Why are so many UMC average students "Learning Disabled"?

[Anonymous]

We test students at my school after what seems like a long time of no or little to no progress. Most of them don’t have a disability. They just have a lower than average IQ which explains the slow progress. Somebody has to be on the left of the bell curve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can have an LD and still be stupid, a bad student, or a C student. You can have ADHD and still get Cs and still be a below average student. [/quote

What is this fixation with calling children stupid?

Do you prefer brainless, slow-witted, or empty-headed instead?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can have an LD and still be stupid, a bad student, or a C student. You can have ADHD and still get Cs and still be a below average student. [/quote

What is this fixation with calling children stupid?

Do you prefer brainless, slow-witted, or empty-headed instead?

Shame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can have an LD and still be stupid, a bad student, or a C student. You can have ADHD and still get Cs and still be a below average student. [/quote

What is this fixation with calling children stupid?

Do you prefer brainless, slow-witted, or empty-headed instead?

Shame.

You continually saying that doesn’t make me feel an ounce of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can have an LD and still be stupid, a bad student, or a C student. You can have ADHD and still get Cs and still be a below average student. [/quote

What is this fixation with calling children stupid?

Do you prefer brainless, slow-witted, or empty-headed instead?

Shame.

You continually saying that doesn’t make me feel an ounce of it.

Yes, we get that. It’s obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We test students at my school after what seems like a long time of no or little to no progress. Most of them don’t have a disability. They just have a lower than average IQ which explains the slow progress. Somebody has to be on the left of the bell curve.

If those kids were privately tested almost all of them would come away with a diagnosis. If you give enough tests something will come out high and something will be low. When you pay 3 to 5 thousand dollars, you get a diagnosis. A psychologist in private practice has a vested interest in diagnosing something because if they are conservative and say the kid is working up to his potential and there is no LD, the parents would get mad and not refer others and/or give out bad reviews. My sister-in- law is a psychologist in another state working in a city with plenty of families willing and able to pay for testing. I asked her if she ever tested and found nothing - no diagnosis whatsoever and she said no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can have an LD and still be stupid, a bad student, or a C student. You can have ADHD and still get Cs and still be a below average student. [/quote

What is this fixation with calling children stupid?

Do you prefer brainless, slow-witted, or empty-headed instead?

Shame.

You continually saying that doesn’t make me feel an ounce of it.

Yes, we get that. It’s obvious.

So don’t waste your time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It makes the parents feel better about having a rather stupid child.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

Hahaha! I’m not ashamed, but the parents of these children certainly are. That’s why they flail around, looking for a “diagnosis”. Guess what, buttercup? The diagnosis is just that your kid ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Deal with it and stop looking for something to blame.

So bitter our kids got better grades and extra time. Waaaa!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can have an LD and still be stupid, a bad student, or a C student. You can have ADHD and still get Cs and still be a below average student. [/quote

What is this fixation with calling children stupid?

Do you prefer brainless, slow-witted, or empty-headed instead?

Shame.

You continually saying that doesn’t make me feel an ounce of it.

Yes, we get that. It’s obvious.

So don’t waste your time!

Just because you don’t hold yourself accountable for being a cruddy person doesn’t mean we can’t. It’s never a waste of time to shine a bright spotlight on those who are awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We test students at my school after what seems like a long time of no or little to no progress. Most of them don’t have a disability. They just have a lower than average IQ which explains the slow progress. Somebody has to be on the left of the bell curve.

If those kids were privately tested almost all of them would come away with a diagnosis. If you give enough tests something will come out high and something will be low. When you pay 3 to 5 thousand dollars, you get a diagnosis. A psychologist in private practice has a vested interest in diagnosing something because if they are conservative and say the kid is working up to his potential and there is no LD, the parents would get mad and not refer others and/or give out bad reviews. My sister-in- law is a psychologist in another state working in a city with plenty of families willing and able to pay for testing. I asked her if she ever tested and found nothing - no diagnosis whatsoever and she said no.

My insurance paid for testing at KK and received no diagnosis. I was relieved! I really doubt those students had any disability. They are slow learners but that is not a disability. They learn at a slower rate than the average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because we are more advanced now and can recognize LDSs? I bet you plenty of MC kids are LD, as are lower income kids. To a mom of two LD kids, both who are doing relatively ok in school, I voiced my opinion on the other thread, changes in maturity demands and different life styles. I do find this question ignorant. LD are more diagnosed today because society is advancing at a rapid pace and so is medical research. This is on par with asking how come there is more testing for strep or viruses or bacterial infections today. Or, why are people today having more Lyme Disease than 100 years ago? They always had it, just didn't know about it. It is called progress. We now have more means to meet different needs, so why shouldn't we? I know kids who score low on WISC because they can't stop their mind from running and overthinking everything. Let's just revert to calling such kids dumb, slow, not quite there, right?
I know these slow kids from my elementary school, looking back it is clean one had Selective Mutism, one needed help due to reading issues. But, they were just C students and system failed them.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It makes the parents feel better about having a rather stupid child.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

Hahaha! I’m not ashamed, but the parents of these children certainly are. That’s why they flail around, looking for a “diagnosis”. Guess what, buttercup? The diagnosis is just that your kid ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Deal with it and stop looking for something to blame.

So bitter our kids got better grades and extra time. Waaaa!

I don’t have kids but nice try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It makes the parents feel better about having a rather stupid child.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

Hahaha! I’m not ashamed, but the parents of these children certainly are. That’s why they flail around, looking for a “diagnosis”. Guess what, buttercup? The diagnosis is just that your kid ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Deal with it and stop looking for something to blame.

MAGA much?

I'm betting you're not one of the sharpest tools in the shed either. So sorry they didn't have more interventions when you were in school...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Addressing LD is hard and expensive. First you have to believe that their child isn't struggling because they are stupid or lazy or have a behavioral problem. You need to do a lot of research to understand LD because common knowledge is flat wrong about a lot of things. Then you learn to ignore the teachers who have zero training in identifying a child for screening. They want you to put off testing until after your child has already failed and developed low self esteem. Then you need to do research find some place that can do real testing. Educational testing isn't covered by insurance so a regular in network psychologist wont do the right testing. Then you pay around $3000 for testing. Then you start working with the school and quickly discover they don't follow evidence based practices to remediate dyslexia. The most you're likely to get is an additional half hour per week with a reading specialist who will do more of the same things that were already not working. You finally throw up your hands and start working your network to find a good tutor. Since you're pretty comfortable, you can afford the additional $1000 to $1500 a month to help your child. If you have a great tutor and your child works their ass off, they might get up to grade level in decoding and comprehension. They will never read as swiftly and as fluently as a natural reader, though, so they still need appropriate accommodations to access the curriculum.

People from lower SES are less likely to navigate a lot of these steps. They are more likely to trust that our educational system knows what they're doing, less likely to have the time and resources to track down real experts, and less likely to be able to pay for real testing. It's not categorical of course, but I grew up LMC and know many people who were bright kids but dropped out of school due to untreated LD and SN. A characteristic of mild LD in adulthood is having dropped out of HS, no college degree, but successful career in a technical arena or as an entrepreneur.


Most people I know who have a child with moderate, severe, or profound dyslexia have private tutoring because schools rarely have the resources to teach dyslexic kids effectively.

It's such an uphill battle even when you have the resources. We're paying for dyslexia tutoring out of pocket but are on waitlists for psychiatrists who take insurance to try to get the ADHD addressed. DS's classroom teacher didn't do anything except make DS feel bad by telling him the problem was he wasn't trying hard enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems to be "the thing" now, that when you see an UMC kid who is a mediocre student, they will almost invariably have a diagnosis of having a learning disability or ADHD. Is there no such thing as a C student any more? Whatever happened to the idea that some kids just aren't great at school? Is that notion only acceptable for working class kids but not affluent kids?

Why is every single UMC kid “gifted”?