DS has learning disabilities
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| Mon, 10-23-2006 - 4:33pm |
Since I feel like I've gotten to know some of you all over this last year of posting primarily about my issues with dd, I want to vent/share my sadness with you all about discovering, ***this*** late, that my 17ds, a junior in high school, has just been diagnosed with "non-specific learning disabilities".
We finally got the results of the very expensive outside "special ed" testing we had done, after the school refused to test him. He took all the testing unmedicated, for what it is worth. He did badly (below average) in numerous areas: auditory and verbal and visual memory; language retrieval; auditory processing and speed, and reasoning skills. The evaluation did not indicate a "specific LD" but "discrepancies between cognitive processing...intra-cluster discrepancies in both his cognitive and achievement performance."
I want to shout from the rooftops to anyone who wants to judge a teen like my ds (a really, really good kid - bad grades and all) that not everyone who doesn't make the honor roll is a "slacker" and "a bad influence". My kid fell through the proverbial cracks. No one, and I literally mean NO ONE from his many years in public school ever so much as **suggested** that he be tested for LD. No, he's instead been viewed as a slacker, lazy, and "off task". "Medicate him." There is something really wrong with our system. I even requested in 6th grade that he be "tested", unfortunately I didn't know what I didn't know, and he was never tested for LD. Again, in 10th grade he was 'tested'. Based on the "average" results of his testing (ignoring his below average grades), they denied further LD testing. You want to know something else? Based on the fact that he doesn't have a "specific" LD, we might even be denied services!!!! My blood is boiling.

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I will tell you that at college I found everyone much more willing to provide needed services. Once there I was able to have note takers, extended time on tests, testing in a private room, tutors, etc. The attitude was completely different than hs.
I graduated hs with about a 2.3 and struggled very hard to obtain that. I graduated college with about a 3.3 and while I worked very hard in college it was nothing compared to how I struggled in hs. I worked for several years and then returned to school for a masters degree. I was accepted into a program that is one of the most difficult in our state to be accepted into and graduated from there with about a 3.7! Not too bad for someone whose parents were told in kndergarten that she would never graduate hs! Accommodations do make a big difference!
I think it's because ds was initially "diagnosed" as ADD by a dr. and that is why he initially received his 504 plan. However, since learning about his LD issues I have to wonder if he truly is ADD, especially b/c neither Concerta, Strattera nor Ritalin worked for him. That is why I have an exam with a neurologist (believe it or not, he has never been to one - we were doing meds through the psyche) which is essentially to me like a "second opinion" on whether or not he truly has ADD and if meds would even work for him, which ones. The only ones we have not tried are a different class of meds - Adderral and the like, which are amphetamines according to the psychiatrist.
I share your concerns about what lies ahead - I don't know who to get to "advocate" for us anymore. I contacted PHP (parents helping parents) and they were of not much help,but I have not given them the newest information. Our IE will advocate regarding educational issues, but I dont know if she has much knowledge about the law and my rights.
I'm grateful that we have financial resources, unlike so many other parents, but I really strongly resent having to use our meager savings to force the school to do what they are supposed to do. Do you know of anyone who has sued the school district for failing to provide an education for their child? I have heard that the district will swamp you with paper work and stall, hoping that you will choose to use your money to help your child privately rather than for legal fees. If that is the truth, then perhaps a class action lawsuit is what my district needs to sound a wake up call. I'm just so sick of this...
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