OK, I looked up NVLD and some of it fit, but a lot of it didn't for my DS. So far the only thing I have ever thought he tics all of the boxes for is ADHD. Well, all but the moves from one activity to another quickly. My DS is just the opposite, we can't get him to switch activities even with bribes and timers
That very much fits the profile of 2E gifted/Aspergers. Your descriptions of your child do remind me of mine (now 12) in some ways.
I was scored at low average to borderline MR. This is the main reason I am worried for my son.
This can happen not only with ADHD, but any other dual-exceptionality that makes the test a poor fit for the child's actual skill set. For a child with ASD, there are lots of social judgments he will miss, which can depress the score on a standard IQ test.
My low IQ score and diagnosis of ADD landed me in the IU for years in a special classroom basically doing nothing because the teachers didn't have work at my level.
The law offers much better protection now than it did then. Now schools are required to place children in the least restrictive environment in which that child can be educated. And the child is entitled to an appropriate education, which you clearly did not get. I'm so sorry.
I'm at an odd place where I need to balance all of his different needs and work with the IU for now. If I could just get his behavior "fixed" I could get him into a good private school and go from there. Now that he is 5 and still hitting, tantruming, super hyper and unfocused, and generally very difficult it is becoming more apparent that if I won't accept public school I'm going to need to prepare for the possibility of homeschooling. All that I care about is my sons happiness and I'm willing to do anything for that.
Your child has more rights in the public schools than he does in the private schools.
I would highly recommend ABA therapy-- it is not always a walk in the park, but it is highly tailored toward teaching the child the self-management skills he's missing. We have found this process essential to getting our DS to the point where he can do well in school and socially.
So this IQ test feels very scary to me. I want it to help us figure out what is wrong and also to show us any special strengths and I think it will be helpful with understanding some of his behavior. At the same time I worry that he will perform poorly like I did and his full abilities/needs won't be discovered at all.
If he does poorly on this IQ test, you should look at the Raven or the Differential Abilities Scale. These are also IQ tests, but they are formatted differently. Many 2E kids who do poorly on the more "standard" tests reveal their gifts on these alternative tests. Yet the tests are recognized by experts as valid. Just a different way of capturing the data.
Hang in there and trust your judgment about your child--
DeeDee
