Coming to terms with an intellectual disability
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Anonymous
| That's what I'm doing. Any tips? What can you tell me about behavioral challenges? We have many! And I don't wantq to offend anyone with labels. I just have slowly realized that is what we're dealing with ( We have an Eval etc. but kept thinking it was wrong). |
Anonymous
| Hard to understand what you're dealing with. Down syndrome, or normal IQ but with learning disabilities? |
Anonymous
| Low iq. Like 78. |
Anonymous
I'm not trying to minimize but an IQ of 78 is not an intellectual disability. At worst it's a borderline normal IQ. You also don't say how old your child is and the circumstances in which he/she was tested and this result was obtained. Was this a four year old with ADHD? A five year old with CP? A kid with motoric disabilities? Did you test in circumstances that accounted for these issues? Is the kid grown up enough to have his/her IQ known? More info please. What does your eval actually tell you about your child. And more importantly, tell us about your child. Before you got the eval, did you consider your child bright and able? |
Anonymous
| Agree with other posters. Also, testing is an art, not a science. Don't make this decision now in your own head. If you don't believe in your kid's full potential no one else will, especially if you live in MoCo. Practically speaking, I will warn you not necessarily to share this report widely, if at all. Your kid might be capable of a high school diploma. Tracking starts young. Without knowing more it's hard to be specific but don't assume already your kid won't amount to much. He will be shunted to certificate programs where instruction is non-existent and kids are just warehoused. |
Anonymous
| Behavioral challenges and low IQ do not correlate. Meaning kids with high intelligence can have behavioral challenges and kids with low IQ can be angels. Behavior is behavior. |
Anonymous
| Check out ARC programs in your area. Parent support groups can be helpful. |
Anonymous
|
I have a son With an IQ in that range. Here's what I can tell you. My son graduated from high school and has a full time job, which is more than the school district said he would be capable of doing. We're hoping he can go to community college but reading comprehension is an issue and proving to be a major stumbling block. Here's what I can tell you. It's a tremendous amount of work to make your child successful even when your child is motivated. I was actively involved in my son's education all the way through high school. The school underestimated him and I believe because of that didn't put the effort in to make him successful. We got private services for things like teaching him to read because the school dropped the ball and then said he wasn't capable. Depression and poor poor pitiful me is a real problem, especially if there are NT siblings. But it's hard to find psychiatrists and counselors to deal with it.
I see a PP says that a 78 IQ isn't a disability. That poster is wrong. Your child raising experience will be so different than that of your friends whose kids don't have disabilities. The world is not your child's oyster. Your child's opportunities will be limited. Fortunately for us, my son was interested in a trade and was able to get into vacational high school and secure employment in that field. But, unless he can get into community college, his earnings potential is still minimum wage. We didn't have behavioral issues so I can't speak to that. |
Anonymous
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OP - The previous poster is right on in the extra support you will most likely need to provide DS, but they are reaping the rewards of a young adult with a hs diploma and skills to have a job beyond minimum wage. I will say that your attitude and outlook will impact DS whether you are aware or not so do get some counseling to help you work through the sense if loss, fear of the future etc.
Since you mention behaviors, I would ask if itbis due to lower expectations on behavior. The best thing you can do is to have thesame expectations on behavior, manners , home tasks etc. for all your children. Why -- because DS will have to make his way I the same world as his siblings. Since we have three young adult daughters with a wide span of IQ and the youngest has a solid 55 IQ, I speak from experience. We always had the same behavior and social skills expectations for all three. While she was never on the diploma track, we found out her academic strengths and chose the program best suited to developing reading skills. Today, she has held a part-time job for 12 years earning now $11.66/hr. three days a week during the college year. She has also learned volunteer skills in three different settings and volunteers weekly at the senior center one day. She takes piano lessons as a continuing "intellectual pursuit" as well as personal interest. She reads for pleasure on grade level 3/4, but she could also skim this post and understand it skipping some words. Hsving said that I can also say there are daily living tasks she needs to master as I let them slide. There are also many skills beyond her cognitive range so she will always need some sort of direct support in her life. Hearing test results the first time is upsetting and can lead to low expectations, but find a way to move beyond. Enjoy DS dor who he is. Also encourage activities outside of school to build confidence and a peer group such as through scouting, a sport - but not necessarily super competitive, skills as through programs rather than "therapies" if not needed. |
Anonymous
| Not to get all hung up with IQ scores, but the biggest problem in MCPS is the "everyone is advanced and must go to college" mentality. With a score of around 78 it is likely he/she will struggle in school- and the struggling can lead to feelings of low self esteem and behavior issues and being taken advantage of by mean kids. |
Anonymous
| It is interesting, I had always assumed his behavioral challenges were related to his IQ, but I guess that is not necessarily true. Hi behaviors are dysregulated/sensory seeking/impulsive to the extreme/unable to stop once he gets going. |
Anonymous
Have you also been evaluated for ADHD? My DS has an IQ about the same as your kid's. There is no doubt that ADHD plays the bigger role in our lives. How did you do testing for IQ but not ADHD? Medication can fix so much. |
Anonymous
He does have ADHD but the meds are only taking the edge off, honestly. That is why I attributed so much of his behavior to IQ. It could be that we need to adjust the meds. He is almost 6, so we haven't been trying meds for long. |
Anonymous
We test IQ's at age 5?!? |
Anonymous
Was he IQ-tested before he was on the meds? It could well be that the not-well-managed ADHD is depressing his IQ scores. |