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Hi all, I have been sort of concerned for a long time about some issues with DS6's (ADHD, Tourette's) reading. He started reading early, learned letters and letter sounds before 2, learned to sound out and spell words at 2, was able to read simple readers at 3 and more difficult readers/early chapter books at 4. At 5 he was still on early chapter books and his reading seemed to actually get worse, especially speed. Now he is 6, almost 7, and he is still pretty much on early chapter books. He has read some harder things, like Winnie the Pooh, The World According to Humphrey, Beezus and Ramona, Roald Dahl books, etc., but with his slow reading and just listening to him read, I think that he's still more at the Magic Tree House level where he was 2 years ago. I feel like he mastered the basics and then reading just failed to take off like I expected. He does enjoy reading, but not a lot and rarely reads unless I suggest it or even reward it. He also is fine to read instructions in games he wants to play or on worksheets. He often reads signs when we are out and about just because he is interested in what they have to say, so I have to assume that reading isn't super difficult or anything.

Today he told me (after taking his mid year map testing) that the test was easy but that there were some questions that were hard. It turns out they were the ones where you read something and answer questions about it. Presumably reading comprehension. He told me that he often forgets the last sentence when he reads the next one. He says he understands what he is reading, he just can't remember it while he is reading the next sentence. He indicated that this is also a problem when we read aloud to him. I never suspected this as he loves for us to read to him and he gets really into the stories and seems to follow along well with everything we read. He even had me reread Wind in the Willows right after I finished it because he liked it so much and even I sometimes got lost in the run on sentences in that book.

He is currently attending a gifted school and I was told at the beginning of the year that his comprehension was around 2nd grade level, but inferential skills were at grade level (1). This contrasts with math where he is at 4th grade+ and learning algebra and calculus for enrichment. I know that he isn't necessarily going to be gifted in everything equally, but it feels like reading skills just stalled out and may end up going from years ahead to below average by next year. Something seems wrong about this.

We also have writing issues. DS often complains about the amount of writing required at school and does not complete written assignments. He writes the bare minimum if anything. He can give the answers orally to questions. Looking at writing samples online I think he is writing at or slightly below grade level. If asked to write about something he likes or about a book that he read he will write one simple sentence. He understands the rules of punctuation and capitalization, but he does not apply them when he writes. He spells much better orally than he does when writing (he is able to beat adults at Quiddler correctly spelling words like rye and aqua, but when writing his spelling is very phonetic and looks typical for his age). His writing is slow, but neat. Recently he has even begun to complain about having to write longer problems in math as well whereas before he seemed perfectly content to write numbers and math related things just for fun.

I had tried in the past to get him evaluated by the district for some of my concerns over the years, but we are always told that he is ahead in reading/writing and they wouldn't evaluate. I feel like he's no longer ahead and I'm worried he is starting to fall behind. We really can't afford a private evaluation right now. I just made another request for an evaluation hoping that he is finally dropping far enough below his potential for it to look like an evaluation is a good idea.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone knows what might be going on as well as any strategies that can be used to convince a school district to evaluate for disabilities when the child is at or above grade but well below where they maybe should be performing. If there is some sort of disability causing these problems I want find out sooner rather than later. Or maybe everything is just part of his ADHD and there's not a lot we can do about it? He is already medicated at near the max for his age and at a level high enough to help tremendously with behavior and a higher dose is really not something we are considering right now. The counselor at his school also mentioned anxiety/OCD issues (which we've also seen some of at home) and we may need to look into that at some point and consider additional meds if things get worse (my threshold for trying meds is whether he can or can't attend school without them, right now he can, but barely).

So right now I'm just info gathering and bugging the district again. Google searches haven't been particularly useful and every LD I read about doesn't seem to fully apply, he will tick some of the boxes, but some items will be entirely untrue for him. Of course it doesn't help that all of these checklists are designed for children in the average range of intellectual functioning. I wish they would give different lists for different ability levels. I'm sure most of the LD's look pretty different in kids with well below average IQ as well. OTOH, there probably isn't any real research on exceptional kids at either end and how LD's present in those groups. Maybe one of our kids will grow up and go into psych research and fix this?

Another thing to consider is that he is just very asynchronous? Some gifted kids are like this. They learn some things very very fast & easy and others closer to normal for grade level. Particularly on the social & emotional. They might not find older chapter books particularly interesting.

As for the reading. My DS17 learned to read very early, he taught himself around 3. But very much resisted reading longer chapter books till 3rd grade. He spend a lot of time in 1st & 2nd reading non-fiction, books about animals. Books about science, there are tons of age appropriate books that don't need to be read front to back.

He reads fiction now for fun. (When he has time, he is a H.S. senior who like most is super super busy.) He did eventually start reading and enjoying fiction just not at your son's age.

But do trust your gut, if you really feel this is an LD you might need to find a private neurotic who knows how to evaluate gifted kids. (I know that isn't easy.) And then to bring that evaluation to the school. I know that can be hard if you can't afford it.

Turns out both my kids have language processing issues of different types. My older D (not gifted) struggled just to learn to read. She could parse words, but had a very hard time to understand. What I found was she would just skip over the little words & completely lose the meaning.

My S17 eventually was diagnosed with low processing & low working memory issues, and anxiety. These often go together. This might very well be what's going on with your son. It's certainly something to look into.

P.S. You also talk about all those medications for ADHD your son is on. Have a good talk with the prescribing psychiatrist because it could be a side effect of the med. And if your son is only being treated by a regular MD, you need to find him a specialist.

Actually, neurotics are fairly easy to find. A neuropsych will be harder, but may be necessary.

SaturnFan have you requested for a district evaluation in writing? Has the district responded in writing?

I have requested evals by email. At the current district I asked earlier in the year and was told there was no need and I didn't really pursue past that. I emailed again about 2 weeks ago and answered some questions they had and then was told that I would be contacted by a person whose contact info I was not given and I have been waiting a week now and so far nothing.

At the old district we had an IEP and I was familiar with how to get IEP meetings set up and the timeline for them, but as far as getting evaluations and testing done I have never been very successful. I'm certainly not sure where I'm at as far as the law goes and even less certain because we are using a private school. I'm also less certain because DS is technically not behind in any of the areas of concern.

We are currently in the process of selling our second car to pay for some stuff we need to do to our new house, so we may have enough money for a neurotic, er neuropsych depending on cost. How much do they typically cost?

It varies a lot depending on who you choose, whether they take insurance, and what they need to test. Assuming it's not covered by your health insurance, it's likely to be a few thousand dollars (more than one and less than five, in my experience). But do see if there's a way to get it covered by health insurance - my kids' last workups cost me $50 each, the copays for two office visits.

I can help you start at district expense. Send in the request by email and CMRR again. Being at grade level is not the criteria, but "educational benefit" is. Do you have anything that shows your concern? My 3ds are all at private, but it does not matter... the district still needs to evaluate in all areas of suspected disability. Think comments on reports cards, tests, etc? Has he slipped on any areas of the private school's administered standardized testing?

This past summer my district tried to declassify one of my ds because of his good report card. I filed a complaint and ds has had district psychoeducational, OT and AT evals. The district just approved a trial macbook for DS. If you do not pay for private evaluations just realize that it will cost you in time and energy. You must expect the District to tell you it is not indicated and/or ignore you. For instance, I suspect that DS has an auditory processing disorder, because CELF 4 Concepts and Following Directions subtest scoring of 16% and PSI of 18% plus teachers are noticing difficulty in sequencing and they still told me it was not indicated so I went back and asked again. Why do you think it is not indicated? Under what circumstances do you think an APD evaluation is needed? I am waiting to hear.

Good luck!

My sons both got psychoeducational evaluations done on a sliding scale at the local university. (Not neuropsychological). One got A further discount by participating in a research study (basically in all the parent forms we had to do several were questionnaires not really needed for the evaluation but were part of the study, they had to do with parenting styles and giftedness).

I will definately look into our options if the district doesn't pan out. You guys really gave me some good ideas of where to look. There is no way we can afford to pay this out of pocket at those prices, our car is only worth 4k tops and that has to go to other expenses first! It's been 2 weeks now since I was told I would be contacted by a someone from the district and I have heard nothing. I just emailed to ask how long I have to wait to be contacted. This is not a good sign that they want to work with me. I'm guessing the goal is to put me off for the rest of the school year and start it all over again next year (and hey, maybe the issue will disappear by then anyway!) The next email I write will be less nice. I'll give them until Friday. But just wanted to thank everyone for the helpful advice and ideas. I'll give the school a few more weeks and then look into other ideas. Thanks.

SaturnFan- contact with the district should have no emotion and be polite. If you are "less nice" in your emails that will give the district an excuse to dig in their heels.

Did you write an email that you would like the district to write evaluations in certain areas? Did you include the reasons you suspect the weaknesses? Go to wrightslaw and read parent's success stories. Read what mistakes parents realized they made upon reflection. I understand... I do not have the finances for these evaluations either, most parents do not. I drive a 20+ year old Honda. My high school ds has hit the wall at his elite private high school and his full financial aid package is at risk. This is a process with timelines, a lot of rules and regulations. Please breathe and read other's parents experiences.