How to find out whether my child has a learning disability.
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Anonymous
| Our child has received psychoeducational testing through MCPS. DD scored much higher in math than in verbal areas. I believe there was a 30 point differential in the achievement. However, the WISC II did not indicate a learning disability. Her teacher didn't think she had a learning disability at the beginning of the year when these tests were performed. We will be meeting with her teacher to reevaluate her IEP (for something other than a learning disability). Would it be worth our while to pursue neuropsych testing to fill in the gaps left by the psychoeducational testing? My DD is below grade level in reading. I see the writing worksheets she brings home from school and they look like a child in the beginning of kindergarten wrote them. She is in 2nd grade. I can't help but get a gut feeling that there is a learning issue. |
Anonymous
| We took my son to a psychologist who specializes in testing for LDs and in working with gifted kids. She ran tests, talked to him, talked to us, gave us a DX, and made recommendations. She made recommendations for the school as well. |
Anonymous
| Too little information, OP. How are her other fine-motor skills? Examples? What does she like doing? What are the things she does well? |
Anonymous
| She has great fine motor skills, though she has never learned how to write letters and numbers properly. She is very good at sports, particularly baseball. Loves computer games, of course, and loves outdoor play in general. She balks when I try to read with her. She does enjoy doing word searches, though, I don't think she can actually read the words she is searching for. She loves it when I quiz her in math problems, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. |
Anonymous
| I've got two kids and I've been through the wringer with this sort of thing with the school. I think the school team is good, kind and interested in my kids but (at the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist), I don't think they're interested in really finding out if kids have LDs. They're just looking to have your child do 'good enough'. I would recommend a private neuro-psych evaluation. It would be much more thorough and more objective. |
Anonymous
Thank you for this. I get the same impression. I really feel like they are missing something. Would you say who you used for your neuropsych and whether you would recommend them? |
Anonymous
We had the private ones done out of state a while ago and now have appointments with Stixrud http://stixrud.com/ . They'renot cheap but they come highly recommended on this forum and other professionals we've worked with. You should also know that if you disagree with the school's testing, you are entitled to request an "Independent Education Evaluation" (aka IEE). We're actually going through the process now which is why I made the appointments with Stixrud. We disagree with the school's interpretation of their testing and so requested an IEE. You should read what Wrights Law http://www.wrightslaw.com/blog/?p=7081 has to say about it. It seems you don't have to provide a reason why you disagree with the school's testing (although you may be pressured to provide one) and are limited to one per cycle but the school is required to pay for it or reimburse you - unless they take you to due process to dispute it. I'm told that's unlikely to happen unless the charges are so far outside the norm. You are NOT required to use an evaluator on the list provided by the school but to get reimbursement, you must use an evaluator that meets the criteria established by the school system. From what I've experienced, I have every reason to believe Stixrud more than meets the criteria. Good luck! |
Anonymous
I definitely would advise you to pursue further testing, whether it is paying privately for neuropsych or asking MCPS to pay for an Independent Educational Evaluation. Our personal experience in MCPS is that the county is not very good at identifying LDs. Particularly in the early grades, MCPS is predisposed to seeing a child who is not failing as "doing fine" or "not that smart". Prior to third grade, there is not much writing in the classroom and the school system (wrongly, IMO) views writing as a skill which some kids may not have at that age. Bright kids can often compensate for a learning disability and typically begin to de-compensate around 3rd grade or middle school. I say this as the parent to a GT/LD kid who wasn't identified until 3rd grade despite many early parent/teacher conferences, EMT meetings, etc. I basically had to provide outside testing and pressure the system and walk them thru the diagnosis for dysgraphia. A WISC cannot be used to identify/diagnose and LD. Certain kinds of performance on the WISC may indicate that an LD is possible and further testing is needed. What other tests besides the WISC did MCPS do? If you are so inclined, post the IQ and achievement scores. MCPS often "optimistically" interprets results, i.e. if a child scores "low average" they will report this as "average". Or they will fail to make obvious significant discrepancies between IQ and achievement. In order to diagnose an LD in MCPS, the county must do an IQ test and achievement testing. This typically is the WISC (IQ) and the Woodcock-Johnson III (achievement). The school psychologist compares the IQ and achievement scores and plugs the scores into a tool called the Achievement Comparison Tool (ACT). See here http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/specialed/OSSresources/act/Description%20of%20the%20Achievement%20Comparison%20Tool.pdf for more information on the ACT. Basically, the ACT compares scores automatically and indicates how unusual the score discrepancy is (the more unusual/significant the discrepancy, the more likely an LD). If your child is experiencing writing difficulty, he/she should have had a variety of WJ-III subtests that go to the use of language and writing ability. He/she should have also been assessed on Visual/Motor Integration (VMI). Based on what you have written, I would be concerned about a language-based learning disability -- some kind of reading disorder (with problems in decoding, comprehension or fluency) and/or dysgraphia. Have you asked specifically to see all your child's testing -- not just what the MCPS psych did, but the Reading Benchmark Assessment which should have different sub-components for decoding (aka accuracy), fluency (aka words per minute) and both written and oral comprehension, as well as MSA and MAP-R and M results or MAP-P and Terra Nova (if the latter is still being done.) Some schools in MCPS will hold a child back in reading if they are not able to pass the written comprehension aspect of the reading assessment. Is your child meeting benchmark in the other aspects of reading, but not written comprehension? Ask the school to assess without written comprehension to see what the difference is (i.e. reads on level M without written comprehension, but fails out at level I with written comprehension.) Your post seems to indicate that your child already has an IEP, and this testing is part of the re-evaluation. What is the current reason for the IEP? |
Anonymous
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