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on the fence about testing


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I'm hitting a wall with my 13 year old ds. I am considering taking him to the dyslexia center where his brother got his eval (by an NP) and get him tested too.

 

Here's what I'm observing. WWYD?

 

First his grandmother, father and brother are all profoundly dyslexic.

 

He takes standardized testing every year. He scores above average for reading comprehension, but very poor and below average on spelling (phonetic principles and structural principles) and capitalization. Good scores otherwise. He just finished the SAT 10 and I'm waiting on those results. However, he reads all day long. We go to the library he comes home with 20 books, most sci fi series. 

 

He can't sum up things quickly, even things of high interest like his books. He comes off as bright but a little spacey, a lot of pauses.

 

Poor memory and slow recall. Math facts are still an issue.

 

He sometimes still reverses b and writes s backwards. He knows it's wrong right away, but can't stop from making the mistake.

 

The dyslexia center will eval for dyslexia as well do IQ testing. They can say we think he's not dealing with dyslexia, maybe it's this or that instead but he wouldn't get evaluated there for that. It's much cheaper this way. I wish that wasn't a concern but $1k vs $3k is a big deal.

 

Well rereading this I pretty much talked myself off the fence. He needs to be looked at just wondering to find a way to manage full testing or not...

 

 

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First his grandmother, father and brother are all profoundly dyslexic.

 

 

You pretty much had me at this point...

 

Sounds like it would be worth it with the struggles he's having. But you know what, since your other son was evaluated there, is there someone you could call and talk to, to help you make sure it's worth your while? Or at least help you feel better about following up on this?

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If the dyslexia center eval won't include anything beyond dyslexia, then your $1K is for incomplete work.  Since it's probably the last evals he'll have, it doesn't make sense.  How about a different psych who will at least diagnose the probable ADHD and possible other SLDs as well?  

 

Oh, he's 13, not 17. Well still, the evals are incomplete, since he has more to get diagnosed from what you're describing.

Edited by OhElizabeth
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If the dyslexia center eval won't include anything beyond dyslexia, then your $1K is for incomplete work.  Since it's probably the last evals he'll have, it doesn't make sense.  How about a different psych who will at least diagnose the probable ADHD and possible other SLDs as well?  

 

Oh, he's 13, not 17. Well still, the evals are incomplete, since he has more to get diagnosed from what you're describing.

 

 

Also, while you're at it, consider a possible developmental vision angle, what with the reversals, mirror writing and general spaciness... it is not unusual for a vision issue to coexist with dyslexia.

 

 

Yes, you are both right. I need to look around for a different option. 

His brother is a vision therapy graduate, so going back to the COVD is one place to start.

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If the dyslexia center eval won't include anything beyond dyslexia, then your $1K is for incomplete work. 

 

I kept thinking I was reading that wrong (1K sounds like a lot for just testing for dyslexia, but maybe it's more in other areas than by us). But I agree, if it's only for that and it's really that much, I'd look around for more testing. 

 

Yes, you are both right. I need to look around for a different option. 

His brother is a vision therapy graduate, so going back to the COVD is one place to start.

 

good idea.

Edited by MerryAtHope
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I kept thinking I was reading that wrong (1K sounds like a lot for just testing for dyslexia, but maybe it's more in other areas than by us). But I agree, if it's only for that and it's really that much, I'd look around for more testing. 

 

 

good idea.

 

 

It was extensive testing, took 3 hours and told us a lot more than he was dyslexic. Said what type, what level, etc. I don't have all the info handy right now, but I was going on recommendations of other homeschoolers. 

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Remember, when these places offer very limited testing, their market is more typically psers.  Those parents would take the results to the ps, and the ps would run full evals and get the ADHD (comorbid 60% of the time with dyslexia), SLD writing, SLD math, etc. diagnosed.  So it's really not an issue of whether the center and their report is good, just an observation that you were saying things that indicated ADHD and maybe some more SLDs and that at some point you'd benefit from finishing the process.  

 

Does the dyslexia place have a psych?  Also some psychs will do completer evals, using the info from your previous eval and just finishing what needs to be done.  You could price that out and see where it gets you.

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Remember, when these places offer very limited testing, their market is more typically psers.  Those parents would take the results to the ps, and the ps would run full evals and get the ADHD (comorbid 60% of the time with dyslexia), SLD writing, SLD math, etc. diagnosed.  So it's really not an issue of whether the center and their report is good, just an observation that you were saying things that indicated ADHD and maybe some more SLDs and that at some point you'd benefit from finishing the process.  

 

Does the dyslexia place have a psych?  Also some psychs will do completer evals, using the info from your previous eval and just finishing what needs to be done.  You could price that out and see where it gets you.

 

Yes, the NP evaluated my 9 year old. This is a good idea to see if I could essentially do a full eval in steps like this. She has a private practice but consults at the dyslexia center.

 

I made the COVD appointment today. When they heard he still does reversals they suggested I get 2 evaluation done, the additional one being for perception. With my 9 year old, this ended up being torture b/c he was dyslexic as well as had issues with his vision. He spent months doing exercises to try and teach him right from left, nope! So I am refusing that on the grounds that with my family any perceptual issues are most likely dyslexia.

 

I dug up his paperwork. Here are the tests the dyslexia center ran:

Culture Fair Intelligence Test

WIAT-III (decoding and encoding subtests)

GORT-5

Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing

Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration and visual perception subtest

Visual Aural Digit Span Test

Test of Information Processing Skills

 

I'm going to look for a full list of tests run with a full eval and see what's missing.

Edited by summerreading
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Dr. Paul Cates does comprehensive testing that can identify all sorts of learning difficulties. Although he works with schools, he also works with homeschoolers, including me (for a school where I taught), and other homeschooling friends. I trust him. The down side, depending on where *you* live, is that he is in Kentucky, or Tennessee--I forget which one. So although he might not charge $1000, there might be a cost for you to go to him. But you would get your money's worth.

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Well non-dyslexics have L/R issues too.  It's an OT thing, not dyslexia.  So your ds had OT issues that were making his VT hard, and the VT doc should have referred you for OT.  Has that ds had an OT eval?  One OT I took my ds to uses Focus Moves/S'cool Moves.  You can buy the ebook for around $10, and it has all the instructions.  They used to sell it on amazon, and I think now you buy it directly from them.  

 

https://secure.mybookorders.com/Orderpage/1401

 

There's the link.  Focus Moves is only $10.  

 

If you buy this, shoot me a pm.  I made some things that make it easy to implement.

 

Here's a page with their free stuff.

Downloads — S'cool Moves, Inc.

Look, but I'm thinking they had RAN/RAS pages.  I made some, and I can send you the link for them as well if you pm me.  Every dyslexic needs RAN/RAS work!  

 

The stuff from SM is easy to implement, and for my ds it has been pretty good.  Ten minutes a day can get noticeable progress.

 

Our VT doc has a long developmental vision exam, but they don't separate out the visual processing.  It's just one of the hours of the multi-hour exam.  I would think you would want those numbers for a baseline to know if you need further therapy or not.  I think if you get the OT work done (yourself, by an OT, whatever), they'd be in a better place for that extra work.  Now, I'll tell you, my dd had a terrible time on the visual processing portion too and hit some walls, but with her they said it was OT issues and attention.  If you don't have enough working memory and processing speed, your brain is going to have a hard time doing some of those tasks!  So, like you, we stopped after a point.  

 

For her, the visual memory was at like age 2 before any VT, and it bumped some, to like age 4 or something, before the visual processing portion.  They definitely improved her visual processing *speed* which is pretty wild.  It makes her wicked at some games, lol.  Anyways, with no baseline on the visual processing, I wouldn't have realized HOW LOW she was before any of this, which might have made me less motivated to do SOMETHING to improve it, kwim?  

 

I'm not trying to decide there what you should do and when on the perception.  You could do the perception portion but NOT do their therapy.  I agree with you that if the doc is doing ineffective therapy and not referring you off to the proper practitioner to treat it, there's a problem.  R/L issues are an OT thing, so he should have referred you.  There are some VT docs weaving in OT things.  That's fine, but sometimes you actually need to be referred off.  When it's not working, it's not working.  

 

Does this VT doc check for retained primitive reflexes?  

 

Well that's helpful that the psych you'd want for the full eval is the same as the psych at the dyslexia center!  Maybe he'll cut you a deal.  You're missing ADHD screenings and IQ there.  I don't know what the Culture Fair IT is, but I'm guessing it's their quickie substitute for a full IQ?  I mean like really, you could add two things and be there, mercy.  

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