|
|
Post by therose on Mar 7, 2008 12:08:09 GMT -5
Hi - Looking for explanations if my daughter's assessment done in 2004 is correct. It is important, because I have manage to have her reassess at the school. Reassessments are apparently rare in cases like my daughter according to the educational psychologist because she only has mild LD, and her problem areas are in pseudoword decoding (77) and numerical operations (66). Apparently remedial help is her only resource.
I have a lot of questions about it, and I am willing to email a copy of the assessment. In this part of the world that I live in, procedures of assessments are not tightly followed nor do the educators keep up to date with the latest findings.
My daughter is in grade 7 now, and I have been told by private sources time is of the essence to get this corrected now or I will see her start to fail because it is affecting her reading fluency and reading speed. In fact, I am already seeing this at home. I have reported this to the school, but it is fallen on deaf ears. Without my help at home, she would be failing all core subjects. Of note, she has failed every language arts test that requires demand writing in the last two years and standard testing called CRTs are either limited or very limited in the demand section. She does well in multiple choice section of the CRT. Her report cards are a different story and is maintaining a B average with some As with a lot of tutoring from her parents.
So, can anyone help me to sort it out?
Nancy from Canada
|
|
|
|
Post by rakuflames on Mar 7, 2008 12:42:34 GMT -5
Hi - Looking for explanations if my daughter's assessment done in 2004 is correct. It is important, because I have manage to have her reassess at the school. Reassessments are apparently rare in cases like my daughter according to the educational psychologist because she only has mild LD, and her problem areas are in pseudoword decoding (77) and numerical operations (66). Apparently remedial help is her only resource. I have a lot of questions about it, and I am willing to email a copy of the assessment. In this part of the world that I live in, procedures of assessments are not tightly followed nor do the educators keep up to date with the latest findings. My daughter is in grade 7 now, and I have been told by private sources time is of the essence to get this corrected now or I will see her start to fail because it is affecting her reading fluency and reading speed. In fact, I am already seeing this at home. I have reported this to the school, but it is fallen on deaf ears. Without my help at home, she would be failing all core subjects. Of note, she has failed every language arts test that requires demand writing in the last two years and standard testing called CRTs are either limited or very limited in the demand section. She does well in multiple choice section of the CRT. Her report cards are a different story and is maintaining a B average with some As with a lot of tutoring from her parents. So, can anyone help me to sort it out? Nancy from Canada Nancy, I don't know anything about Canada's rules, but I do know a lot about reading. Most of the time, what is offered in school is not enough to remediate completely. If I understand right and your daughter is already in seventh grade, she needs very intensive help in reading, and right away. It's already March. If there are any reading clinics near you (I like private and University-based ones, not commercial ones) I would get her on the list to be tested NOW. In particular a lot of universities have fantastic summer reading clinic programs but they will be filling up fast. If you can't do that, see if you can't find intensive tutoring for her this summer. |
|
|
|
Post by lillian on Mar 7, 2008 17:56:10 GMT -5
Hello! Welcome! Where do you live in Canada? We vacation there and are considering buying a condo, making Canada our second home. Anyhoo...
I am not familiar with Canada's educational laws, so I cannot tell you how to approach the school system there. It definitely sounds like your child needs to be tested more thoroughly, though. Psuedoword decoding is a big predictor of a child's ability to read fluently and, particularly, to read expository texts.
In addition, psuedoword decoding difficulties are a strong predictor of encoding (spelling) difficulties, which will effect your daugher's ability to express herself in writing because she cannot spell well enough to do so.
Research indicates that if a child has decoding/reading fluency/spelling/writing difficulties, all wrapped up in one (but not real word identification difficulties, which would equal dyslexia), then the best way to remediate it is through remediating spelling with morphological/orthographic spelling remediation. This improves everything simultaneously--decoding, reading fluency, spelling, and writing. The child also will need direct reading fluency remediation, which should be done daily.
|
|
|
|
Post by therose on Mar 7, 2008 20:21:20 GMT -5
I live in rural Newfoundland for anyone who wants to know.
I should have mentioned that my daughter had delays starting from infancy. By the time she was 18 months old, she began intensive speech therapy for the next two years. At the time we were living in Ontario, and on days like this I wish I was still living in Ontario. By the age of three she was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, however it was mild and could be control by changing things. She was also tested for other disorders such as autism and as a mother I was relieved to hear speech delay. By the age of two, she was also attending two nursery schools to promote talking, socialization and being with normal children.
When we moved to Newfoundland, I had all the documentation but the school ignored it, even though she was showing almost all of the dyslexia symptoms. Near the end of grade 3, she was finally assess but I had to push really hard to get it.
In grade four she started SMT, which is based on the Orten-Gillingham method. Within 5 hours of instruction, there was major improvements in her school work. However the school ended the program without completing the whole program after grade 5, based on her grades.
Since grade 6, she has failed every language arts test that requires demand writing. Even more note worthy is the observation that what was happening in the primary grades are returning to haunt her.
Her spelling score is 101 on the assessment. However, spelling is strange and her difficulties lies with words of 10 letters or less. She does pass all of her spelling tests and usually she gets perfect grades. Even though I have told the school, that in order to do well on spelling tests, because she needs at least 3 hours during the week to work on them. This is more so starting in grade 6. If I don't do it especially with words that she is unfamiliar with, she will not do well.
This is why I am questioning the assessment. She is find doing single words, but when using the same words in a written piece spelling, grammar, and syntax errors are present. The shorter the word, more than likely it will be spelled wrong or the vowels left out. Words like said, quiet, any qu words, any ei words, and words that she has heard but never seen in print.
As for reading, books at her grade level or one below she is having trouble with words. On any page she has to stop and try to figure out what the word means. In this case she does a lot of guessing or she doesn't bother to find out the meaning which leads to comprehension problems. Commotion is the latest word. Even though she has heard me say this word thousands of times, and it is a grade 5 spelling word she did not know the meaning of the word. In order for her to retain memory of spelling words, she needs to see, hear and write down the word and in some cases do it a thousand times. Her reading comprehension score is 102. It would not surprise me if on reassessment, this score will drop. However, I suspect it is her good working memory at work that is helping her to maintain good grades and my help at home.
I know now, that the school should not have ended her SMT program. I also know now know through research and I have also been told, that a child can have a low pseudoword decoding score and the rest of the scores high and still be dyslexia. There are using their good memory and other strategies to get by. From the research, I understand that this will work until they get to middle school, when there is more material to be covered and an increase in the amount of reading. I have also been told that psuedoword decoding/low phonemic awareness are independent from reading comprehension and single word spellings. It affects reading fluency and the reading speed which in turns hampers the comprehension and a domino effect takes place.
So, let me know if you think that I am wrong in this kind of thinking. From the studies that I have read, these are the children who do not qualify under the education system for help in either country.
Nancy from Canada
|
|
|
|
Post by lillian on Mar 7, 2008 23:38:21 GMT -5
Hey, Nancy!
I don't know how it is in Canada, but in the U.S. the word "dyslexia" is a controversial word. Private evaluators continually debate whether or not my son has dyslexia. Recently, he was evaluated by a dyslexia researcher, who defined dyslexia by both psuedoword decoding and real word reading being below the 25th percentile. If one or the other is not, then it is not dyslexia. My son's pseudoword decoding is below the 25th percentile, when he is given a thorough decoding test, such as the Woodcock Reading Mastery, but his real word reading is not below the 25th percentile, regardless of how thorough the test is. According to the researcher, it is the inability to read words in isolation that is the hallmark of dyslexia, not pseudoword decoding.
In the United States, we have Special Education law that we refer to as IDEA. Under IDEA, there are eight categories that a child can qualify in for a learning disability. Three of those categories deal with reading--reading comprehension, basic reading skills (which is pseudoword decoding and real word identification), and reading fluency. The latter, reading fluency, was added in 2004, and many people have no idea what this category really is. Well, according to the researcher, this is what my son has--a Reading Fluency Disorder--not dyslexia. Honestly, it sounds like your daughter may have the same, so I'll tell you what I was told.
A Reading Fluency Disorder is marked by a child's inability to decode words with speed, read paragraphs with speed and accuracy, and rapidly name word, letters and objects. My son's IQ is in the 91st percentile. The researcher's testing showed my son's psuedoword decoding to be in the 37th percentile when untimed (WIAT) and in the 16th percentile when timed (Test of Word Reading Efficiency). On a reading fluency test (GORT-4), my son scored in the 9th percentile in fluency, and the 16th percentile in accuracy. His rapid naming scores ranged between the 1st percentile to the 37th percentile. However, my son does not have nearly as much difficulty reading real words in isolation. His scores here ranged between the 37th percentile to the 55th percentile. Because of these scores, with none of them being below the 25th percentile, whether timed or untimed, whether tested with a brief test or a thorough one, he was not given the label of dyslexia. I should note, two other private evaluators have said that he is dyslexic.
Debate, debate, debate...That's all they do in the world of dyslexia...Debate over the definition of it. For this reason, it's not a useful word here in the U.S. Remediation is what is important. Looking at your child's weaknesses and strengths, then deciding how best to remediate the weaknesses and stress the strengths is more useful. And trying to get a school to recognize a child with a decoding issue? Forget about it! Unless comprehension is greatly effected--below the 25th percentile--schools don't care how quickly or accurately a child reads. My son's reading comprehension scores continually test around the 70th percentile, so schools could care less. They've given him an IEP for writing, which is common for kids with this disorder, but they refuse to acknowledge any kind of reading disorder. As Rakuflames stated, private remediation is your best bet.
|
|
