making progress

[aishamama]

I truly believe now after all that I'm going through with my kids in different ways that these are the reasons one should advocate testing.  While we didn't have issues that weighed heavily, we do now.  

It took some convincing, but the Board of Education is sending me the paperwork today to fill out for the testing. They will also arrange the occupational therapy that I already received the prescription for.

Monday we have an appointment for both of them. I feel like after a week of phone calls and talking we're getting somewhere.  Is it always this hard? Well, I think it'll be helpful even if it's frustrating sometimes. But I totally get why at some point many feel like the need for testing became inevitable. I never thought we'd need it, but it seems like perhaps it's helpful. Now I see why.  Thank you all so much for all of your support.  I'm relaxing a bit now that there is a plan in motion. =D 

[aishamama]

By the way, does anyone's child have ADHD but issues particularly with  Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_cognitive_tempo

I have read through here and this sounds exactly like my son. Remember me saying he was lazy in the other thread? This is what I mean.  It also defines my husband to a T.  And they are just alike.

I wonder how this affects the IQ testing. Anyone know?

[Geofizz]

I whole heartedly agree that comprehensive testing is necessary when trying to figure out a child's struggles.  We now understand DD so much better than we did before we did her neuropsych testing.  However, part of the result was a diagnosis of anxiety -- something that while very useful to know, made the testing itself very painful.  She's so blasted smart that it took a few extra visits to complete the testing (not finding ceilings), only adding to her burden.  Now that we've disclosed the testing to her school, they are doing additional tests, which further adds to the burden, with the bonus of the scheduling being such that she won't know about the testing ahead of time.  She now goes to school each day wondering -- do I have to take an extra math test today?

From our experience, I will not enter into testing like this again lightly unless we know it's necessary.  DD is falling apart this year, and the testing is most definitely necessary.

Based on that description of sluggish cognitive tempo, it would affect the working memory and processing speed portions of an IQ test, bringing down FSIQ, and less so the GAI.  I would wonder if you would see it on finger tapping tests that would bear out problems with handwriting as well.

It might also affect the fluency portions of an achievement test.

That's an interesting condition.  My DD isn't really fitting any diagnosis right now -- school psych says ADHD-I, private neuropsych says no, and everyone can see that there's *something* going on.  DD doesn't quite fit the sluggish tempo description either, but it's closer...  DD has normal finger tapping scores (we still have no solid explanation for her handwriting struggles).  Her WM and PSI are each 2-2.5 standard deviations below her GAI (though still in the high average range).