anti-prose. random matter.
Published on February 10, 2006 By crimson In Blogging
I may have mentioned elsewhere that my daughter has been struggling in school. It was recognized in kindergarden, but because of a year-long stint in an Anishnaabe school that was also language-based, it wasn't identified as early as it might have been had she started out in the public school system.

Early testing identified a possible learning disability, leading to more testing (and expense) from a private clinic that specialized in such areas. (in her case: visual perception/short term long term memory processing) This clinic has yet to produce any results since last July, citing that transcription is still ongoing. However, with the help of her teacher and resource support staff member, we've been given the allowance to go ahead with a psychological evaluation to further understand her learning process.

Simply put, more tests.

I'm worried.

For all the information that I've been given has said that it's important to understand her issues as early as possible. The longer she goes without recieving more relevant help, the more difficult it will be in the future for her to catch up. Yet, it's going to take several more months before any results are produced leaving everyone at loss for what to do in the meantime.

Because her difficulties are severe, alternate options were discussed, leading to the topic of attending a school specialized in certain disabilities in the future. A boarding school.

I've got forms to file, questionnaires to fill out, documents to sign and a mind full of questions without sight of immediate answers.

Hopefully, it's not going to be as bad as it could be, but not knowing gives me much more time to make it worse in my mind.

Comments
on Feb 10, 2006
Wow, I feel for ya! Hope they get it all figured out and start helping her ASAP. I can't bare the idea of bording school. How old is she? My cousin didn't get identified as dyslexic until middle school. That made things very hard on him. I think as long as her problems are identified while she is still elementary age, she has a great chance of getting up to speed.

Best wishes.
on Feb 10, 2006
Not knowing is such a pain! Hopefully you know that by going through this process, that things will be done to help
your child as much as possible.
That's better than having people ignore one's child and that leading to more problems and heartache.

Hugs! Hang in there
on Feb 11, 2006
The waiting game is so bad, but at least you guys are working on it now. I hope they find out soon and start to help.

You are always going to worry about your baby, but seeing that you did find this out early, that is a good thing.
(((((nic)))))))
on Feb 11, 2006
Oh Nic, I'm so sorry. I know how hard it is to KNOW that your child has a problem and to not be able to start on a treatment plan. Of course, Jake only had to wait a month or so to get his diagnosis and start medication, so it wasn't as bas as what you're going through, but....I feel some of your pain.

When I was growing up, a lady that lived across the street from me had a daughter who was what was descirbed as 'educationally sub-normal'. Of course, that was in the early to mid-80's when testing wasn't as advanced as it is now. This girl (her name was Caroline) ended up going to a boarding school, and she did really well there. The school figured out how she learned best and taught her in that medium, and she just blossomed.

My mom saw her not too long ago, and she was married with a family of her own.

Anyway, I hope that you get answers about Kole soon.
on Feb 11, 2006
I really do hope she receives the help she needs. Do you know which style she learns the best with? If she's having trouble with visual learning, maybe her strengths are in auditory or kinesthetic? It would be great if you found out; that way, maybe you will be able to gather information on things you can do at home to help her while you are waiting for those results.

here is a site that might be of interest

http://www.ldaamerica.us

there are other sites I saw that had to do with learning disabilities, but I'm not sure if they are what you are looking for.
on Feb 11, 2006
I think as long as her problems are identified while she is still elementary age, she has a great chance of getting up to speed.


Kole's eight, and so far is functioning in her reading program at a below kindergarden level. In math she's a little better, but she is at a low-borderline level. However, she's got some definite strengths. She can perform independent work with a lot of time, and can make adaptions in order to keep up with her class. For instance, in math, she does addition and subtraction with a counter taped on her desk, and while it takes her about 15 minutes to work out a problem that the rest of her class can do in about a minute or so, she does complete it, and completes it correctly. With a lot of her schoolwork, so long as someone reads it to her several times, she memorizes it. In kindergarden she got by the work was so short, but now that the passages are longer, she can't memorize all of it.
on Feb 11, 2006
The school figured out how she learned best and taught her in that medium, and she just blossomed.


this was the suggestion as well. The school has an open house later this month, and I'm planning on going.

here is a site that might be of interest


Thanks for the link, and thanks all for writing. It's great to hear some encouraging words.
on Feb 12, 2006
Nicky, I do hope the right solution presents itself for you and Kole.