too stimulating or too chaotic or not supportive enough. The parents then work hard to get their child placed out of district in a therapeutic day school. These schools have smaller classes, often have trained clinicians available, offer social skills training and are knowledgeable about how mental health problems impact academics. This might be an option for you.
My own son had a long hard journey through k-12. He eventually landed in a wonderful therapeutic day school and also as his chemistry calmed down he was increasingly able to learn and study. Today he is a lovely 19 year old man, who will be heading off to college in the fall. So there is hope, but I can't guarantee a smooth ride.
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Post by michellea on Jun 6, 2010 12:16:30 GMT -5
Just wanted to echo what Jisp says since I did not directly touch on it. Don't underestimate the effect of mood disorders and medications on academic and social functioning for all of the reasons Jisp states.
The cognitive process is a system and a kink in the system often radiates to other areas. Thus - it is so important to understand your son's profile in a holistic sense and treat it as a system rather than unrelated parts. Sometimes the school wants to treat only the "educational" parts and will ignore the others.
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Post by dborgo on Jun 6, 2010 21:13:18 GMT -5
Everyone has given great advice.
The only thing I would add is that I see a need to have an OT evaluation done. Low processing can have several causes such as adhd, visual processing, motor skills, or a student that just takes longer to think problems through.
An OT exam can look at Visual processing and Motor skills.
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Post by jmt91277 on Jun 6, 2010 22:40:48 GMT -5
Sleepy, You said that your son doesn't like to take his meds. What age did that start at? My son just started takes meds two months ago and I am so worried due to the fact I was a child that was put on Ritalin. This med does help you concentrate but sometimes a little too much. It was depressing for me by the time I was 16 years old and I also opted to stop taking them.
Michellea, Yes he has a very hard time responding to questions and when he finally answers you can't get him to focus completely which causes him frustration to no end. His answers turn into a long winded lost swim (if that makes sense) He eventually gets the point out but only if you are patient enough which I think some people aren't. He does not complete his work and this is usually what triggers outbursts in class. His handwritting is very sloppy and he actually hates writting and this also causes outbursts. He had a TAKS (Texas Assesment of Knowledge) test for writting this year and he became severly depressed write before the test. I definately agree with you that his intelligence is helping him get the reading scores that reflect in the average range. Tonight we were reading together and I noticed that he does do a lot of guessing while reading. He will insert words that look similar in shape not letters. i.e. he will say described instead of discussed. I tried to cover part of the word and slowly uncover the letters and when I got him to slow down he started reading better. I wondering if he is just rushing through it.
dborgo, I am glad you said that. I asked for OT Eval as soon as school starts back up. My mom was at the meeting and she had three children that had IEP meetings and she seemed to feel that would help as well.
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Post by healthy11 on Jun 6, 2010 23:38:39 GMT -5
I'm not Sleepy, but I'm the one who said my son doesn't like to take his medication, so I'll respond...He has been using Adderall/Adderall XR since age 9, and he really only became resistant to taking his meds in late high school. Even at that, he acknowledges they do help him focus, but he doesn't think he's as much "fun" to be around. We've tried to explain that there's time for academics, and time for pleasure, but at this stage of his life, academics should come first, and medication has proven to be helpful for him with that. He doesn't have to use his Adderall on weekends. Lately, he seems to take them willingly when he's got a big assignment or exam, even though I think it would be better if he did on every school day. (There have been several other discussion threads about the difficulty with teens who want desperately to fit in with their peers, and be "neurotypical," so they frequently go off meds for awhile, but then eventually figure out it's not in their best interests. It commonly happens when they turn 18 and are technically "adults" who can make their own decisions, and that's what my son tried, too.) Since your son is only 9, I don't think you have to worry for awhile!
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Post by Mayleng on Jun 7, 2010 7:53:15 GMT -5
Adding to what Healthy said, there is more than just ritalin in the market, so you have more choices to find the one that works the best with the least side effects.
My son started taking meds at 6 yrs old, he is 14 now. We tried several medication till we found the one that worked the best for him. He is on Metadate CD and has been for the last 4 yrs. He is no issues taking it, the only one he did not like and refused to take was Adderall because it made him angry and moody (which is not him, he is laid back and easy going). He has never asked to stop taking meds because he knows how much it has helped him.
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Post by Mayleng on Jun 7, 2010 7:55:35 GMT -5
Sounds very much like my adhd/inattentive son.
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Post by michellea on Jun 7, 2010 8:20:25 GMT -5
The long winded, disjointed answers are familiar to me too! I would definatly pursue the executive functioning piece and try to find out how well he is able to use his working memory and organizational systems to process input and to create output (school work, oral responses). Problems in this area are often connected with ADHD. While Executive dysfunction does not gaurentee ADHD, most certainly everyone with ADHD has some degree of exectutive dysfuntion.
The visual motor and visual processing pieces can also be related. I agree with an OT evaluation. One word of caution - my experience has been with older students (above 2nd grade), schools often have a VERY low bar as to what is functional. My son had OT services for years. In 1st grade he scored well enough on the OT evaluation to be dismissed. But, his very wise teachers insisted that the OT continue. The tests are often fairly brief and structured and they do not represent the demands of real school. For instance, my son can write his letters if given all the time in the world and if he doesn't have to compose, spell and think. When the task is more school - like (complex), the OT skills degrade. Be sure to keep an eye on this.
As far as his reading - substitutions based on initial letter, size of word etc is very very common for kids with reading disabilities. Given this new bit of info, I feel even more strongly that you need a full reading evaluation. I'd like to see these tests:
CTOPP, GORT, WJRM, TOWRE and for writing TOWL as well as a spelling test.
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Post by sleepy on Jun 7, 2010 8:23:27 GMT -5
Oh, it wasn't a like or a dislike. He was on a trial where they tried to build them up, but it was obvious with the barrage of e-mails about my son's behavior and missing assignment that it just wasn't right. He wasn't even part way to full dosage when this started. Just not it. Neurologist didn't think it was ADHD (or other variant of it) but a true processing problem were the symptoms look like ADHD. He said in a small number of cases meds do work for processing problems, but more often than not they don't. He said we would know right away if it worked.
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Post by dihicks6 on Jun 8, 2010 7:27:10 GMT -5
Not to confuse things, but I also would get the long-winded, circling answers from my dd, however, her issue was CAPD with a profile of decoding and prosodic issues.
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Post by wimom on Jun 8, 2010 9:53:39 GMT -5
Just to throw another stone into the soup, my dd is 12 and has in the past had meltdowns like what you discribe before she was dx as NVLD (non-verbal learning disorder), adhd, anxiety, likly CAPD, sensory issues, she also is a slow processor which frustates her teachers becase she can know the material one moment in class but truly forget it the next hour or day, as well as learning disabilities. Once she started recieving the proper accomodations and remediations for her ld's and supports at school her anxiety plumeted and the meltdowns have nearly disapeared. She still has anxiety and we are dealing with that but she now has a safe place to go at school and she isn't constatly in a hightend state. It took a VERY long time to get the school to understand it wasn't a behavior problem, or a parenting issue (UGH!)
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Post by jmt91277 on Jun 10, 2010 13:56:07 GMT -5
Thank you everyone for all of your posts. I am sorry I keep getting everyone confused this is all so new to me still :)Everything has been very helpful. I could use help on another area... I have been trying to discuss the possibility of my son having a LD or other issue with the school. They do not seem very receptive and have even told me that they will not do some of the tests that were referred above by many of you guys. They say that they don't believe he has any issues other than being an underachiever and therefore does not need testing. Has anyone dealt with this? If so is there a way around this? I have been looking on Wrightslaw and I have read a few articles but have not had time to find anything that related to the school flat out denying testing. I don't have the money to do IEE at this point and I am worried if I spend the money to get the doctor's opinions they will ignore those results as well. This is all so frustrating to me. I can't understand how they could take this approach with a 9 year old child...ahhh  |
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Post by dihicks6 on Jun 10, 2010 15:04:19 GMT -5
Put your request for your son in writing. "If it isn't in writing, it didn't happen!" They cannot ignore your written request, otherwise they are in violation of the child find regs of IDEA and you can file a formal complaint. Their 'opinion' doesn't mean squat (because that's all it is, an opinion) -- they have to do the evaluation.
There is a sample letter for the initial evaluation on the main page under 'sample letters.'
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Post by michellea on Jun 10, 2010 17:20:53 GMT -5
DiHicks is right. They MUST test if you put the request in writing. It probably won't happen until next year.
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Post by jmt91277 on Jul 28, 2010 9:40:46 GMT -5
I have been reading a lot about what tests to request for next school year and could use some more help with this. I have been working with my son with reading and spelling over the summer. I am not a professional so please excuse my lack of knowledge here My son is getting much better with reading now that I have found a way to get him to sit down for 20 minutes a day. I have a reward system going on and it seems to be working(so far). But, spelling is another story all together. He can't seem spell words that he could normally read. Here are a few examples I have noted: a. Likt – should be Licked b. Fuge-should be Fudge c. Derektios-should be Directions d. Foloing-should be Following e. Ones-should be Once f. A pon-should be Upon I am able to point out that "tion" makes the "shun" sound and he will try to incorporate that but he is very troubled by the multiple inconsistencies in the rules of spelling. These rules irritate him to no end and usually end up in a crying spell or behavior similiar to what the school expieriences. Ok so questions. 1. Would this problem he is having still lie under a "Reading Disability" or is it something else all together? and 2. What tests would help find out the cause of this issue? 3. Even if I am able to get him labelled as a child with a LD will he get the help he needs or will he just be given modifications and accomodations? The summer has never gone by so quick before. I feel like I have a ticking clock behind me telling me that I need to find answers quick...its very stressful Thanks again for everyones help, it is very encouraging to know that I am not the only person out there going through this. |
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Post by jmt91277 on Jul 28, 2010 9:47:38 GMT -5
I should add that the following are a list of tests I have that were recommended so far:
a. DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Scale)
b. CTOPP (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing)
c. GORT (Gray Oral Reading Test)
d. WJRM (Woodcock Johnson Reading Mastery)
e. A Dictated Spelling Test
f. OT Evaluation
I am wondering if there are any other tests that could be added to this list.
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Post by healthy11 on Jul 28, 2010 10:25:41 GMT -5
In my above response, reply #4, I mentioned the TOWRE (Test of Word Reading Efficiency) and TOWL (Test of Written Language) which would be additional testing to add to your list.
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Post by cecekingskid on Jul 28, 2010 10:55:27 GMT -5
The summer has never gone by so quick before. I feel like I have a ticking clock behind me telling me that I need to find answers quick...its very stressful Thanks again for everyones help, it is very encouraging to know that I am not the only person out there going through this. I completely understand this sentiment, jmt. We are dealing with the same thing with my dd. It is EXTREMELY stressful. And as far as the spelling goes, she exibits quite similar issues: ie. able to read these types of words and spell them on a spelling test per se, but when it comes to just writing/spelling the word in everyday usage - no dice. Everything gets spelled very phonetically. And with the reminders about spelling rules -- I get the "deer in the headlights" look and a "Wait, what?" Its funny. I read through these threads and hear the things/symptoms/indicators that other peoples children are exhibiting and say "Yes, dd does that all the time!" But I never really looked at it like it was part of a ld. I guess somethings I have just come to accept as being part of dd's personality, etc. I feel like I should have a documented list of all the idiosyncracies (sp?), symptoms etc. just so that I can keep up with them for myself. Wow. Talk about overwhelming. |
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Post by jmt91277 on Jul 28, 2010 12:05:47 GMT -5
cece, I hear you 100%! Before I got to this website and others like it I thought it was honestly me doing something wrong or that the school was right and my son is just an underachiever. I clearly know now that there is most likely an underlying issue that can be fixed or at least addressed verse ignored completely....or at least I hope that is the result of all this research I am trying to do I have been trying to make a list myself but I misplace it a lot...apparently I need some help with my executive functioning too lol healthy, I am not sure why but when I copied my list it deleted the last few items which included those tests. But I do have those tests listed on my "wish list". I plan on making a complete list of everything I would like to have done when school starts....I wonder how long it will take before they actually perform the tests though. Is there a guideline or limit they must adhere to? |
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Post by healthy11 on Jul 28, 2010 12:21:41 GMT -5
Yes, there are federal guidelines, which states are supposed to adhere to, and usually it's around 60 days after written permission to evaluate has been given, BUT some states only count "school days in session" (so summer breaks, weekends, vacation days don't count) and sometime schools will insist that a parent's written permission, even if given in a letter, doesn't count if it's not on the "official school form" (whatever that is for your district in Texas) ~ you should be able to go to your state's Board of Education website and look up procedural safeguards and what the guidelines are ~ I'll also try to point a few other TX members to this thread, so they might be able to give you the links/other helpful info.
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