Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this is helping OP find a school for her kid folks.

Oh, good lord. We are trying to help. Siena and Lab are great suggestions for dyslexia or other language based LDs. MERLD isn't a diagnosis for an 8 year old. In trying to clarify issues from OP, it seems like she hasn't either had very comprehensive evaluations or she doesn't know how to interpret them. MERLD might show up as a diagnostic/ICD code in a report for example.

MERLD simply means expressive and receptive language issues. Call it what you want. Official diagnosis would be a language disorder. Most call it MERLD to describe the type of language disorder, just like people still use Aspergers despite it being removed as well. Its still very common to use with the language disorder community. Not all kids with language disorders have academic issues, especially dyslexia. They are more prone to them but to make the assumption and insist child has more issues is doing the child a disservice. I've heard good things about Lab but most kids I know are much more severely impacted at that age so it may not be a good fit for OP child.

+1 million

There are a couple posters here who flip their lids when someone says their child has been recently diagnosed as MERLD. But we know from our MERLD message boards this diagnosis is still used all the time, all across the country, by all kinds of people doing diagnosing, including developmental pediatricians, SLPs, clinical psychologists, etc.

The DSM really shortchanged kids who have language disorders. It's "Language Impairment" diagnosis is woefully inadequate and likely why it's being rejected when people sit down to actually put a code on something. MERLD was a much better descriptor.

You don't find it a bit odd with the several recent new diagnosis of MERLD. I find it a bit odd to get diagnosed at age 8. The DSM does several diagnosis the same way, including ASD. They really need to develop better medical tests, better "treatments" and find better ways to diagnose rather than just changing the names.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here-Not true. My son was evaluated and I paid over 5k for psychological evaluation and separate speech evaluation by top 2 DC well established professionals. Who are you to have any say?!

I'm not the pp, but I think you're getting that reaction because MERLD is not in the DSM, so it's an odd diagnosis for a reputable psychologist to give.

We got the same dx from a local psychologist. Wonder if this clinician is not up to date in their codes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this is helping OP find a school for her kid folks.

Oh, good lord. We are trying to help. Siena and Lab are great suggestions for dyslexia or other language based LDs. MERLD isn't a diagnosis for an 8 year old. In trying to clarify issues from OP, it seems like she hasn't either had very comprehensive evaluations or she doesn't know how to interpret them. MERLD might show up as a diagnostic/ICD code in a report for example.

MERLD simply means expressive and receptive language issues. Call it what you want. Official diagnosis would be a language disorder. Most call it MERLD to describe the type of language disorder, just like people still use Aspergers despite it being removed as well. Its still very common to use with the language disorder community. Not all kids with language disorders have academic issues, especially dyslexia. They are more prone to them but to make the assumption and insist child has more issues is doing the child a disservice. I've heard good things about Lab but most kids I know are much more severely impacted at that age so it may not be a good fit for OP child.

+1 million

There are a couple posters here who flip their lids when someone says their child has been recently diagnosed as MERLD. But we know from our MERLD message boards this diagnosis is still used all the time, all across the country, by all kinds of people doing diagnosing, including developmental pediatricians, SLPs, clinical psychologists, etc.

The DSM really shortchanged kids who have language disorders. It's "Language Impairment" diagnosis is woefully inadequate and likely why it's being rejected when people sit down to actually put a code on something. MERLD was a much better descriptor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this is helping OP find a school for her kid folks.

Oh, good lord. We are trying to help. Siena and Lab are great suggestions for dyslexia or other language based LDs. MERLD isn't a diagnosis for an 8 year old. In trying to clarify issues from OP, it seems like she hasn't either had very comprehensive evaluations or she doesn't know how to interpret them. MERLD might show up as a diagnostic/ICD code in a report for example.

MERLD simply means expressive and receptive language issues. Call it what you want. Official diagnosis would be a language disorder. Most call it MERLD to describe the type of language disorder, just like people still use Aspergers despite it being removed as well. Its still very common to use with the language disorder community. Not all kids with language disorders have academic issues, especially dyslexia. They are more prone to them but to make the assumption and insist child has more issues is doing the child a disservice. I've heard good things about Lab but most kids I know are much more severely impacted at that age so it may not be a good fit for OP child.

We all know what MERLD is and that it hasn't been in the DSM for at least 5 years, so to in the OP's words to be "recently diagnosed" as such is just confusing in terms of what schools to recommend.

Agree, but many SLP's still use it as its easy. Confusing for me is child wasn't getting the right treatment if apraxia early on and now MERLD. But, not all kids with language disorders have academic issues but academics can be impacted when the kids are expected to give verbal answers or reading out loud and they are not speaking in a similar manner to their peers. Sadly, there is no elementary school that mainly works with verbal language disorders.

As a special educator, I can tell you that there are a fair number of kids who have both apraxia and receptive/expressive delays. Often times, treating the original issue of lack of or unintelligible speech will get the child to the point where the other issues are obvious.

Lab school, and other schools that serve kids with language based learning disabilities will likely be a good fit, if you want an all special ed environment. If you're looking for a general ed environment with small classes and a nurturing language rich environment, I'd suggest Grace Episcopal in Kensington.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this is helping OP find a school for her kid folks.

Oh, good lord. We are trying to help. Siena and Lab are great suggestions for dyslexia or other language based LDs. MERLD isn't a diagnosis for an 8 year old. In trying to clarify issues from OP, it seems like she hasn't either had very comprehensive evaluations or she doesn't know how to interpret them. MERLD might show up as a diagnostic/ICD code in a report for example.

MERLD simply means expressive and receptive language issues. Call it what you want. Official diagnosis would be a language disorder. Most call it MERLD to describe the type of language disorder, just like people still use Aspergers despite it being removed as well. Its still very common to use with the language disorder community. Not all kids with language disorders have academic issues, especially dyslexia. They are more prone to them but to make the assumption and insist child has more issues is doing the child a disservice. I've heard good things about Lab but most kids I know are much more severely impacted at that age so it may not be a good fit for OP child.

We all know what MERLD is and that it hasn't been in the DSM for at least 5 years, so to in the OP's words to be "recently diagnosed" as such is just confusing in terms of what schools to recommend.

Agree, but many SLP's still use it as its easy. Confusing for me is child wasn't getting the right treatment if apraxia early on and now MERLD. But, not all kids with language disorders have academic issues but academics can be impacted when the kids are expected to give verbal answers or reading out loud and they are not speaking in a similar manner to their peers. Sadly, there is no elementary school that mainly works with verbal language disorders.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this is helping OP find a school for her kid folks.

Oh, good lord. We are trying to help. Siena and Lab are great suggestions for dyslexia or other language based LDs. MERLD isn't a diagnosis for an 8 year old. In trying to clarify issues from OP, it seems like she hasn't either had very comprehensive evaluations or she doesn't know how to interpret them. MERLD might show up as a diagnostic/ICD code in a report for example.

MERLD simply means expressive and receptive language issues. Call it what you want. Official diagnosis would be a language disorder. Most call it MERLD to describe the type of language disorder, just like people still use Aspergers despite it being removed as well. Its still very common to use with the language disorder community. Not all kids with language disorders have academic issues, especially dyslexia. They are more prone to them but to make the assumption and insist child has more issues is doing the child a disservice. I've heard good things about Lab but most kids I know are much more severely impacted at that age so it may not be a good fit for OP child.

We all know what MERLD is and that it hasn't been in the DSM for at least 5 years, so to in the OP's words to be "recently diagnosed" as such is just confusing in terms of what schools to recommend.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in DC. 8 year old will be in 3rd grade next year and recently diagnosed with Mixed expressive receptive language disorder but had iep for speech apraxia starting at 4 years old. This disorder is now also impacting his ability to connect with others his age, focus in classroom, etc. he is currently in DcPs with terrible speech support as Group setting is challenging for him and never consistent. Any recommendations on a school that might still take him for next year with small class sizes for mainly language disorder children? He is very athletic.

Get your money back for your MERLD evaluation at age 8. You need a differential diagnosis. Is your kid autistic, dyslexic, what? Stop wasting your time and his life. You obviously haven't gone past a speech therapist or you don't know what a shoddy neuropsych evaluation looks like. Time to know what's what.

Can you share what a shoddy neuropsych looks like and what a good one looks like.

THANKS

A good one is tailored and thorough. It includes all tests that could possibly be relevant to the child (academic, emotional, attention, social) with enough breaks that the child can do his best work. The report comments not only on the child's scores, but how the child approached the tasks, with thoughts about why the child did how they did (ie, lost points for working slowly or answered impulsively). The report draws conclusions from how the child interacted, even when not doing the formal.testing. Recommendations are tailored to the child, not boilerplate for condition X. The report explains how the child meets the criteria for the given diagnosis, and why the child does not meet the criteria for other diagnoses, if considered.

And, how do you know OP did not get one for her child that is as you described? Did you read the child's report?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this is helping OP find a school for her kid folks.

Oh, good lord. We are trying to help. Siena and Lab are great suggestions for dyslexia or other language based LDs. MERLD isn't a diagnosis for an 8 year old. In trying to clarify issues from OP, it seems like she hasn't either had very comprehensive evaluations or she doesn't know how to interpret them. MERLD might show up as a diagnostic/ICD code in a report for example.

MERLD simply means expressive and receptive language issues. Call it what you want. Official diagnosis would be a language disorder. Most call it MERLD to describe the type of language disorder, just like people still use Aspergers despite it being removed as well. Its still very common to use with the language disorder community. Not all kids with language disorders have academic issues, especially dyslexia. They are more prone to them but to make the assumption and insist child has more issues is doing the child a disservice. I've heard good things about Lab but most kids I know are much more severely impacted at that age so it may not be a good fit for OP child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this is helping OP find a school for her kid folks.

Sadly there aren’t a lot of schools that fit for this kind of child. Years ago we were told to look for a Montessori or Waldorf school for this kind of kid - try one of those?

We were told the opposite to avoid them. Most will not take older kids who didn't do preschool with them or a similar program when I called a few years ago.

We’ve been extremely happy with Siena. It starts in 4th grade.

OP, there is no one school in this area that deals mainly with language disorders. We've been looking for a private as well. Most of the smaller privates that are religious that have resource teachers seem very open to it (but I'm not sure its a good fit for our family).

Hey, this is supposed to be the kind, supportive forum. Let's give the OP a break.

MERLD can be a learning difference but it often co-exists with another issue which might be why the grumpy PP is saying a different diagnosis is in order.

Step 1 - look at the recommendations by the tester for the school. These should be thorough and specific enough for you to transfer them to a school's practice. If the recs say that your son needs pragmatic language intervention 3x per week then you need a school that does intervention, not just accommodation.

Lab, Siena, Oakwood, and on the opposite ends, McLean and Kingsbury are schools who will help your child improve through interventions.

There are other schools that can just support him and you could do the language therapy outside of school but be sure to layer in social skills stuff and emotional therapy to get him through this bump.

Hang in there

Anonymous wrote:None of this is helping OP find a school for her kid folks.

Sadly there aren’t a lot of schools that fit for this kind of child. Years ago we were told to look for a Montessori or Waldorf school for this kind of kid - try one of those?

Anonymous wrote:None of this is helping OP find a school for her kid folks.

Oh, good lord. We are trying to help. Siena and Lab are great suggestions for dyslexia or other language based LDs. MERLD isn't a diagnosis for an 8 year old. In trying to clarify issues from OP, it seems like she hasn't either had very comprehensive evaluations or she doesn't know how to interpret them. MERLD might show up as a diagnostic/ICD code in a report for example.

None of this is helping OP find a school for her kid folks.