One thing about my child...we took our kids to a Catholic church to check it out for joining (I was raised Catholic). There are plenty of rote memorized prayer (and if you are Catholic you'll know just what I am talking about). Amazingly on our second visit my four year old (at the time) knew the words to every single prayer after only hearing them once. I was astonished. Some might say "miracle" but thats just my child! Also she has an uncanny adult sense of perception..can read people and situations with extreme clarity...its scary.

Oh I agree the 2Es don't do well on the COGAT...I have one of those:001_smile:. This child however is not 2E.

Wondering if anyone has any experience with this. My daughter must score in the 98% in 2 categories (COGATS) to qualify for an advanced learning program. She also must score in 95% or above on ITBS in reading and math (has 99% in both). In our old school system she only needed 1 98% on cogats. She is now entering grade 7. Her last COGATs were from 3rd grade. Her composites (1st and 2nd) historically have been 98%. The schools here aren't great except for this program. Now I am sweating out the wait. Does anyone have any info? Have your childs scores increased over time?:confused:

We have been very open and honest. When I first told my daughter about her learning disabilities she was relieved. We spent a lot of time talking about famous people who have similar disabilities. We even did a research project on it. When she refers to herself as different I tell her she is exceptional and unique. She is so convinced her way of thinking is fantastic many of her friends now wish they also had dyslexia and adhd. I think being honest helped her feel proud of who she is and what she has accomplished despite the daily struggle.

Yes we have same issue. Ed Pysch told us to use flash cards every night. Star with 2's (in order) and review every single night until it is commited to memory. It can take months on just one number. When 2's are mastered on to 3's. Its an ordeal but it does work.

My daughter wants it. Also needs to be in program to qualify for advanced content math amd science in middle schools...otherwise I wouldn't bother.

School wants to use this test to evaluate dyslexic, dysgraphic, adhd child for gifted program. Her ITBS achievement scores were high enough but COGAT was low. Can't except her WISC or CTONI as they were done technically in 2nd grade (the last day actually). This my childs only shot at the gifted progam so I don't want to agree to the test if it is not a fair measure. Thanks.

Stealth Dyslexia http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10435.aspx

He sounds a lot like my child. She has combined type ADHD and dyslexia. She's a fairly good reader and her decoding skills are good considering. (Not suggesting your child has this though just for perspective). The similarities are that she struggles with a concept then suddenly she gets it. Her progress is always like that slow then a huge jump, slow then a huge jump. This has been consistent throughout her schooling (she is in 3rd grade). The other stuff (shower etc) is almost like describing a typical day in our house. She has low working memory. We recently tried adhd meds which made her very anxious so we discontinued for now. But we noticed her standardized test scores made a huge leap while on the meds and the "executive functioning" stuff remarkably improved. I'm not sure where we'll end up with the meds but its currently off the table until she gets a little older. Our psych has recomended trying COGMED. You may want to look that up. We may try it over the summer to see if it can help the working memory issues.

Today I received a ltter from the dyslexia school we recently applied to. As part of the process they have a two hour evaluation/testing with each applicant. After testing they concluded her performance was higher than their typical rising 4th grader and in their opinion she does not need a full time program. They gave some helpful suggestions such as adding a writing tutor to the current schedule. So I guess I have my answer. Thanks for listening.

I think they will accept the WISC score ultimately but she may need more than just a high score on an achievement test to qualify. She needs a high motivation and creativity score (not sure what tests they use but she bombed the Torrance in Grade 1)...and at least a 96 composite on ITBS (which she has). I believe they are waiting on the COGATs because if the scores are high enough they will wave in without other criteria. They could be very high....with my child you never know where she'll end up. We will see where it goes. But I will get her in this year that I know. I will see about the state law. Its funny it really matters to my daughter. She wants to be in the program. She knows she is smart. She knows she belongs there. I have thought of homeschooling and looked into a few times. I always came back to the realization my child needs the structure of a traditional school. Also despite her quirkiness she is very social.

Yes we get homework from the tutor and try to review each night. My daughter needs to be in bed by 7:30 (always so tired puts herself to bed)so sometimes it is a struggle to get it all in. We read 20 min but alternate paragraphs. Really really good point on the ITBS. She took them Oct of this year (she is in third). My guess is they were the 2nd grade tests. I must clarify with school as that would make a huge impact on scoring. If so I will really have to pursue the 504 in elementary if that's the route we go as all advanced placement for middle school is based on grade 5 ITBS scores with no altennative testing accepted. Accomodations will be very important. Thank you so much for mentioning that. We are waiting on results of COGATS. I'm still struggling to get her into the gifted program but making some progress with WISC scores at least I have their attention. School though is holding out for COGATS (which are not read to kids in grade 3) before they decide. The results could be very interesting. I am so glad I found this forum.

Wow thanks for all the detailed responses. Our state will reimburse parents for the cost of educating your child if you pull them from public to do specialiazed schooling IF you have an active IEP. Our intention from the beginning was to secure the IEP for this reason...we know the school system has no orton gillingham based program...so what they'd offer through the IEP was worthless...excpet maybe for speech therapy but we didn't even get that. That's why we decided to spend the countless dollars on tutoring. We just finished an Ed pysch in May that diagnosed her with ADHD for the first time. It was missed in round 1. We had hoped this would help gain the IEP as dyslexia is not recognized as a learning disbaility in our state (all kinds of words are used like developmental and processing). We put her in private for grade 2 because due to budget concerns the public schools were going for maximum class sizes. Becuase she is extremely sensitive to noise and any type of chaotic environment we thought the small class size would be beneficial. It turned out to be a disaster. She was socailly very unhappy and we found the private school to be very inflexible for example they played music during silent reading and you can imagine how distracting that would be to a dyslexic...they would not change their policy. There are many other examples but that one was such a thorn in my side I can't seem to let it go. Her teacher has told me that my child is at the top of her class with the exception of reading and is actually baffled as to why we are looking at a school for dyslexia. We know our daughter is very gifted. She can take apart a television and put it back together, she wins countless art contests, her vocabulary rivals an educated adult. My worries are that she will never reach her potential and that her disabilty will keep her out of higher level classes. Already I have to fight for the gifted services even though via the WISC she is technically a genius. The biggest worry though is that things will catch up with her as school becomes more complicated and she'll begin to slide...and then all the things that come with it...low self esteem etc. She is extremely sensitive.....low self esteem would be a recipe for disaster down the road. I really appreciate your suggestions of a 504. Definitely something to consider and pursue. Aagain thanks to everyone who replied. This has been incredibly helpful.

Hello all. Very glad to find this board. Am struggling with decisions for my 3rd grade dyslexic daughter (dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADHD). Profile: Non verbal WISC IQ puts her in 99% for same aged peers. In third grade performs way above average in math and science. (math facts are a bit of an issue though..higher order stuff is very strong). Spelling and writing are well below expectations. She reads on or just below grade level. We have never been able to get her an IEP...but have tried since kindergarten. She spent last year at a private school as we thought a smaller classroom would be a better fit but she was very unhappy and wanted to return to her neighborhood school. We switched her back this year. We use an orton gillingham tutor twice a week and work on enrichment at home. After getting turned down for an IEP again, we started to look at schools for dyslexia for next year. Found one that is very reputable. We had concluded this would be a good thing and are hoping they have a spot for her. The school is very expensive. It will be painful financially for us but we are willing to make the sacrifice if it is the right choice. We were pretty decided Until..... Most recent development: We recieved her ITBS scores and she has a composite score in the 96%. Most of her scores were in the mid nineties (math and reference skills the highest) with science coming in at 87%. Now we are rethinking our decision to send her to a school for dyslexia. She is content at her public school. She is holding her own academically. She is a bit quirky but has an established group of friends. Tutoring seems to helping some though I have some concerns about her writing. Its pretty bad. My issue is I don't want to look back in 5 years and realize I made the wrong choice. I want to do the best thing for my child. Can anyone provide any insight? Sorry for the long post.