7year old not retaining information- what would be the next step

[SoCaliMommy]

the school eval ( done feb/march 2010)said she met the cut off for ADHD Innatentive Type, has Auditory Processing Deficit, and Significant Speech & Language Delay.

I had got a referral from her pediatrician for the hospital's so called
" learning center" that claimed it was for evaluating ahd & autism. We'll that was a total waste of time, they were late in her being seen, i was lied to about the process, i was told on the phone it'd be 2 drs it was only 1 and it was held in a regular exam room. I then filled a grievence and was denied, I filled out the forms for a independant medical review. All that dr did was go off of the school's evaluation which they had to have a copy of before they would even set up a appointment. that appointment was on (Sept 20th,2010)


She just got her first report card of the year, of course all the main education things are all under grade level standard. there are a few things that are marked as reaching but they were behavior like following class rules and stuff. Under comments it's says

Alexandria is a sweet little girl, but is having great difficulty in the 2nd grade classroom. She continues to struggle with all her modified work and is unable to retain what knowledge is given to her. In small group she is working on phonics/letter sounds, and continues to struggle with the simplest tasks. She is unable to complete tasks such as cutting,coloring, and pasting projects/assignments. The regular classroom is a great challenge for her.

I'm real concerned about the bold part.I'm want to have a real in depth evaluation done but not sure what type of dr to have do it. We are going to be moving to a new area within the next month.

[askew]

Can you go see a developmental pediatrician? This is who evaluates our SN kid. It can often take 6+ months to get in to see one though, which you may not want to wait. Has your DD had an IQ test done? Are you suspecting ID or more a processing issue? I don't know who in the school system would do a thorough eval. Maybe some other parents will come post soon.

[SoCaliMommy]

We should be able to get in with a developmental pediatrician. After we moved i was gonna get her an appointment set up with a new pediatrician and can ask for a referral to a development electrician then.

I don't think she's had a IQ test done.

I'm not sure what i'm suspecting. I know it can't be good if she's not able to retain any of the information she is ment to be learning especially when it's modified work.

[aslyn]

My DD has ID, and a skew of other issues they threw under the "cognative disability" to tie it altogether. I would have the IQ test done asap and once you move to the new area if its a new school ask to have the IEP revised.

[Rose-Roget]

I agree with the pp's, and I'd also add to talk with the teacher about more information. Cutting, coloring, pasting projects sound like the least of the worries, if that's part of what the teacher is talking about. That could be related to fine motor or sensory. HOW have they been teaching her the academics and phonics that she is not retaining? What approaches have they tried? If X isn't working, then the teacher(s) needs to try Y. Different kids, different learning styles. What kind of modifications is the teacher offering?

So is she in Special Education? Is there enough time being given to her? I don't understand how she met the cutoff for ADHD and APD on a school evaluation. In my experience and knowledge, those are medical dx's that can be used to verify a student as OHI but they can't be dx'd by the school.

Personally, I'm pretty put-off by the teacher's wording. She could say similar information in a kinder way and with more information to back it up. With a significant speech-language deficit, as well as those other issues, she is not going to learn at the rate of the other students, necessarily. To say, after 8 weeks, that she is unable to retain information doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

If she had a school evaluation done last year, it should have included an IQ.

[SoCaliMommy]

Yes she's in special education. She's getting pulled out of class for Language and Speech and for RSP ( Specialized Acamdemic Instruction).

I just looked through all the evaluation stuff and they didn't do a IQ test.

The school saying she had those things is what helped her get a IEP and she also got it based on a primary eligibility of "Specific Learning Disability" and then a secondary eligibility of "Speech & Language Impairment" because her speech,her standard scores were at 7% or below in four main language areas.

[joensally]

Who did the previous evals?

Has she had a full hearing test done?

She really does need a full psycho-ed assessment done.

Who are you dealing with at the school? Anyone at the district office? There should be some form of district special ed coordinator and that's who I'd go to next if you're not already dealing with them. If you're getting this level of poor service from the district, I would think about getting an educational consultant/advocate if you can afford it.

When you move, will your daughter be changing schools? Districts?

[SoCaliMommy]

We will be moving over a hour from where we live now so changing districts and school.

She's had a hearing test done by a audologist after she "failed" the two at the pediatrician and one through the school and was told her hearing is normal and that she can hear just fine.

The previous evaluation was done by the school.
When i tried to get a evaluation done privately through our insurance it was a total waste of time since the dr just went off of what he read from the school's evaluation didn't do his own evaluation at all

[joensally]

Originally Posted by SoCaliMommy

We will be moving over a hour from where we live now so changing districts and school.

She's had a hearing test done by a audologist after she "failed" the two at the pediatrician and one through the school and was told her hearing is normal and that she can hear just fine.

The previous evaluation was done by the school.
When i tried to get a evaluation done privately through our insurance it was a total waste of time since the dr just went off of what he read from the school's evaluation didn't do his own evaluation at all

Do you know anybody in your new community? Can you start asking around for references for docs in the community?

What about the school? Do you know where your DD will attend and have you started a discussion with them?

My advice : Your daughter is having significant difficulty without a definitive explanation for why. I hope that the new school and new doctors will take her needs more seriously and be more thorough in their approach. If you know you're moving in a month and it's only an hour or so away, I would start treating the new community as your home community. Make doctors appointments, see if district special needs staff will sit down with you and go there and get the ball rolling. If you have to take DD out of school to do, do it - this new community will be her new environment in which to thrive and grow and the sooner you can get it going the better. There's not much utility in continuing to work with the current school from the sounds of it since she'll be leaving shortly anyway.

Auditory processing isn't about "hearing", it's about processing. Like in the Peanuts cartoons, the kids could hear the teacher just fine, they just couldn't process the content beyond "mwa mwa mah mwa."

GL to you. This must all be very hard and worrying.

[SoCaliMommy]

I have a friend from highschool that lives there but we have kaiser for our insurance so have to go through them.

The school she is going to i'm not sure what to think of it, i checked on great schools and it was rated a 3 and the school she's at now was rated a 5. The plan is to hopefully enroll her into the new school after thanksgiving break.

I plan on talking to her teacher when i pick her up from school today.

[SoCaliMommy]

I have a parent/teacher meeting with her teacher set for thursday to find out more information.

[SoCaliMommy]

The parent/teacher meeting went well. She made the comment that from what she see's in the classroom that something else is going on not ADHD and she hasn't noticed a different with Alex being on concerta in the classroom.

She mentioned that Alex being in a mainstreamed classroom might not be the best place for her.

She is going to talk with the RSP teacher and aid and the principle and let me know what they say.

I also let her know we are moving sometime next month.