Of course, there is no diagnosis on this testing.
Did the tutoring center make a recommendation for a tutoring plan to remediate your dd's reading deficits? If so, most groups would provide the parents with a written report outlining diagnosis and tutoring or remediation plan with goals - and include an insurance code (my dd's reading center eval report was done by an SLP and includes a code for insurance billing with the words "dyslexia" written next to it - I don't know enough about insurance codes to know if there is an actual code for dyslexia. (Please keep in mind, I'm just a parent, not a professional).
I'm also not familiar enough with the WJ tests to be able to glean anything from the #s above. If I understand your original post, someone at the testing center told you that your dd had dysgraphia and dyslexia based on the testing... if that's the case, I would make an appointment to talk about your dd's results with the evaluator (or whoever gave you the diagnosis) and use that time to ask specific questions about how they made their diagnosis. I'd also ask them if they'd be willing to write a report with a diagnosis stated on the report and remediation suggestions. This is beneficial both for you in fully understanding how to move forward for your dd, and as a piece of data that you can use when advocating for services at school.
I haven't found any info about specifics regarding what is required to qualify for services. Texas has a dyslexia handbook that seems to favor 504 accommodation.
For info re what's required to qualify, you can try googling your state education website "Texas Department of Education + Special Education Policy" .. or something like that... I don't know if it will find you what you need (I'm not in Texas)... if not you night consider posting a new thread here with "Texas" and "IEP requirements" or something like that in the subject line.
Her reading rate is in the 5th percentile (on the GORT). I thought that was pretty low?
I'm sorry - I must have misinterpreted the scores when I was looking at this previously - I thought her GORT reading rate was low average, but didn't realize it was as low as 5th percentile. 5th percentile should be low enough to qualify for services.
We do not have an IEP or 504 at the moment. I am confident they will offer a 504 at our initial IEP meeting, but wonder if an IEP may be a better fit since she has multiple issues?
I havne't read through indigo's links - definitely read them. I don't have time at the moment to explain all the nuances and differences and which you'd want in different situations, but in a nutshell - you need an IEP if your student needs instruction that is tailored for them individually and differs from the standard classroom curriculum. If she has dyslexia, she needs a reading program that is most likely different from her current classroom reading program - however, depending on the school district, there may be a program in place that teaches reading via a different type of curriculum specifically meant to teach dyslexic students (our district has a program like this housed at one elementary school, and the students in the program don't have IEPs. There is also a program called "RTI" (Response to Intervention) that is in place in many school districts that is intended to offer individualized instruction to students in their classroom before the students are considered for an IEP - the idea is to try interventions and see if they are successful before taking on the IEP process. The success of RTI is going to vary from student to student and school district to school district. It's really important to try to learn as much as you can about what your local school policies are as well as how things work in reality in your local district. Networking with other parens is one way to find out some of what you need; another way to find out (quickly) is to check to see if there is a Parents' Advocate group in your area - there are parent advocate groups in (I think) every state - I'm guessing you should be able to find one in Texas. It might not be local to your area, but it's still worth checking into, and they may have a local advocate or local advice. When I was first advocating for services for my dysgraphic ds I found our local parent advocate group on the yellow pages at wrightslaw.com - and it was literally a lifesaver! I spent very little time actually talking to an advocate, and I never needed to have one sit in on a meeting at school, but the advice they gave on how to address the school, how to advocate in a meeting, as well as knowledge of local and state policy was invaluable. In our case, the advocates were local so they also knew a bit about individuals at our school and politics involved in advocating.
I also have WPPSI-IV and WRAT testing from when she was 5.5, but it was more focused on ADHD & ASD diagnosis, not reading and writing issues.
Even though it was focused on ADHD & ASD diagnosis, a look at discrepancies between subtests and ability vs achievement might show patterns that would indicate potential reading and writing issues.
I think you mentioned in your OP that you have some doubts about your dd's ASD diagnosis - have you considered taking her for a full evaluation by a neuropsychologist? We found that it was very difficult with our 2e kids to understand what was up until we had the global information that a neurospcyh offers by looking at overall functioning, not just one specific concern such as reading etc. DS' teacher, for example, was convinced he had ADHD due to his behavior in class in 2nd grade. With both of my kids who've been through neuropscyh evals, the results that came out of their evals were completely out-of-the-blue different than what we'd anticipated going in, and the evaluations provided with a road-map for what to pursue immediately and in the long-term to meet their needs for remediation and accommodation.
Best wishes,
polarabear
