Thank you so much for your help. And all the people you help on this forum!! Now I'm moving on to googling all the new things Im trying figure out haha. Hope your son is doing well and life is going smooth for you!;)

Hey! Just wanted to send an update in case there is a parent traveling down my road. So I found an amazing neuropsych in Portland, you can PM me if you want more details. She tested for 3 days and then after two weeks, we met back with her and she spent around 4 hours with us going over the results and basically training us on what we can do to help my daughter. The diagnosis we got was ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyscalcula, and a language disorder! Along with slower working memory and processing, but she did not label those as a disorder. The language disorder threw me, but after she showed me all of the results, it fits perfectly. Wow. She said her IQ is actually in the above section of the average, but she just processes slower and anything with symbols really confuses her brain. So now we're moving on to the next phase of intervention and trying to decide if little north idaho is the best, or moving closer to kids like her is the best for her. The test was $4,000, which I raised through asking for help, which was hard, but I'm so thankful to have these detailed reports. It really makes me feel better, even though I know we have so much work ahead of us. I was so pleased to have a doctor that really took the time to figure her out and test her is several different ways instead of just counting up the numbers. Thank you all for your advice and help along the way!! Cheers to you and best of luck as the school year ends!

Thank you!! I will for sure!

Hey guys, long time no chat. So I found out the IEE was going to be really hard since we decided to homeschool. I could have enrolled her in virtual academy and then pursued a re-examination of the IEP (a new IEP through the virtual academy) then from there gone on to the IEE. So this would mean a sit down with the school, etc etc. In the meantime, I found another great doctor that has agreed to see us sooner than waiting to get to Seattle Children's. This Neuropsych also takes three days to test versus the only one day...she likes to get a complete picture. Then she helps us come up with a plan for therapies, interventions, etc. I spent forever on the phone with her and I'm super excited about it. We are bothering family to help us pay for it and will put the rest on a credit card :/. Seems so unfair that people have to pay sooooo much for testing when it could seriously alter the path the child goes down. I am fortunate to have friends and family that will help us get there, since I quit my job to homeschool and take this on. I'll be selling a bunch of stuff too! I just don't have the energy to do all of that in order to get the testing done....she wouldn't do great in virtual academy either. Thank you for your input and support! I'll report back on what we find out for those that are interested or took some guesses with me. I also would say that if your kid is still in public school, and you are still not happy with the results, the IEE does seem like a definate way to go. Keep fighting the good fight!!!

Yes, very good advice. She made it sound like they would only do the one specific test they did and not address the other problems, even though it SHOULD take further tests, like the WISC for sure. I think that is what you meant. So I'll clarify with the state education representative.. The state of Idaho is shut down because of snow so they are not in office yesterday or today, but I left vm both days. So I'll try again Monday because I need to know much more about this before I write it off. I guess I just want to do all of the tests because I want to make sure there is not a bigger problem here that I didn't find because I didn't do all of the testing.... But now that I've got a little more of an idea what her processing is like, I have a list of specific tests that i think she needs and maybe I should start with those specific tests if I can't get into a neuropsych for quite a while. I also have some interventions I can really focus on- the visual/auditory/ working memory stuff I can work on at home and see if it helps. I have a referral for OT, I'm thinking of starting that too.... thank you... I also have formally requested her chart from the school so I can make sure I have it all here. Thanks, Elizabeth!!

It's almost like calling Verizon- if you just keep calling back you may get an answer you like. ;) Ya, I have left a message for our school district's director of special education, regarding policy, because I could not find the specifics in the policy I read online. We'll see- I'm still glad that I at least tried for it. I always felt like there should have been more closure with it all, so this could be it. If I was not homeschooling, it may have worked, but I'm not going to start the Virtual Academy for sure. And just like Elizabeth said, they most likely don't give a crap about the working memory stuff, so moving forward with the school's idea of testing what is important is fruitless. It's infuriating that so many kids (from what I have read) are struggling with these "nonspecific learning disabilities" and the school doesn't take it a step further??? That's like saying 'oh you have a cough, here take these pills that we don't know if you need or will work but at lease we gave you something'. If I didn't have my own troubles here I would be trying to make some changes...it's so wrong. And I'm sure there are AMAZING school districts that get it!!! And Special Education Teachers that are really making a difference. Thanks, Storygirl!

Thanks for the resources. I spoke with a school district employee today and a parent advocate for special needs kids in Idaho. I found out since we are not enrolled in the school, we don't have access to re-testing for an IEP in Idaho, unless she was enrolled in virtual learning. Then the parent advocate told me with the IEE, they only re-do the same tests that we don't think were done efficiently through the school district. They do not do any other testing....I'm not so sure about that one though because that is not what I have read. Anyways, I have one more call out to a lady to confirm what I learned today- as I have found some people think they know things and then they really don't haha. I've also been looking for someone that specializes in the area of working memory and the visual/auditory processing. I'm interested in the therapies, but Im also very interested in figuring out why there is a deficit here. I called two other pediatric neuropsychs today and I found this psychologist that deals specifically with kids with working memory issues. I would maybe want to hear more from her after the testing. I have contacted her already though. ;) The About section on her page describes my daughter to a T, it made me cry actually: http://tracyalloway.com/about/ Our Christmas break is over this week so Ill be back to homeschooling and researching in the evenings:) I'm bummed the IEE most likley won't work, but I'm also relieved. I have learned that there are definitely reasons to pursue an IEE and I hope there are parents out there, who have kids in school and still feel like they are not doing enough, that will read all of our dialogue and gain something from it. I'm going to look into some more of it before I completely give up on the IEE. I'll report back if those things I read above are actually true, for future readers of this amazing book we all created here. :) Thank you for helping me in my journey!! I'm writing down all of the resources you are giving me!!! Happy New Year!

I'll check it out for sure! Thank you!

I've been really working on this, along with reading entire manuals and state laws. I had to print this off and draw it out in order to really figure out what you were saying, geodob. But after I did some more research I realized, my dau fits right into the category of kid who lacks visual-spacial working memory and auditory working memory. She doesn't really fit the mold for visual processing but could still have it- for example, we asked her when i say B, what she pictures in her mind and she says she sees nothing. Same with stories- she says she has to tell her mind to imagine. And if I have her memorize a set of steps, with pictures, she does not memorize the pictures, she memorizes the words, but she does not visualize any of it..... I'm still sorting through it but it gives me an idea of what I specifically want to make sure is tested. THANK YOU!! I've read the entire Id special ed manual, and Idea laws that relate to me. In Idaho it is up to the district when it comes to how homeschool kids can continue to receive IEP support so I'm waiting for a call back. I also learned all about IEPs and have definitely found some discrepancies in the IEP and it fires me up again, but I know they deal with so many kids and have learned to generalize most of them to save money. So I'm calm again haha. Thanks again, everyone! I should have more answers by the end of the week and be on my way or back to the drawing board. Your posts were very helpful!!!!! I

No, I really enjoy hearing other people's stories!!! It's nice to know I'm not the only one battling through all of this. My family has the flu so I'm home-bound, care-taking, changing movies out, and researching all of this. I have a huge list of websites and tests etc to sort through, thanks to all of your time. I SO APPRECIATE YOU! I'll let you know what happens. I do hope that someone else will benefit from this basic chapter book we have created here haha. Thanks, Elizabeth!

Thanks!!

Thanks for explaining that a bit more for me and providing the links! I totally know you guys believe me but now I wonder if I've made her sound worse than she is haha. I was explaining her behaviors and symptoms to just see if anyone had ideas, and I am so overwhelmed by the suggestions, in a good way. I'm sorting through this and printing everything you guys say! Her sequencing is not terrible, she just begins a task and if her heart is not set on it or i have not prompt her enogh, she will end up doing an art project, so it takes a lot of prompting and setting up tasks, typical for executive functioning kids I'm guessing. I will look into the other ideas you had for sure. I have read the Dyslexic Advantage and loved it- I just let my mom borrow it and then im going to read it again. That is the thing, my dau is SO talented at some things, I just want to unlock her brain and figure out how to play to those strengths more and make sure we are doing everything we can. Her tests at the school were done 12/15/15 and her IEP was 2/10/16 I totally agree with more recent testing completed, she has not had a formal testing through her ed. We have also been limited on how much $ we can spend as I have quit my job to pursue this and homeschooling, so I have been careful to research the testing and I believed the WISC would be the next test we did. So I think putting money into a couple of those tests you mentioned, to have something to measure off of that, would be huge and would help me decide if this is worth the effort. Thanks again Elizabeth!! I hope you are not getting bronchitis! It's nasty this time of year for sure!! Bless you!

Good to know. No I have not had her eyes checked with a developmental optomostrist, but a pediatric opt. We have not had any processing testing done besides what the school has done, that is why we are looking for a neuropsych. Thanks for the tips on the 504!

Yes! Thank you for the feedback. I tried to quote you guys and lost everything i just wrote... ugh. Can you guys just come to my house for coffee and I will buy you gifts? :) Thank you for taking the time for this! So we have not done any other testing than what the school did (1 year ago on both) and we had the test completed for the dyslexia but I can't remember the name of the test offhand- I was like - duh- ya she has it but let's move on. Thank you, Geodob and Misty Mountain for the input as well. The auditory/visual working memory etc are things I am going to look into further. And Elizabeth, I am going to look into the complaint system for sure. I've been reading up on my state laws and resources, Idaho is kind of lame as far as not much support or orgs but I'm sorting through it! As far as her WJ-III C results: It lists SS then Percentile, so Word Identification SS-88, then Percentile 11. Under the category "Long Term Memory" and "Cluster Long Term Retrieval", she was in the 2 percentile, but in the category "Cluster auditory Processing she was in the 95 percentile. the other very low percintile was Perceptual Speed- visual matching 2% and Perceptual Speed Composite is 5%. I'm just going to do some research on how to read this again and look through all the notes I kept from our meeting (no kids with me this Friday so I'm going to figure this out, as well as all of the terms you guys posted because some of them were new to me). I just feel frustrated because these scores don't seem as bad as she is (which you explained Elizabeth) and also if she scored major low in perceptual speed and cluster long term retrieval, then how come it is never addressed anywhere else in the IEP plan for improving those things? I know I know, they don't care, but obviously that means something else is going on that is keeping her from remembering what she is learning or processing the information correctly.... Or her goal is not to improve those things but to only "be normal in math" through repetition and being in a special ed room with a bunch of other kids that don't have anything similar going on with them, but everyone is doing the same thing?? I don't want to waste any of your time, I know you addressed some of this with me again so here I go venting again...it's a cycle. I totally blew off the autism thing because I am used to seeing much more severe cases of autism and i trusted what the professionals were saying; but she was never formally tested for this and she should be. We do work at home on working memory during homeschool, and some therapy, such as sequencing tasks, visual memory games, holding letters in her mind, and using multisensory tools, but in therapy I feel like they are most focused on her remembering her site words, memorizing the blends, cement sounds, etc.... which I think is helping a bit but The working memory is one of the bigger problems she has though, I think, so maybe we should better spend our money on OT or PT, and further WMemory curriculum. It is interesting though, when she is riding a horse (she takes lessons), she is smooth as butter- not as ridgid and can multitask easily, and remembers all of the sequences while riding. Her horse teacher is amazing and by request, gives her a list of things she should do on the horse and she can do them no problem, but if at home trying to do a sequence, she gets easily lost (which could be environmental totally). Ok, I'm going to print off the most recent stuff you told me, continue to research the laws and by Friday be completely versed on how to interpret and IEP. I'll get back to you on Monday if I can get anything figured out or have further questions. THANK YOU! I promise I will pay it forward!!

Thank you!! Wow that's a lot to process. I'm headed out but wanted to say thank you so much for your time. Some of those things you talked about were so right on- she has not had all of that private testing you mentioned. I'm going to get going on researching more of what you said and get back to you. Thanks, OhElizabeth and everyone!