Possible learning disability in 7yr. old.?

That school, as with most of them, is violating so many federal laws it ain't even funny.

1. They are to 'find and evaluate' ALL children suspected of having disabilities to determine if child qualifies for help thru special ed. They didn't do this, so this is a federal violation of IDEA law.

2. They are to do specific tests. They KNOW which tests to do.

3. Schools can't test for ADHD. This is illegal. Only a qualified dr. can test for this.

4. The disability she might have is 'dysgraphia'.

5. Parent needs to write a letter to special ed director requesting an eval to be done to see if child qualifies for special ed services. Even if they already said they can't, they will change their minds once they get this request in writing. If they still say no, parent can then file formal state complaint because school CAN"T refuse to do the eval.

Now, schools do NOT do evaluations 'just to see' what the childs diagnosis is. They only do evals to see if child qualifies for special ed services.

Below is how the letter should be. It has to be in specific terms. If it's not, they will blow you off -

Dear sped director,

The purpose of this letter is to request a full educational evaluation to determine special education eligibility for my child, NAME, who attends NAME OF SCHOOL.

As I understand my rights under IDEA, the district will have 60 days to complete this evaluation and meet to decide eligibility for my child.

(IF YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD YOUR CHILD MUST GO THROUGH RTI (response to intervention) FIRST, INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH):

Although the district has begun the RTI process for my child, it is my understanding that per IDEA, my request for a full educational evaluation cannot be delayed due to my child’s participation in the RTI process. The two processes may be conducted simultaneously.

Please consider this letter my consent to evaluate, however, if there are additional consent forms that require my/our signature, please provide them within seven days.

I am also requesting a copy of the evaluation report with all scores included at least 3 days before the eligibility IEP meeting so I can prepare to be an informed member of the IEP team as required by IDEA law.

I/we look forward to working with the district to provide FAPE for NAME.

Please respond with seven days and please place a copy of this letter in NAME’s permanent educational file.

Sincerely,

Parent

Keep a copy of this letter for yourself and be sure to date the top of it!! If you need any help please email me sisymay@yahoo.com

hahah my 9 year old still can't tie her shoes :D Maybe he just never had anything but velcro! He should be able to read short words and sentences at the very least. If you really are worried, get the school to test him to make sure he hasn't fallen behind. If you're not sure about his care so far, take him to a doctor, an eye doctor, and a dentist. Make sure he knows basic hygeine. And help him make some new friends - watch how he interacts with the other kids too. Some kids who are raised mostly surrounded by adults won't know how to play properly! Have fun with the teaching! :)

Sometimes people just aren't ready for certain skills. This is often true of boys, but your girl may have this sort of issue. Sometimes it's a problem, and sometimes it isn't. I would suggest 2 things for sure. Make sure you girl gets some testing and evaluation. Just flunking a kid, and not addressing some problem may just cause the problem to become entrenched, and more difficult to correct. You can pay for testing yourself. A broad battery of tests for my son cost about $2000 about 25 years ago, so it's not cheap, and you should push for the school to do it.

Consider home schooling. If you are doing the teaching yourself, one on one, you may be able to do a much better job yourself, in general. In particular, you will be more likely to adapt your specific lessons and curriculum to suit your child's needs. Doing "what works best" is a very practical teaching methodology, and as an individual teacher, you will have a much better opportunity to identify your child's strengths and weaknesses, and to form some type of idea of what might be going on that would help you focus on what testing might be needed.

Some students are just "outside the bell curve", and neither deficient nor at fault in lagging Performance. Home schooling addresses this best, since you have no mean to conform to the pragmatic restrictions of what is "normal", and can concentrate instead on your child's specific abilities and accomplishments.

If you can't home school, per se, at least you should be able to take charge of your child's education, and work closely with her teachers to ensure that they are not neglecting her needs, and their legal obligations to give her an appropriate education. Likewise, if you work closely with your child with her homework and other supplemental educational activities that you can provide, you are more likely to form an understanding of what is wrong, and how it can be addressed. Listen closely to you child's teachers, and be prepared to benefit from their experience. But beware of the possibility that some teachers will use "canned" solutions that don't really help at all, but merely slap a label on a problem, and provide an ineffective "remediation".

Reading aloud to your child, and having her read aloud to you would be central. Also, it's important to make sure that specific steps are being taken to make reading a "functional" skill, not a meaningless rote one. Schools tend to have a very poor track record in this area. Some children benefit tremendously from a phonics based approach to learning reading. Phonics should always be taught, at some level, but when it works at all, it should be given some emphasis.

If you are in the US the school district is REQUIRED by federal law to evaluate any child suspected of having a learning disability. All the parents have to do is request an evaluation in writing. If they refuse to test the child they would be violating federal law!! Tell the parents to talk to the principal of their daughter's school and if that doesn't work they need to go to the school board. This should NOT be happening to that little girl. She needs help!

The mother should request a Neuropsych and educational evaluation as part of an IEE (Independent Educational Evaluation). The neuropsych would be able to tell how her brain works and most likely why she is having these difficulties.

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It sounds like some sort of auditory processing problem, meaning she hears or sees the information but just doesn't know what to do with it. I think an audiologist might be able to diagnose this.

I used to live in Texas several years ago and I also have a disabled son, but I'm no longer familiar with the special education system there. However, I've found some links that might help you out.

http://texasprojectfirst.org/Evaluation.html This one deals specifically with the evaluation process.

http://framework.esc18.net/ARD_GUIDE_TEA_approved_...

The second link covers the whole ARD process.

Good luck!

It is an unusual one, but it sounds as though it might be a specific form of a 'word finding' problem. Inside our brains we develop a 'mental lexicon' which is basically a database of every word we know. There are neural networks whose specific function it is to retrieve the appropriate word from the lexicon when we speak or write. It could be that the neural networks which retrieve the appropriate written form of the word are not functioning efficiently.

She needs to be referred to an educational psychologist or someone who deals with language and communication difficulties.

Hope this helps.

Have her eyes checked. There could be something going in her eyes.