new here

[susan]

Hello,

I am new here. My daughter was diagnosed with ADD (inattentive) 2 years ago. At that time, the psychologist told me that specific Learning Disabilities probably would not strongly show up until 3rd or 4th grade. She is now in 4th grade. I am in the process of having her tested for learning disabilities in the area of math.

She had no concept of numbers (place value).

With long division and multiple digit multiplication, she cannot keep numbers "lined up" to get the correct answer even though she knows the multiplication and division facts.

She does not know her addition or subtraction facts without counting on her fingers, BUT knows her multiplication and division facts wonderfully!

She can tell time, but CANNOT learn passage of time.

It seems that she just does not get MOST mathematical concepts.
I feel that the math curriculum that her school uses is good for her because it is very repetitive. It continues to repeat skills. It does not isolate skills and never come back to them.

One very interesting thing is that on 80% of her tests, she gets the bonus word problem.

I am just amazed at what she does/does not master! Any advice for me??? I am very discouraged and down. I feel like the road ahead of me is very long!!!! Susan

[misty]

Hello Susan!


My daughter is also ADD inattentive. She has 2 LD's--in math & lang. arts. Shes in 6th grade & yes, the road has been a long one!

Getting your daughter assessed for learning disabilities is a great step toward helping her! By the time I got shannon assessed, got an IEP in place & started getting her help with math, she was 2 1/2 years behind!

Before that, math homework was a nightmare--tears, tantrums, every resistance tactic in the book! One thing I did was sit down with her teacher & explain how taxing it was for her & discuss ways to keep her learning while not letting her get TOO discouraged. The teacher agreed to let her do every other problem. That way she was still practicing, yet not so overwhelmed that it led to the hysterics I was seeing at home!

My daughter had a terrible time with time concepts too & I think alot of her disorganization stemmed from that. The only things I really did was to keep explaining it & showing her over & over! Every day helping her lay out her times for doing homework, dinner, shower, bedtime, etc. I also used her TV shows as a way to help her learn time concepts. "Shannon, how long do you think this homework will take you? As long as spongebob, or longer like as long as CSI?" She'd say "Spongebob" "Ok, thats a half hour, then" I'd reply. After awhile, whether from those sorts of excersizes or maturity, she started getting it.

There is a lot of info here in the dyscalculia board & around the site . Have a look around & feel free to ask more questions!

[charliegirl]

Susan,


My son is ADD inattentive also. He has issues with math but not as severe as your daughter. I do think it would be a good idea for you to check out the info we have here in this board. I'm sure there are things there that you can use to help her.

It seems like a long road but you will be surprised what the right diagnosis and remediation can do. It will encourage you and build her self esteem. Hang in there!

You've come to a great place. We will be here for you as much as you need and do all we can to help you.

[susan]

Thanks for the support! Although I have had an idea that she would be labeled LD in math, hearing from the teacher yesterday just really threw me for a loop. She was not very positive, as I was trying to be. She just flat out told me that my daughter was always going to struggle..... That does not make anyone feel good!!

I have a master's degree in special ed. and I KNOW I can handle it as long as others are as positive/supportive as I try to be with her!

[charliegirl]

You're in a really good position to help her. You recognize she has an LD, and with your Masters degree no one can offer you a cookie cutter IEP and expect you to go for it. They know you are in a position to be able to find what is best for your daughter. You also know her rights. You can do this!

[lcdc1]

HI and good to hear from you. I have a 13 year old that has struggled with math forever and I was in denial forever that she could have a problem like this - well I woke up and this is her first year, actually first month or so of being diagnosed with a math LD and she has been put on an IEP and in sped for math.

Somewhere on here I posted a link to a dyscalucia site that has been helpful to me and the scwablearning site is another one that I got a lot of information from.

I suspect my daughter had ADD also, but am not pursuing that right now as she is a good student and not hyper. If she is in sped for math for awhile and the improvements are not good, then maybe I will look at that one.

I am ADHD in a bad way, so it would not surprise me at all. It is a very good thing that you are checking into all this at an early age and maybe your daughter will not get behind so much. Math LD's are interesting in the respect that they seem to be much less researched or in the early phases of research compared to other LD's. I somtimes feel like it is hard to really get a handle on helping my daughter with math.

She is way low on all areas of math except geometry - she is like way up there on that area - strange!!!

Good luck in helping your daughter, don't get dicouraged by someone else's off base remarks - just because of an LD, does not mean you will struggle forever, you just have to learn to drive your brain with the right help.

www.dyscalculiaforum.com/news.php

[susan]

Thanks for all the support! You all have encouraged me! I look forward to becoming more familiar with this board.

Susan

[misty]

susan said:

Thanks for all the support! You all have encouraged me! I look forward to becoming more familiar with this board.

Susan

Thats good! We look forward to getting to know you a bit as well. If you have any questions or troubles with the site, please feel free to PM me or any staff member any time!

[jj]

I don't really have anything to add to what was said but I just wanted to say hi and welcome you to the site.

[jfla]

hi susan,
welcome to the board! I just wanted to introduce myself and say hi. This is a great place to get support, information and a place to bounce ideas around.
Like you, I have a Masters in Special Ed which helped me tremendously in being sensitive to my son, his needs and tutoring/coaching him. He is 18 now a senior and will be going off to college this fall. There were many times when he was young, that I thought he would never get as far as he has or be ready for the world, but I feel good about his abilities now.
In his public school education I relied primarily on getting informal accommodations with his teachers based on discussions with his teachers. Once they knew I had a degree/certification they were happy to work with me. I don't know if you already have a full psychoeducational evaluation, but if I had to do it all again, I would have gotten the private eval early on. We did this when he was in 10th grade. The dx was ADHD/LD in Rdg & Lang/ Dysgraphia/borderline gifted. There were no surprises, but it gave a name and a number to all the areas where he had difficulty or strength. I then was saying, " Oh that's why you are like this or do it this way." It truly helped him understand himself too. He enjoyed the whole process and the fact that it helped him understand himself. Had I done this earlier, it would have been easier to deal with the school and meet his individual needs. So if by chance you haven't had a full eval done yet, it might be something you'd want to think about.

one more thing, just because they get a dx with LDs is not a sentence saying that they will never succeed. Altho he is dx'd LD in Rdg and Lang he has gotten A's in AP English. Altho he has been dysgraphic for the last 12 years, there has been sudden growth in the last four months and is physically writing in ways that I used to wonder if it would ever be possible. Don't listen to those that attempt to put limits on your daughters abilities. with your support and guidance, your daughter will go far.