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Post by momof3boyz on Mar 6, 2015 17:20:15 GMT -5
Hi everyone,
I am new to this process. I would love some help understanding my son's scores. We had out meeting and the school psychologist and our private school learning specialist director believe he has dyslexia or another LBLD. The rest of the public school team will not agree because he still scores "average" in his week areas. We feel that he is using his intelligence to mask and compensate. The chairperson actual said, "I don't understand why you are here. We don't test anyone like him." UGH!! We are not actually looking for any services from the public school. We have decided to go ahead with wilson and possibly a OG camp in the summer if he is accepted into the program.
WISC:
VC-113 (similarities 11, vocab 14)
VS-111 (block 11, vis puz 13)
FR-121 (matrix 12, fig weights 15)
WM-129 (digit span 14, symbol search 16)
PS-108 (coding 10, symbol search 13)
FSIQ-118
WIAT:
reading
word reading 98 (45%)
pseudoword decoding 97 (42%)
reading comprehension 102 (55%)
oral fluency 103 (58%)
math:
numerical operations 113 (81%)
math prob solving 121 (92%)
fluency addition 106 (66%)
fluency subtraction 114 (82%)
fluency multiplication 111 (77%)
written language:
essay 105 (63%)
spelling 90 (25%)
sentence composition 119 (90%)
alphabet writing 122 (96%)-yet he got 2 letters wrong!!!
CTOPP-
Elision 8 (25%)
blending words 11 (63%)
phemene isolation 11 (63%)
memory for digits 15 (95%)
nonword repetition 13 (84%)
rapid digit naming 11 (63%)
rapid letter naming 9 (37%)
blending non words 11 (63%)
segmenting nonwords 9 (37%)
phonological awareness 100 (50%)
phonological memory 125 (95%)
Rapid symbol naming 101 (53%)
At. phonological awareness 101 (53%)
spend language he took the CELF-5
He scored a 129 in the 97%tile but he lowest score was an 11 in sentence comprehension followed by a 12 in understanding spoken paragraphs. His word classes on the other hand was a 17.
The psychologist and our learning services director feel that with the amount of scatter and the fact that he has had lots of reading remediation that he has a SLD. (So do I!) I should also note that he is incredibly hard and focused worker!!
Thoughts anyone?? TIA
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Post by bros on Mar 6, 2015 17:36:32 GMT -5
I concur with the psych & Learning services director.
What state are you in?
Do you have health insurance that would cover your child seeing a neuropsychologist for testing? Or you could request an IEE from the public school.
His CTOPP scores versus his WISC scores are certainly interesting.
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Post by healthy11 on Mar 6, 2015 17:47:33 GMT -5
Momof3boyz, welcome our forum! Can I ask how old your son is, and which grade he's in? I can definitely "relate" to the school saying, "I don't understand why you are here. We don't test anyone like him." I was told the same thing with my son. You mention that your son has had lots of reading remediation already...Can I ask for how long? Has that been through the public school through RTI, or privately? What "qualified" him for it? (Earlier testing? Teacher's recommendation?) Your son is clearly very bright, but I believe you're right, that the scatter is indicative of an underlying issue. Based on his strong WMI results, I don't think he's dealing with an attentional problem like ADHD, but his CTOPP and WIAT spelling/decoding/word reading scores certainly indicate a struggle with language issues, and could be an indication of dyslexia. As you point out, the public schools will be reluctant to provide services, given his meeting their minimal performance levels (from what I've seen, RTI doesn't help gifted kids very much) but it could be important "down the road" to have an accommodation plan, such as for extended time on tests, etc. If you haven't already looked at the "2e" (Twice-exceptional, aka gifted with learning issues) resources that I've listed here, at millermom.proboards.com/thread/9972/twice-exceptional-gifted-adhd-resources ,I encourage you to do so. Again, welcome! |
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Post by momof3boyz on Mar 6, 2015 21:27:57 GMT -5
Thanks for the welcome and the input so far. My son is 8 years old and in 3rd grade. At his private school, they did small group (4-5) reading work with the school reading specialist everyday plus he would sometimes go an additional am. We are in Mass. We made the mistake of maintaining we had educational concerns at Neuropsych intake. Our son actually almost dies at birth due to lack of oxygen, so I just reached out to his neonatal neurologist and she is going to write a letter to our insurance that she believes he needs an eval as part of his long term follow-up care. As for the 2e info thank you! I have looked a little into this matter on some other websites and I mentioned it at the meeting. No one except the psychologist had any idea what I was talking about. I mentioned to the director of special ed that they may want to look into having some professional development on the issue LOL!
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Post by momof3boyz on Mar 6, 2015 21:45:43 GMT -5
I should also mention that we requested at woodcock Johnson as well, but that restarts the clock so hopefully that will be done in the next month.
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Post by momof3boyz on Mar 6, 2015 21:58:34 GMT -5
and I had never heard about an IEE before. Definitely a newbie here. I may have to request one  |
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Post by bros on Mar 6, 2015 22:13:57 GMT -5
Thanks for the welcome and the input so far. My son is 8 years old and in 3rd grade. At his private school, they did small group (4-5) reading work with the school reading specialist everyday plus he would sometimes go an additional am. We are in Mass. We made the mistake of maintaining we had educational concerns at Neuropsych intake. Our son actually almost dies at birth due to lack of oxygen, so I just reached out to his neonatal neurologist and she is going to write a letter to our insurance that she believes he needs an eval as part of his long term follow-up care. As for the 2e info thank you! I have looked a little into this matter on some other websites and I mentioned it at the meeting. No one except the psychologist had any idea what I was talking about. I mentioned to the director of special ed that they may want to look into having some professional development on the issue LOL! Okay. Did the neonatal neurologist ever tell you he had something called Periventricular Leukomalacia, also known as PVL? Has he been checked for it recently? Basically, it is a death of white matter in the brain that can occur in births where oxygen has difficulty getting to the brain. I'm sure you know of other things caused by lack of oxygen, such as CP, but the scores and your descriptions seem nothing like CP. Has he seen a neurologist since the neonatal neurologist? If not, get him an appointment with one soon - he should get a full neurological workup just to see - as it is a bit harder to detect abnormalities in an infant brain versus a developed brain (My PVL was not detected until age 17 due to how mild it was). I have similar, but different, scores to your son - I have a slightly lower FSIQ, but a higher VCI, and significantly lower WMI & PS. Most people, even teachers fresh out of college, will not know what twice exceptional means unless they have their nose in the literature - I just graduated with a BA in Special Education December 2014 and not a single one of my courses mentioned 2e or any disabilities or remediations for disabilities - they mostly focused on the laws and how to do just enough to not run afoul of the DoE. |
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Post by momof3boyz on Mar 6, 2015 22:32:51 GMT -5
No, Periventricular Leukomalacia was never mentioned at all. He definitely does not have CP. I may get him an appt. to look further into it. I was just thinking of it as a way to get the ins to pay for the neuropsych and honestly didn't think there was actually any brain damage.
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Post by bros on Mar 7, 2015 0:40:59 GMT -5
No, Periventricular Leukomalacia was never mentioned at all. He definitely does not have CP. I may get him an appt. to look further into it. I was just thinking of it as a way to get the ins to pay for the neuropsych and honestly didn't think there was actually any brain damage. Honestly, I am just putting it out there not to worry you - but because births that involve a lack of oxygen can lead to LDs. How long was he without oxygen? Or was it just restricted airways? Or was he a premie? I would suggest going to a neurologist first, make sure the medical history is documented with a recent neurologist visit, then see a neuropsych - they are very good (in my experience) with getting insurance to pay for neuropsych evals. I had my first at age 20 (was officially diagnosed with dysgraphia at age 4, however - identified as having developmental delays pretty much at birth) and he got it approved through insurance because I have epilepsy - and I can get another one whenever I want, because one of the diagnoses was "Cognitive Dysfunction secondary to Epilepsy and Learning Disability". How was he with hitting developmental milestones when he was younger? Any clumsiness? Vision issues (past or present)? Did he have any sleep issues when younger? How is his posture? (Those are common symptoms of PVL). Has he ever had a MRI or CT Scan? |
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Post by momof3boyz on Mar 7, 2015 21:52:26 GMT -5
He was post mature and had meconium aspiration syndrome so bad that he was put on ecmo (a lung bypass machine) because his lung collapsed and he had chemical pneumonia. His case was one of the worst that children's hospital had ever seen. He did have some eye issues when he was younger, specifically refractive amblyopia, which is like 2 lazy eyes and the brain can't decide which one to use. He no longer wears glasses though. He was also pretty clumsy as a young child, falling of his chair etc. He is also a daydreamer. He had a slight language delay but motor skills were right on track. Sleeping and posture are fine. I may have to plan to see a neurologist but at this point my primary focus is his learning issue. I'm thinking that the letter from his neonatologist would be able to push through the neuropsych. I have considered an IEE and am just not sure yet if I want to focus my energy on a war with the public schools when I don't actually need anything from them. I am hoping to get more opinions on his test results although I am happy to see that those who have replied so far agree with our thoughts.
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Post by bros on Mar 7, 2015 22:07:16 GMT -5
He was post mature and had meconium aspiration syndrome so bad that he was put on ecmo (a lung bypass machine) because his lung collapsed and he had chemical pneumonia. His case was one of the worst that children's hospital had ever seen. He did have some eye issues when he was younger, specifically refractive amblyopia, which is like 2 lazy eyes and the brain can't decide which one to use. He no longer wears glasses though. He was also pretty clumsy as a young child, falling of his chair etc. He is also a daydreamer. He had a slight language delay but motor skills were right on track. Sleeping and posture are fine. I may have to plan to see a neurologist but at this point my primary focus is his learning issue. I'm thinking that the letter from his neonatologist would be able to push through the neuropsych. I have considered an IEE and am just not sure yet if I want to focus my energy on a war with the public schools when I don't actually need anything from them. I am hoping to get more opinions on his test results although I am happy to see that those who have replied so far agree with our thoughts. I was born at 25 1/2 weeks - so I was a micropremie. Underdeveloped lungs, all sorts of fun stuff. I have amblyopia and had strabismus. Amblyopia can be a sign of very mild brain damage, but it can also be a sign of over-oxygenation. A letter from his neonatologist, a doctor he hasn't seen since he was probably 1-2 years old, would not justify to an insurance company that he would require testing - they want more up to date things - and they would much prefer (read: almost require) you to go to a neurologist before going to a neuropsychologist. And with the IEE - it is always worth asking the school. You just have to say you disagree with the evaluation, you don't need to say why, even if they ask. |
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