Thanks Claire!

We live in a very rural area. As far as I can see, there's no one in our little town to do the testing. One hour away is the closest and I just found someone on the web and put in a request for length of time to wait for new patient and insurance. The place we're on the waiting list for is a large teaching hospital 2 hours away from us. I felt perhaps the teaching hospital was the best place to go, as it should be up-to-date on everything. But I've been on their waiting list for about 3 months now. I'm leary as well.... we had psychological testing done when ds was just out of kindergarten (independently, not through the ps) and it was basically a bunch of IQ tests that told us what we already knew: Ds was behind his peers and his troubles/deficiencies in certain areas. The only recommendation this tester had was to repeat kindergarten. :mad: So now, I chose a neuropsychologist, hoping that would give us more definitive results and more ideas of which direction to head for helping ds. Both the providers I mentioned in my first paragraph are neuropsychs. I was told in our first round of testing, through the psych. after Kindergarten, that ds has a low-average IQ. I don't know how accurate that is, but he definitely doesn't seem as "sharp" as my other three. It sounds awful to say that and I don't mean it disparagingly at all. It's just that I wonder how that all plays into the possible dyslexia/expressive language disorder or vice-versa. He's still doing kindergarten math, late kindergarten/early first-grade phonics, and seems to need a LOT of repetition to cement it. Thanks for the link you posted. I will check it out. I am totally overwhelmed. I have three dc with varying learning, attention, psychiatric issues and I'm feeling like I don't have a handle on any of them. Part of it is from coming on this board ;) (in a good way!) and realizing I haven't even scraped the tip of the iceberg in what's available now. Part of it is, feeling like there's SO many therapists/providers/therapies, etc. to choose from (D.O, psychiatrist, neuropsychologist, speech and lang. therap. OT, etc., etc). I'm sure it will come together in time......

I guess now I'm getting worried, that he's 9 and has had no remediation for whatever it is that he's struggling with. The public school said he just needed to repeat a year in Kindergarten, so he could reinforce what he wasn't getting, so we homeschooled him instead. Then we were kind of going from the angle of "late bloomer" which I guess is a theory that's dead now, from what I've read. Just beginning to see that it's not just that he couldn't read, but how it's affected all areas for him. I hope it isn't too late till we get all the evals. done, and everything put in place.....

D.Os that is often posted here? I can't seem to find it......

Just turned 9, I've posted about him before (possible Aspergers or a NVLD... learning delays, etc.). What could this signify? He has a hard time coming up with words he wants to use. Says, "Um..... stuff....." etc. a lot. Uses words oppositely, for example: The other day we walked outside and he said excitedly "Wow! It really cooled down out here!" (It was about 30 degrees... he meant "warmed up"). Uses words incorrectly (earpuffs instead of earmuffs; freezer instead of fridge; washer instead of dryer;, etc). Does this sound like all the same issue, or several issues? He's on a LONG waiting list for a speech/lang. eval. Just kind of wondering what to expect..... I've been reading the book, Children in the Syndrome Mix. I've been mostly focusing on NVLD and semantic-pragmatic language disorders. It seems like ds fits in these categories more than Aspergers. He was delayed in speech as a baby/toddler, desires social situations but doesn't necessarily *know* what to do or perhaps his communication skills keeps him at bay. What inexpensive things could I use until all the evaluations are done? I hesitate to spend much money on something until I really know what's going on. We use the Rush Hour game, Blink game, Explode the Code (which he loves for some reason), Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (which he really likes), and Singapore Math (though he's only on EarlyBird). Should I correct him (gently of course) when he mixes up words? I usually let him figure out what word(s) he wants to use when he's speaking hesitantly, but there is a point I realize he needs help and I supply the word for him. I do correct his letter/number reversals but I don't make a big deal about it. I feel stuck in Never-Never Land waiting on all these evaluations. I am not an expert and while I can guess at what's going on with ds, I feel like buying new programs/therapies now might not be the best route since I don't know exactly what's going on. But if there's anything else I can simply implement at home, besides what we already use, I'd be glad to try.

I am only speaking from my *own* personal experience... When I was 3, I started wearing glasses for my right eye, which turned in completely to my nose. I wore them till I was 10, at which time my eye was corrected. I remember the Dr. talking with my mother about surgery, but the doctor waited it out till I was ten and I'm glad! I've never had any problems with it since then, either. HTH!

I had *no* idea the boards were switching and would have wondered what was going on! Thanks! :)