How likely is it a six-year-old with a developmental delay to catch up?

[Anonymous]

My DS just turned 5 and we were told that if he hadn’t caught up by 5, that the diagnosis of global developmental delay would go away and be replaced by intellectual disability. No one says it explicitly but what I have discerned is that kids don’t catch up if they haven’t caught up by 5, and that we shouldn’t expect DS to.

One thing that I have found is it feels like so much if the infrastructure for kids with SN is geared towards ASD. I think kids with ID are more rare and it sometimes feels to me like the SN infrastructure caters so much to the ASD kids that the ID kids are sort of ignored.

I’m actually an attorney and my DS wasn’t getting any services until one of his teachers basically privately pushed me to push much harder and gave me language and almost a road map to use. That conversation combined with my own research allowed me to go into the IEP meetings to FINALLY get services. It makes me ragey that my DS’ education literally hinges on my ability to figure out some set of magic words and then say them verbally and in writing. Because I believe everyone agreed that he needed more help but he wasn’t getting it until I essentially said the magic words. Now he gets a lot more support. It makes me angry. If I needed help from the teacher to know what to say and I’m an attorney who works in education law no less, then how do “normal” parents stand a chance????

Tell the parents very specifically what to do if you can.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, OP,

It falls on the parents. My son was born premature with global development delay, then was diagnosed with ADHD and autism, and a host of other things, like dyscalculia, low processing speed, motor delay, etc. He had years of speech therapy, OT and PT.

... And I worked with him every day after school to reteach. I taught him to read. We read a TON. We brought him to museums, narrated his day, explained what everyone was likely thinking and how that was influencing what they were doing (in real life and in books), insisted on math fluency (which his dyscalculia, that was a significant achievement). We taught him hand-over-hand how to write, how to tie his shoelaces, how to swim, how to ride a bike. That kid worked 10 times harder than any other kid I know.

The greatest gift you can give this kid is telling her family that they need to spend time with her after school to do these things. They might take it the wrong way, especially if they have no understanding of early intervention can do. YOU can only scratch the surface - you're responsible for so many kids! These days it's normal for doctor and IEP teams to lower the bar for students with special needs. I was told my son would be extremely delayed in walking and talking and might not ever make it to general ed. It sends the wrong message to their parents, who think there's nothing to be done. I think the reality is that we live in a society were it's not considered healthy for kids to receive intense academic support. "If they're dumb, they're dumb."

My "dumb" kid is a freshman in college now, with merit aid because of his multiple AP courses and 35 on his ACT.

But this is on the parents. No one else has that kind of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, OP,

It falls on the parents. My son was born premature with global development delay, then was diagnosed with ADHD and autism, and a host of other things, like dyscalculia, low processing speed, motor delay, etc. He had years of speech therapy, OT and PT.

... And I worked with him every day after school to reteach. I taught him to read. We read a TON. We brought him to museums, narrated his day, explained what everyone was likely thinking and how that was influencing what they were doing (in real life and in books), insisted on math fluency (which his dyscalculia, that was a significant achievement). We taught him hand-over-hand how to write, how to tie his shoelaces, how to swim, how to ride a bike. That kid worked 10 times harder than any other kid I know.

The greatest gift you can give this kid is telling her family that they need to spend time with her after school to do these things. They might take it the wrong way, especially if they have no understanding of early intervention can do. YOU can only scratch the surface - you're responsible for so many kids! These days it's normal for doctor and IEP teams to lower the bar for students with special needs. I was told my son would be extremely delayed in walking and talking and might not ever make it to general ed. It sends the wrong message to their parents, who think there's nothing to be done. I think the reality is that we live in a society were it's not considered healthy for kids to receive intense academic support. "If they're dumb, they're dumb."

My "dumb" kid is a freshman in college now, with merit aid because of his multiple AP courses and 35 on his ACT.

But this is on the parents. No one else has that kind of time.

Eyeroll. You didn’t make your kid into the smart kid that he is. IQ was never going to be an issue for your kid. Stop being smug and telling yourself and others that IF ONLY they worked hard and loved their kids as much as you then their SN would get better. I’m happy your kid is doing so great. He likely would have done well even without all the therapies.

They told me my kid would never walk or talk but he did. Not because I worked harder than other parents but because his condition is rare and not well understood. He has a genetic disorder with only 300 or so cases. 299/300 don’t walk or talk but my son does. A geneticist told us he might have some kind of a modifier gene that helps counteract the effects of the disorder. It’s not because we did more for our kid than other parents of kids with this same disorder. My god, PP. You really are out of line.

[Anonymous]

Push for her to be in a smaller classroom. It's more likely that she'd catch up sooner with a more robust IEP and special educational hours. If the child has met her speech goals with the current hours more speech hours are not warranted.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like she needs to be placed in a setting that matches where she’s at with teachers that can support her (co-taught) environment. Upping services do not close the gap in term of development. She needs teaching that she can access

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, OP,

It falls on the parents. My son was born premature with global development delay, then was diagnosed with ADHD and autism, and a host of other things, like dyscalculia, low processing speed, motor delay, etc. He had years of speech therapy, OT and PT.

... And I worked with him every day after school to reteach. I taught him to read. We read a TON. We brought him to museums, narrated his day, explained what everyone was likely thinking and how that was influencing what they were doing (in real life and in books), insisted on math fluency (which his dyscalculia, that was a significant achievement). We taught him hand-over-hand how to write, how to tie his shoelaces, how to swim, how to ride a bike. That kid worked 10 times harder than any other kid I know.

The greatest gift you can give this kid is telling her family that they need to spend time with her after school to do these things. They might take it the wrong way, especially if they have no understanding of early intervention can do. YOU can only scratch the surface - you're responsible for so many kids! These days it's normal for doctor and IEP teams to lower the bar for students with special needs. I was told my son would be extremely delayed in walking and talking and might not ever make it to general ed. It sends the wrong message to their parents, who think there's nothing to be done. I think the reality is that we live in a society were it's not considered healthy for kids to receive intense academic support. "If they're dumb, they're dumb."

My "dumb" kid is a freshman in college now, with merit aid because of his multiple AP courses and 35 on his ACT.

But this is on the parents. No one else has that kind of time.

Eyeroll. You didn’t make your kid into the smart kid that he is. IQ was never going to be an issue for your kid. Stop being smug and telling yourself and others that IF ONLY they worked hard and loved their kids as much as you then their SN would get better. I’m happy your kid is doing so great. He likely would have done well even without all the therapies.

They told me my kid would never walk or talk but he did. Not because I worked harder than other parents but because his condition is rare and not well understood. He has a genetic disorder with only 300 or so cases. 299/300 don’t walk or talk but my son does. A geneticist told us he might have some kind of a modifier gene that helps counteract the effects of the disorder. It’s not because we did more for our kid than other parents of kids with this same disorder. My god, PP. You really are out of line.

Er… you’re taking things the wrong way. The point is never to give up on your kid. You maximize whatever potential they have. Very sadly, I see parents give up because society tells them they shouldn’t push their kids. And then, these kids don’t do as well as they could have done, or in some cases, fail entirely and have no future. I’ve been around the block and witnessed multiple cases. This when years of intense therapies and tutoring could have ensured more rosy economic options for them.

Please don’t diminish other families’ challenges and efforts. It makes you look inexperienced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, OP,

It falls on the parents. My son was born premature with global development delay, then was diagnosed with ADHD and autism, and a host of other things, like dyscalculia, low processing speed, motor delay, etc. He had years of speech therapy, OT and PT.

... And I worked with him every day after school to reteach. I taught him to read. We read a TON. We brought him to museums, narrated his day, explained what everyone was likely thinking and how that was influencing what they were doing (in real life and in books), insisted on math fluency (which his dyscalculia, that was a significant achievement). We taught him hand-over-hand how to write, how to tie his shoelaces, how to swim, how to ride a bike. That kid worked 10 times harder than any other kid I know.

The greatest gift you can give this kid is telling her family that they need to spend time with her after school to do these things. They might take it the wrong way, especially if they have no understanding of early intervention can do. YOU can only scratch the surface - you're responsible for so many kids! These days it's normal for doctor and IEP teams to lower the bar for students with special needs. I was told my son would be extremely delayed in walking and talking and might not ever make it to general ed. It sends the wrong message to their parents, who think there's nothing to be done. I think the reality is that we live in a society were it's not considered healthy for kids to receive intense academic support. "If they're dumb, they're dumb."

My "dumb" kid is a freshman in college now, with merit aid because of his multiple AP courses and 35 on his ACT.

But this is on the parents. No one else has that kind of time.

Eyeroll. You didn’t make your kid into the smart kid that he is. IQ was never going to be an issue for your kid. Stop being smug and telling yourself and others that IF ONLY they worked hard and loved their kids as much as you then their SN would get better. I’m happy your kid is doing so great. He likely would have done well even without all the therapies.

They told me my kid would never walk or talk but he did. Not because I worked harder than other parents but because his condition is rare and not well understood. He has a genetic disorder with only 300 or so cases. 299/300 don’t walk or talk but my son does. A geneticist told us he might have some kind of a modifier gene that helps counteract the effects of the disorder. It’s not because we did more for our kid than other parents of kids with this same disorder. My god, PP. You really are out of line.

Er… you’re taking things the wrong way. The point is never to give up on your kid. You maximize whatever potential they have. Very sadly, I see parents give up because society tells them they shouldn’t push their kids. And then, these kids don’t do as well as they could have done, or in some cases, fail entirely and have no future. I’ve been around the block and witnessed multiple cases. This when years of intense therapies and tutoring could have ensured more rosy economic options for them.

Please don’t diminish other families’ challenges and efforts. It makes you look inexperienced.

I’m not diminishing others challenges. It disgusting that you assume the reason other kids aren’t as successful as yours is because their parents didn’t try hard enough.

[Anonymous]

OP again. Thank you to everyone for your helpful insights! It is next to impossible to get kids into self contained placements in my district in kindergarten. I suspect this child may need that in the future though.

I am concerned that the speech path is setting low goals for her so that she will meet them with a lower minutes rather than setting more ambitious speech goals and providing more minutes of speech therapy. When I brought this up I was told pulling her more than once a week wouldn’t be the least restrictive environment. I do also know the speech path has a high caseload and can’t help but suspect that is part of not wanting to provide more minutes. I can’t help but feel like a child who just learned to use the pronoun I and answer who and what questions needs more support with language to access the curriculum. What argument can I make that receptive and expressive delays impede access to the curriculum such that she needs a “more restrictive environment” ie more speech minutes? Would more speech therapy even make a difference for her?

It sounds like she may be eligible for more resource room minutes since she hasn’t made any progress at all toward her academic goals. Again, I feel like the idea is to set easier goals so kids will meet them with a minimum of services. The plan is to give her simpler goals in her next IEP. I feel like identifying the letters in her first name and counting to 10 are already very low for a kindergarten age child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. Thank you to everyone for your helpful insights! It is next to impossible to get kids into self contained placements in my district in kindergarten. I suspect this child may need that in the future though.

I am concerned that the speech path is setting low goals for her so that she will meet them with a lower minutes rather than setting more ambitious speech goals and providing more minutes of speech therapy. When I brought this up I was told pulling her more than once a week wouldn’t be the least restrictive environment. I do also know the speech path has a high caseload and can’t help but suspect that is part of not wanting to provide more minutes. I can’t help but feel like a child who just learned to use the pronoun I and answer who and what questions needs more support with language to access the curriculum. What argument can I make that receptive and expressive delays impede access to the curriculum such that she needs a “more restrictive environment” ie more speech minutes? Would more speech therapy even make a difference for her?

It sounds like she may be eligible for more resource room minutes since she hasn’t made any progress at all toward her academic goals. Again, I feel like the idea is to set easier goals so kids will meet them with a minimum of services. The plan is to give her simpler goals in her next IEP. I feel like identifying the letters in her first name and counting to 10 are already very low for a kindergarten age child.

What insurance does the parents have? The best option is a private evaluation. Remember academics can be deceiving at that age with language issues. She may have more in her and cannot express it. Look at the local universities and maybe something like Scottish rite. https://www.ritecarene.org/scottish-rite-masons There are other low cost options but I’m blanking on them.

[Anonymous]

This child needs pullout for language arts and math if she is to remain in a regular Ed classroom. It sounds like a smaller self/contained setting with mainstreaming out for now would better serve her as she is at a preschool level and needs intensive and appropriate skills development.
Great teacher and she knows that schools are not pushing for over identification due to greater costs. If the parents do not know the ropes, they may not even know there are options to help. Also more hours for speech is important.
The teacher may be limited in what she can say. And many parents do not have the funds nor the flexibility to do private therapy. I would advocate for a second year of Kindergaten snd to encourage parents to ask for the direct service pullout in a less busy setting to help with focus. Also to see what other special Ed programs in the system there are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, OP,

It falls on the parents. My son was born premature with global development delay, then was diagnosed with ADHD and autism, and a host of other things, like dyscalculia, low processing speed, motor delay, etc. He had years of speech therapy, OT and PT.

... And I worked with him every day after school to reteach. I taught him to read. We read a TON. We brought him to museums, narrated his day, explained what everyone was likely thinking and how that was influencing what they were doing (in real life and in books), insisted on math fluency (which his dyscalculia, that was a significant achievement). We taught him hand-over-hand how to write, how to tie his shoelaces, how to swim, how to ride a bike. That kid worked 10 times harder than any other kid I know.

The greatest gift you can give this kid is telling her family that they need to spend time with her after school to do these things. They might take it the wrong way, especially if they have no understanding of early intervention can do. YOU can only scratch the surface - you're responsible for so many kids! These days it's normal for doctor and IEP teams to lower the bar for students with special needs. I was told my son would be extremely delayed in walking and talking and might not ever make it to general ed. It sends the wrong message to their parents, who think there's nothing to be done. I think the reality is that we live in a society were it's not considered healthy for kids to receive intense academic support. "If they're dumb, they're dumb."

My "dumb" kid is a freshman in college now, with merit aid because of his multiple AP courses and 35 on his ACT.

But this is on the parents. No one else has that kind of time.

Eyeroll. You didn’t make your kid into the smart kid that he is. IQ was never going to be an issue for your kid. Stop being smug and telling yourself and others that IF ONLY they worked hard and loved their kids as much as you then their SN would get better. I’m happy your kid is doing so great. He likely would have done well even without all the therapies.

They told me my kid would never walk or talk but he did. Not because I worked harder than other parents but because his condition is rare and not well understood. He has a genetic disorder with only 300 or so cases. 299/300 don’t walk or talk but my son does. A geneticist told us he might have some kind of a modifier gene that helps counteract the effects of the disorder. It’s not because we did more for our kid than other parents of kids with this same disorder. My god, PP. You really are out of line.

Er… you’re taking things the wrong way. The point is never to give up on your kid. You maximize whatever potential they have. Very sadly, I see parents give up because society tells them they shouldn’t push their kids. And then, these kids don’t do as well as they could have done, or in some cases, fail entirely and have no future. I’ve been around the block and witnessed multiple cases. This when years of intense therapies and tutoring could have ensured more rosy economic options for them.

Please don’t diminish other families’ challenges and efforts. It makes you look inexperienced.

I’m not diminishing others challenges. It disgusting that you assume the reason other kids aren’t as successful as yours is because their parents didn’t try hard enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, OP,

It falls on the parents. My son was born premature with global development delay, then was diagnosed with ADHD and autism, and a host of other things, like dyscalculia, low processing speed, motor delay, etc. He had years of speech therapy, OT and PT.

... And I worked with him every day after school to reteach. I taught him to read. We read a TON. We brought him to museums, narrated his day, explained what everyone was likely thinking and how that was influencing what they were doing (in real life and in books), insisted on math fluency (which his dyscalculia, that was a significant achievement). We taught him hand-over-hand how to write, how to tie his shoelaces, how to swim, how to ride a bike. That kid worked 10 times harder than any other kid I know.

The greatest gift you can give this kid is telling her family that they need to spend time with her after school to do these things. They might take it the wrong way, especially if they have no understanding of early intervention can do. YOU can only scratch the surface - you're responsible for so many kids! These days it's normal for doctor and IEP teams to lower the bar for students with special needs. I was told my son would be extremely delayed in walking and talking and might not ever make it to general ed. It sends the wrong message to their parents, who think there's nothing to be done. I think the reality is that we live in a society were it's not considered healthy for kids to receive intense academic support. "If they're dumb, they're dumb."

My "dumb" kid is a freshman in college now, with merit aid because of his multiple AP courses and 35 on his ACT.

But this is on the parents. No one else has that kind of time.

Eyeroll. You didn’t make your kid into the smart kid that he is. IQ was never going to be an issue for your kid. Stop being smug and telling yourself and others that IF ONLY they worked hard and loved their kids as much as you then their SN would get better. I’m happy your kid is doing so great. He likely would have done well even without all the therapies.

They told me my kid would never walk or talk but he did. Not because I worked harder than other parents but because his condition is rare and not well understood. He has a genetic disorder with only 300 or so cases. 299/300 don’t walk or talk but my son does. A geneticist told us he might have some kind of a modifier gene that helps counteract the effects of the disorder. It’s not because we did more for our kid than other parents of kids with this same disorder. My god, PP. You really are out of line.

Er… you’re taking things the wrong way. The point is never to give up on your kid. You maximize whatever potential they have. Very sadly, I see parents give up because society tells them they shouldn’t push their kids. And then, these kids don’t do as well as they could have done, or in some cases, fail entirely and have no future. I’ve been around the block and witnessed multiple cases. This when years of intense therapies and tutoring could have ensured more rosy economic options for them.

Please don’t diminish other families’ challenges and efforts. It makes you look inexperienced.

I’m not diminishing others challenges. It disgusting that you assume the reason other kids aren’t as successful as yours is because their parents didn’t try hard enough.

This, give your kid some credit, lady, and you less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, OP,

It falls on the parents. My son was born premature with global development delay, then was diagnosed with ADHD and autism, and a host of other things, like dyscalculia, low processing speed, motor delay, etc. He had years of speech therapy, OT and PT.

... And I worked with him every day after school to reteach. I taught him to read. We read a TON. We brought him to museums, narrated his day, explained what everyone was likely thinking and how that was influencing what they were doing (in real life and in books), insisted on math fluency (which his dyscalculia, that was a significant achievement). We taught him hand-over-hand how to write, how to tie his shoelaces, how to swim, how to ride a bike. That kid worked 10 times harder than any other kid I know.

The greatest gift you can give this kid is telling her family that they need to spend time with her after school to do these things. They might take it the wrong way, especially if they have no understanding of early intervention can do. YOU can only scratch the surface - you're responsible for so many kids! These days it's normal for doctor and IEP teams to lower the bar for students with special needs. I was told my son would be extremely delayed in walking and talking and might not ever make it to general ed. It sends the wrong message to their parents, who think there's nothing to be done. I think the reality is that we live in a society were it's not considered healthy for kids to receive intense academic support. "If they're dumb, they're dumb."

My "dumb" kid is a freshman in college now, with merit aid because of his multiple AP courses and 35 on his ACT.

But this is on the parents. No one else has that kind of time.

Eyeroll. You didn’t make your kid into the smart kid that he is. IQ was never going to be an issue for your kid. Stop being smug and telling yourself and others that IF ONLY they worked hard and loved their kids as much as you then their SN would get better. I’m happy your kid is doing so great. He likely would have done well even without all the therapies.

They told me my kid would never walk or talk but he did. Not because I worked harder than other parents but because his condition is rare and not well understood. He has a genetic disorder with only 300 or so cases. 299/300 don’t walk or talk but my son does. A geneticist told us he might have some kind of a modifier gene that helps counteract the effects of the disorder. It’s not because we did more for our kid than other parents of kids with this same disorder. My god, PP. You really are out of line.

Er… you’re taking things the wrong way. The point is never to give up on your kid. You maximize whatever potential they have. Very sadly, I see parents give up because society tells them they shouldn’t push their kids. And then, these kids don’t do as well as they could have done, or in some cases, fail entirely and have no future. I’ve been around the block and witnessed multiple cases. This when years of intense therapies and tutoring could have ensured more rosy economic options for them.

Please don’t diminish other families’ challenges and efforts. It makes you look inexperienced.

I’m a different poster, and you may not realize but your post was incredibly tone deaf. You are inexperienced about situations with low IQ given what you wrote in your post. I’m happy for your family that you “didn’t give up” on your kid and it worked. I haven’t given up on my kid either. But with an IQ of about 25, I’m certainly not going to have the experience you had. And at least 10 therapists/doctors told me “she will catch up” until age 5. And then, I pushed to get more expertise, for a genetic diagnosis and realized that the 100s of thousands I had spent on various therapies was actually a waste. I should have kept that money for the 24/7 care she requires. That said, I would never discourage someone from pushing in therapy if they can afford it and can find the time. But your sense of self righteousness about your path is off putting at best.

[Anonymous]

One pp mentions if he hadn’t caught up by 5, that the diagnosis of global developmental delay would go away and be replaced by intellectual disability. Is that true for MCPS IEP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One pp mentions if he hadn’t caught up by 5, that the diagnosis of global developmental delay would go away and be replaced by intellectual disability. Is that true for MCPS IEP?

No. That is not how it works. My kid had a GDD and has not caught up at 12. But his IQ is 82, so he’s not going to be diagnosed with an ID. You can’t just go based on generalizations. An ID diagnosis is obviously individual and specific. That poster is likely speaking from her own experience based on what doctors have indicated based on how her specific child is presenting. If a GDD is severe, and the kid is testing in ID range at 5, than, yes. There’s no automatic imposition of an ID diagnosis though and nor should there be. There have to be adaptive impacts also.