Suspected dyslexia or other LD - start with county or go straight to private testing?

[Anonymous]

DC is 9 and going into 4th grade. It's always been a chore getting her to sit down and read but lately we are realizing that she's not understanding a lot of what she reads even though she's always been at grade level. She attends a private school. Are we better off starting with MCPS evaluation or going straight to private testing through Stixrud or similar?

[Anonymous]

If you can afford it, I would go with private testing first. It will be wider and deeper.

[Anonymous]

Agree..school will move quicker if you provide your own results. Also, it is not in MCPSs interest to find anything since they will have to provide the support. Also, know that MCPS will not offer ay reading services to a kid that tests on grade level despite a diagnosis. Maybe a private school would?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford it, I would go with private testing first. It will be wider and deeper.

This is OP. Thanks for your response. I am brand new to this and clueless. What kinds of things are included in a county evaluation vs Private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford it, I would go with private testing first. It will be wider and deeper.

This is OP. Thanks for your response. I am brand new to this and clueless. What kinds of things are included in a county evaluation vs Private?

My experience is with FCPS, but in general the private did everything that the public did and then did more testing where the initial testing showed red flags. The FCPS assessor stopped just after enough information was gathered to qualify DC for an IEP but not far enough to figure out exactly what was going on to develop a targeted plan to help. The FCPS also stopped after the first "diagnosis"and did not dig deeper to find the others that were lurking.

[Anonymous]

Private. Public is incentivized to see no problems.