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Post by misty on Oct 29, 2008 17:58:58 GMT -5
Shannon's cyber school IEP meeting was today. Her teachers & the director of the Special ed dept. were in attendance. After we went over & I approved her IEP, the director ask me if he could ask me a series of questions. after he finished he said that he doesn't think Shannon has ADHD of any kind & never did. He believes she has NVLD instead. The indicators he went by that he says are classic signs are that she never could learn to ride a bike, had serious trouble with buttons & shoe tying, can't tell time, can't write in cursive, is inattentive, highly disorganized, has problems in math, trouble with sequencing & some logic problems, & that the ADHD meds she tried didn't seem to make much positive difference.
Her LD teacher is going to call me tomorrow & we are going to figure out a day by day plan so Shannon knows exactly what classwork to do each day, in what order, & how much time to spend on each item. Her biggest problem so far with cyber school is that it isn't structured & she has no idea what she should be doing each day. This will help her stay organized & not fall behind.
Meanwhile the director is going to send me a packet of detailed info on NLVD. Hmm.....looks like I may be making some use of this section of the site!
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Post by jj on Oct 29, 2008 18:11:20 GMT -5
Well, that still sounds like ADHD but I can see where NVLD is a possibility. But what credentials does this director have to be "sort of DX'ing" Shannon? I'd be open-minded about it and read what they give you, for sure, but I'd sure be asking who-ever DX'd her in the first place for their opinion.
And to be honest, I think just about every kid should have that structure and especially if they are in cyber school whether they are ADHD, NVLD or no DX and I sure don't know why they haven't been doing that all along.
This will be interesting to see what happens here. Does it seem to be a good possibility she had the wrong DX all along to you Misty?
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Post by misty on Oct 29, 2008 19:41:12 GMT -5
I don't know, JJ. I think there's a possibility it could be. I think I mentioned in an older post that it's been brought up before that Shannon may have NVLD. I discounted it because she doesn't meet ALL the criteria, but now that I'm reading more about it & thinking about her ADHD diagnosis, she doesn't meet ALL the criteria for ADHD either. I think these things are so closely related & so similar that there's every possibility that her ADD Dx could have been a misdiagnosis, but I'm still not positive. Like you said, I'd have to get her retested by someone who knows both disabilities to be sure. She was first diagnosed when she was in the Lutheran school & I probably wouldn't be able to take her back to that Dr. She's unmedicated anyway, so a firm diagnosis doesn't really matter to me as long as she gets the help she needs to succeed.
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Post by charliegirl on Oct 29, 2008 22:58:17 GMT -5
If you agree that its a possibility after you have gone through the info packet and read what we have here about NVLD, are you going to take her to a neuropsych for an evaluation to make sure? Some of it does sound like NVLD would be a possibility.
Sometimes its a fine line between one and the other. I hope you find out for sure so you can zero in on even more effective ways to help her.
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Post by misty on Oct 30, 2008 7:42:05 GMT -5
I don't know if I'll take her to find out for sure or not. If the school is working with us & it's helping her that's all that really matters to me. Her IEP has her LD's & "Other health impaired" for the ADHD. Her IEP won't really change so there's no real reason to get a firm diagnosis unless it would get her more help with the school.If she was medicated & I was worried about giving her something that she shouldn't be taking it would be a different story. We don't really have much info on it here so I'll be scouring the internet this week. Also I have a friend who's son has NVLD so I'll email or call her & see what she can tell me. One thing the Spec. ed director told me is that teens with NVLD have a real problem learning to drive. They have no perception of how close the cars are or how to allot for the speed of an oncoming car (as you need to be able to do when merging). I was teasing Shannon last night that she'll never be allowed to drive...LOL.
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Post by misty on Oct 30, 2008 11:36:56 GMT -5
By the way, The director of Special ed that said Shannon is NVLD is a psychiatrist. I spoke with Shannon's LD teacher today. We were writing up a schedule for Shannon to follow for classes next week to help her get organized. While I had her on the phone I asked if the director thought we needed to get her retested. She said she had already spoken to him about that & that he had said that no, since she's unmedicated & there's no meds to help with NVLD there's no need to have her retested unless we want a firm diagnosis for our own knowledge.
By the way, I love the schedule they made for her. She'll have Science & Math on Mon & Wed., Social studies & English on Tues & Thurs, Fridays will be the day to finish up anything she hasn't finished & she'll have her art class.
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Post by bugsmom on Oct 30, 2008 16:11:04 GMT -5
Misty, I have found this post so interesting. After reading it the first time, I swear you were talking about Josh. Everything you mentioned (except for the bike riding) is Josh to a tee. I looked at NVLD years ago but never researched it deeply because I know Josh is severely ADHD. But, with that said, the last time he had a good evaluation, they were teetering on an LD, though they couldn't quite put there finger on it. Some of these issues are right in line with ADHD, like JJ mentioned. I was up researching this all night last night and I swear I think Josh is NVLD and Adhd. I so wish I could get him re-evalutated right now. OUr insurance won't cover the $3,000 cost. It makes sense to me that although he is medicated for his hyperness and it helps, all his other issues are the same. The writing problems, disorganization, social cues, sequencing and logic problems, him begging me to tie his shoes EVERYDAY! I'm a little freaked out. He has an appointment Monday with his psych and I'm going to bring this up. Thanks for posting this. Oh, I found a really good site that explained NVLD in great detail last night. I just thought I'd share it here for you and anyone else. www.ldonline.org/article/6114 |
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Post by misty on Oct 30, 2008 18:08:56 GMT -5
Thanks bugsmom...what a great article! After reading through it, I'm amazed at how many signs Shannon has ...and has had since she was a toddler! There are a few she doesn't have but most of it is Shannon to a complete tee!
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Post by misty on Mar 21, 2010 22:00:15 GMT -5
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Post by bugsmom on Mar 22, 2010 10:37:41 GMT -5
Misty, I can understand your concern. Josh has stated many times that he doesn't think he'll ever be able to learn to drive, but I know he will.
Kyle started taking him out last summer WAY into the country and let him drive the truck. I about had a fit, but hey, that's a dad for you. He did this about every other weekend. Josh did very well and it boosted his confidence. He'll only be 14 in a month, but I think it was good for him to get some practice. Kyle grew up in Kentucky and started driving at 10 so he thinks 14 is old. Hee Hee.
Maybe you could take Shannon out and let her get the feeling of a car. I'm sure it would boost up her confidence and make her feel better. My dad took me to a cemetary to learn. It was small, not traffic, and you go slow. ;D
Also, I don't think every 16 year is ready to drive. I think you need to look at their maturity and responsibility level. Even though Josh can take driver's ed at 14 years and 8 months here in Michigan, I don't see him being mature enough till at least 17.
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I was about to conquer the world but then I got distracted by something shiny.
