Hi and Happy New Year, Everyone...
Well, what an ordeal this has been. I am awaiting DD11's THIRD formal test results.
First round of testing prompted by not being offered spot in kindergarten at private school. Results as follows:
WIPPSI III
Verbal IQ 135
Performance IQ 144
FSIQ 143
She was admitted to K, and I said a prayer of gratitude, thinking I was going to have an "easy", good student. Little did I know...
Academic difficulties began in 4th grade, which unfortunately coincided w a vary nasty divorce involving infidelity. I assumed her school problems stemmed from family changes.
She rec'd two full years of tutoring in fifth and sixth grade. Still barely making B's and C's with tutoring. I began to suspect dyslexia after a friend w dyslexic children told me that the kinds of problems I was describing sounded...dyslexic.
I noticed that would add, alter, or omit small words (like "the" , "but", "and", etc.). At the end of fifth grade, she spelled her name with a backwards, uncapitalized B. She failed to insert periods several time in one paragraph. Not a good speller. Quality of written output poor.
Took her to PsyD who administered WIPPSI. WISC IV Results as follows:
Verbal Comprehension Composite 124
Similarities 15
Vocab 14
Comprehension 13
Perceptual Reasoning Composite 127
Block Design 16
Pic Concepts 16
Matrix Reas. 11
Working Memory Composite 107
Digit Span 11
Letter-Num Seq 12
Processing Speed Composite 115
Coding 8
Symbol Search 17
FSIQ 125
Dyslexia ruled out, dx with ADD, inattentive type. We tried a med trial w no results and she hated how they made her feel.
So I poured over all these results, and was concerned that her Grey Oral reading Scores were "only" 50th percentile across the board. This really concerned me b/c I clearly remember always reading way above grade level.
Also of note: Beery Buktenica Results:
Beery VMI 19th percentile
Visual Perception 39th percentile
Motor Co-ordination <1 percentile
Highest and Lowest Scores on WCJ-III
Reading Fluency 92%
Calculation 19%
Spelling 33%
Writing Samples 31%
Story Recall 91%
All other scores in average range.
Report cards were issued today. She has an F in math (49%) and a C in English. B's in social studies and science.
So far, she has been punished, shamed, not allowed to participate in school play, pulled off basketball team yesterday by father. Labeled "lazy" by father, "careless, inattentive and disorganized" by school.
I have been watching this for three years now, and it is heartbreaking and frustrating. I remember at beginning of last year reading her "Hopes and Dreams" for that school year..."I want to make all A's so my parents will be proud of me."
So the intellect is there, the desire is there, and I see my child becoming frustrated, defeated, and just beginning not to care anymore. It looks like some learned helplessness.
Last week, without support of school or father, I took her to CA for testing by psy who specializes in 2E children. She underwent 11 hrs of testing. I am crossing my fingers that I will have some kind of answer, as I am at my wits end. The PsyD told me repeatedly that she was doing very well, and that her IQ score would be higher this time, as she hit a ceiling on one of the subtests.
I can honestly say that I see no other reason for her poor performance other than a Learning Disability.
Have any of you had a child with stealth dyslexia misdiagnosed with ADD?
Any advice on helping DD11 deal with the shame and embarrassment of this situation? She is at her Dad's this week, so I have not been able to really speak w her about being pulled off b-ball team, but I can imagine how she must feel about explaining her disappearance to team mates.
Dyslexia, ADD, underachievement, ARGH!!!
I know I'm just going to have to wait 5 more weeks for test results, but seeing her report card today drove me to this site. If anyone has ANY thoughts, advice, or encouragement, I certainly would appreciate it. This has been made doubly difficult by divorce and total lack of communication or support from her father.
I don't know what school is thinking, I know they strongly doubt dyslexia b/c the child *can* read. I think they suspect poor parenting! When I told them I was scheduling out of state testing, they informed me I couldn't pull her out of school for more that a two day period as that is all the parental excused absences they allow! WHAT? She's already failing math. Why, oh why, is no one looking at the big picture here?
OK, vent over know. Thanks for listening!
