HI!!!
I am a parent of a 5th grader who is almost 12. We just recently went throuhg the PPT and now have a “plan” to help her. She has a preceptual processing disorder — but I’m wondering if anyone can help. Right now she is at about a 3rd grade reading level and about the same in math. We did keep her back in 2nd grade in hopes that she would “catch up” — that helped her until the end of 4th grade. We live in Connecticut and if anyone knows of a place to further her testing to get a precise diagnosis???? Or any ideas where to go from here. This is all new to me and I feel a bit overwhelmed with all that has happened in the last few weeks. She was experiencing a ton of anxiety through the testing — but seems to have calmed down a bit. I have been trying to sort through all the test results and feel like I’m spinning. Are there specific things that I should be watching out for with the school??? They seem quite eager to help her. Any ideas — suggestions would be muchly appreciated!!!! :D
Thanx!!!!
Re: HELP for a mom who is new to this whole thing??
What kind of perceptual processing disorder? If it relates to vision, I would take her to a developmental optometrist for evaluation. Developmental vision delays are very responsive to therapy. If the perceptual problems relate to auditory processing, then you may want to investigate sound therapies such as FastForWord.
Once major sensory problems are either ruled out or remediated as much as possible, a cognitive training program is often dramatically helpful. Audiblox is one option (http://www.audiblox2000.com ) and PACE is another (http://www.processingskills.com ).
Unfortunately, most of the above needs to be done privately since schools focus primarily on academic remediation.
Nancy
what to watch out for
Your diagnosis sounds fairly precise but of course there’s always more to be learned. Are you near to Yale in Connecticut? They have a child study program I’m sure.
Is your daughter happy in school? That’s always the first thing to watch out for. Is she stressed by school or its homework? Does she feel successful and are her grades acceptable to her and to you? Does her classroom teacher(s) from year to year receive her well and treat her well? While she should and likely will make progress in her skills, school should also be a place that contributes to her positive sense of self.
It sounds as if you’re in a good school with caring teachers and that’s wonderful. Good luck.
Hi
What you haven’t discovered yet is that a diagosis is NOT magical.
Im not criticizing your quest because I have most certainly BTDT myself.
A lot of what parents on the board here do is trial and error. And posting our trials and errors so that those who have similar kids can save some time and money by utilizing the methods that have the best chance of succeeding
My son was where your dd was last year, at least in reading. I opted to pull him out of school and homeschool for AT LEAST this year(6th)
He has made remarkable progress in his reading. I have not had him formally assessed but I suspect he is close to grade level(online decoding assessment shows him at exactly grade level while the reading comprehension tested above)
I am not suggesting you do that with your dd, just saying “there is hope”. You just have to find what works with your child and WITHIN your own personal, financial, and family resources
Chances are the schools are NOT going to provide it-sorry! THAT is something I think we all have found to be true
Does she read slow? Does she have a good sight vocabulary? Does she struggle with words she hasn’t seen before? How is her vocabulary? Can she sound out words? How is her spelling? Can she tell her right from her left ALL the time? Does she attend well? How’s her handwriting?
I agree with the other posters-get more info from your school-its free and they can certainly do MORE testing than theyve already done-dont assume they have exhausted their bag of tricks just yet. Get some specifics and post them here(even numbers from test results)
You will get some good ideas
welcome
Its a long road and you are welcome. I think the biggest thing is to remember that you are the one who is responsible for your child, the one who knows yur child and, unfortunately, you may be on your own in getting the right help.
1. Emotional support for your child. School won’t always be there but a good self-image needs to be. There is more to life than school. Help her find a life and interests outside of school.
2. Knowledge is power. You will need to educate yourself in the details of your daughters LD. Wring all you can from the school and read, read, read. Another board, schwablearing.com has a saved post of reccommended reads for LD parents. Its a great list. The home page of ldonline has some great resources that are very accurate ( a problem in Internet research).
3. Be aware that the school may not able (or willing) to do what needs to be done for your daughter. I hate to sound alarmist but you are primarily concerned for child, they are primarily concerned with budgets, politics and ‘the big picture’. Do not assume that they have her interests in focus like you do. Do not assume the school will leap to her needs. Do not let yourself fall into the “the school is taking care of it” dream.
good luck. Don’t get overwhelmed. One day at a time. There are people to help. The beginning was the worst for us. We have come a long way on our road, and we are not there yet but we have a daughter who reads and functions academically and socially better each year.
Before spending more time and money on private testing, sit down again with the school evaluator and ask more questions like, what are her learning strengths and weaknesses, level of intelligence, how will her weaknesses be remediated at school, what will happen next year(?middle school), and what can you do at home. She is already a year older than 5th graders(my 5th grader is 10yrs old), and may need support at school to help her understand what’s ging on. I have a 12yo 7th grader who is LD and middle school is a big jump and planning for middle school should happen now. We used private tutoring for years, not much help thru school and that worked better for us.