Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Dyslexia Advice

Well, the School Psych just called and she said "why don't we do the whole WISC again and we'll specifically test for the underlying processing that indicate dyslexia and dysgraphia."
So that's good! Right?!?

She said he may not be able to get a "disability label" because he isn't below grade level in anything. But, as I explained, that is fine with me b/c I am not as interested in getting a "label" as much as I am interested in seeing what is going on. And she said since he already has an IEP they can incorporate supports through that even without a reading disability label. He already has a writing disbility label (hypotonia) and accommodations for his vision disorder in his IEP so it would be easy to add additional supports an remediation even without an additional disability label.

She also said that she would send out BASC behavioral assessements to measure executive functioning and organizational skills. Any thouhhts on that?

Any advice and insights welcome! The testing will be done after the holidays and spread out over several days so that he doesn't tire.

I'm guessing that she'll be using other instruments for the new cognitive besides the WISC-IV.

I think so ... she said something like she would uses additional tests to explore the underlying processes for dyslexia and dysgraphia.

The label leads to services. Services are fantastic when appropriate, but getting the information and more fully understanding the underlying struggles is most important. So all that sounds like positive steps forward.

BASC is a basic check list for things related to ADHD. In my book, it's an appropriate screening to motivate looking more closely at those issues. In my experience, it's not an appropriate diagnostic tool, though it is often used as such.

All sounds like positive forward progress. Keep on pressing.

Yeah services would be nice if necessary but if the tests indicate dyslexia or dysgraphia and the school will not provide tutoring/services for that b/c he is on grade level and therefore 'not disabled' at least I know that I need to be doing it privately.

I just hope I am doing the right thing! Often I don't trust the schools the really find the true problem. Anyone have any tests/instruments that I should see if she is including to make sure she is looking for dyslexia and dysgraphia? I know geofizz mentioned diebels and AIMSweb...

Incidentally I am so excited to see how his WISC scores have changed (or haven't) since last year... particularly since he has had several months of vision therapy and OT since then.. I am hoping I see things even out a little. His Digit Span and Letter-Number Sequencing were deplorably low (7 and 8 respectively) and his coding and symbol search were also disturbingly low ( 4 and 7 respectively). Meanwhile his verbal comp and perceptual reasoning were 119. I'd love to see how this looks now after the vision therapy and OT. There was a 44 point discrepancy!

I think that will also be key information for understanding your DS. If there's no change, then you know there's something more than the vision going on, or that the VT wasn't effective.

As for additional testing, I think you need his actual level (evaluate on DRA until the teacher finds an "instructional" level) along with the DIBELS/AIMSweb. Note that DRA is not nationally normed, and therefore makes it difficult to compare to predicted performance from the WISC, which is why you might also want to do the reading portions of the WIAT as well if there are questions or discrepancies from the WISC and other reading assessments.

As for the writing, there are picture copying tests that help tease out the underlying cause of the reversals. I understand those less as DD didn't show her reversals in the testing (most severe in the first 3-4 weeks of school each year, even now in 5th grade).

You may want to look at the following link re which tests to use for LD, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia
http://www.concordspedpac.org/Whichtest.htm

Thanks Knute! Very helpful.

So you were right,GeoFizz, about the DRA. I asked the teacher about it and she replied, "The highest level I have given him is a 12, so he is most likely instructional at 14. Based on his reading on the 12, I don't think he would be independent on the 14, but, possibly. I haven't given it yet, due to the time it takes. I will have time in January to give the next level." School is not doing the testing/eval until after the holidays (which I agreed to); so I am thinking that's why she can put it off until January but does plan to do it in January. I am okay with that. He seems fine where he is and I think he needs the time to build his esteem. He is not used to finding reading 'easy' and fun as he went quite awhile due to his vision disorder barely staying on grade level as he he kept trying to get higher and couldn't. Reading was overwhelmingly difficult for him and he wanted to master it so badly. But I will check in with her in January to remind her to do the DRA on him all the way up to his true instructional level before the testing.