ITBS Fail

[MegP]

FTI-skipping little words when reading orally is a huge red flag for dyslexia.

[MegP]

Yes! Forgot about vision issues. I would bring him to a developmental optometrist and get his vision tested. After vision therapy, he will likely make huge strides in his reading.

[freesia]

FTI-skipping little words when reading orally is a huge red flag for dyslexia.

:iagree:

It's not just the reading,it's the combination of things that have jumped out at many of us. Particularly combined with doing so poorly on the ITBS (filling out small bubbles on a paper separate from the questions is a huge visual perceptual task.) Dyslexia runs heavily in my family and my first 3 all have bits of it. They are all strong readers (though poor spellers.) For them it comes out more as dysgraphia. My boys, in particular, have/had great difficulty with written work.

 

Here's an article on stealth dyslexia for you to consider:

http://dyslexicadvantage.com/forum/topics/stealth-dyslexia-writing

 

We are just putting that out there for you to consider--a possible solution to the puzzle you have presented.

[GoVanGogh]

Or vision problems. My daughter did that a lot and had to have vision therapy.

:iagree: Only my DS had to have eye surgery to correct an alignment issue.

 

(filling out small bubbles on a paper separate from the questions is a huge visual perceptual task.)

I don't know if it was because of my son's previous vision issues or 'just a boy thing,' but my son struggled with the concept of filling in bubbles on a separate piece of paper. He wasn't coordinated/together enough for that task until he was ten.

 

OP, It really could be so many things. Do you have any deep gut feelings about why he tested this way? If so, go with that. I think our intuition is normally correct.

[pageta]

Yes, I agree. It is a possible solution. But it could also be explained by other simple factors, such as his age and the fact that he is at the stage where he is building fluency and hasn't mastered that part of reading yet.

 

I got Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz, M.D. from the library last night and stayed up late scanning through it, and I have read the articles linked in this thread. There are a few things that match things I am observing in him, but I would say he has less than a third of the symptoms I've seen discussed, both in the book and in the articles I've read online (linked here and that I've Googled). And things that are emphasized as fundamental to dyslexia - like poor phonics skills and being a bad speller - do not describe him at all.

 

I think he needs to learn test taking skills. I will get a book and practice with him as one of our subjects covered in school.

 

I think he needs to practice reading aloud in order to work on developing fluency. I will have him read aloud five days a week, even on days we are not doing school, rather than just limiting this practice to school days (we school year-round so not every day of the week).

 

I think an experienced teacher (who has heard hundreds of third graders read aloud) needs to hear him read aloud and tell me if his reading skills are appropriate for his age. I am working on arranging this.

 

I think that he needs to be given the test in smaller pieces and with more breaks. I got certification from BJU yesterday to administer the test and plan to give it to him myself this fall (they have it on sale in November and December). I will give it to him one section per day, allowing him to choose which section he wants to do that day (just as I let him choose which of our weekly readings we will do when it is time to do a reading in our school routine, which always results in a better narration and a better attitude in general toward school).

 

Then once I get his ITBS results back in December, I will make a decision as to whether further testing for dyslexia is merited. I will read Overcoming Dyslexia in the mean time (I am finding a lot of wonderful information on the process of learning to read that I have long searched for) so that I am better informed as to how to teach reading and evaluate for problems.

 

But I think it is prudent to try the simple solutions first before I go and get extensive testing done and give him a label of "handicapped" that he will have for the rest of his life.

[WIS0320]

This part really stuck out in your last post.

I have given the ITBS at home twice now to a young boy.

Wow. Four hours is a long time! When I give the test, I break it up over a full week and we only do 1-2 test sections a day and never back-to-back w/o a break.

 

 

My 6 year old daughter was administered the Level 7 test this year and it was given over 4 days. She would do a 20-30 minute test in the morning and then another in the afternoon, as is indicated in the directions for giving the test. It took 4 days. We did no other schooling at all during those four days.

 

4 hours in a row is not how the ITBS should be administered. I would retest at home with a CAT and follow the directions to the letter.

[FairProspects]

FTI-skipping little words when reading orally is a huge red flag for dyslexia.

 

:iagree:

 

Yes, I agree. It is a possible solution. But it could also be explained by other simple factors, such as his age and the fact that he is at the stage where he is building fluency and hasn't mastered that part of reading yet.

 

I got Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz, M.D. from the library last night and stayed up late scanning through it, and I have read the articles linked in this thread. There are a few things that match things I am observing in him, but I would say he has less than a third of the symptoms I've seen discussed, both in the book and in the articles I've read online (linked here and that I've Googled). And things that are emphasized as fundamental to dyslexia - like poor phonics skills and being a bad speller - do not describe him at all.

 

Dyslexia is a very complicated neurological processing issue. The above definition is an oversimplified explanation of dyslexia. Some dyslexics especially those who are 2E and are compensating have fantastic phonological awareness (including my ds). He can decode nearly anything in isolation. Our only clues that he was dyslexic were lack of reading fluency (no "click") and skipping small words. He also reads with great emotion & correct punctuation. He is in fact quite dyslexic and needs testing accommodations.

 

BTW, acknowledging what is going on and learning how to teach to his strengths is far from "handicapping" him, if anything it is doing the opposite in teaching him how to work with his brain processing instead of against it to grasp more complex concepts. Check out "Dyslexic Advantage". The whole conversation of what it means to be dyslexic is changing.

Edited June 14, 2012 by FairProspects

[WIS0320]

uffey Reader just fine. Sometimes he pauses, mostly at the end of a line, and sometimes he misses words. But he reads with expression. Occasionally he skips words, but usually they are small words like on or of immediately before an unfamiliar word - I think he misses them because he is focused on the unfamiliar words. But he can read a story from the 3rd McGuffey Reader aloud, sight-reading the first time through, and narrate it perfectly.

 

 

This is actually a red flag for dyslexia. I know this because we've just been through testing with my daughter. Other clues are late talking, late recognition of rhyming. During reading does he ever have trouble reading through to the end of words with suffixes? My daughter is reading slightly above grade level just because we've focused a lot on parts to whole phonics instruction. Just because your son can read doesn't mean he isn't having processing issues.

 

All the oral work, including math and the inability to remember how to punctuate sentences would be of concern to me if I were in your shoes. He may be a very bright kid and you may have found great ways to accommodate him but that doesn't mean there couldn't be an underlying issue that needs to be addressed. If nothing else, you wanted him to test so you could get information and now you've got it. Maybe he was genuinely overwhelmed with that much reading and writing in a timed test setting. Those tests and the bubbles can be visually overwhelming for a child who has processing issues. He could have gotten frustrated and checked out after a section or two because he couldn't process fast enough as it was required for the test.

 

 

ETA: Sorry, I should have read through to the end of the thread before replying!

Edited June 14, 2012 by drexel

[WIS0320]

 

I think before I do any testing for dyslexia (from what I read, the testing is quite extensive), I need to have a teacher who has heard many a third grader read listen to ds read and tell me if he is behind for his age or if his reading skills would be perfectly acceptable for a child his age.

 

Personally, that would be a subjective assessment and not as thorough or objective as testing with a child psych. A WISC-IV would probably be the starting place for him and if processing issues are noted then the psych will probably encourage further testing.

 

I also want to add that my best friend is a public school first grade teacher and I had her assess my daughter 3 times this past year with literacy evaluation materials (PALS) and she never mentioned dyslexia because she isn't trained to spot dyslexia and processing issues in very young children learning to read. Unfortunately most teachers are not flagged that there is a problem unless it is a pronounced and severe form of dyslexia that is easy to note early on. Very bright kids can self-accommodate and fly under the radar for years before slowly starting to slide and not being able to keep up with the increasing demands of academic school work.

Edited June 14, 2012 by drexel

[EKS]

I want to comment on this since so many people are seconding this.

 

He reads from the 3rd McGuffey Reader just fine. Sometimes he pauses, mostly at the end of a line, and sometimes he misses words. But he reads with expression. Occasionally he skips words, but usually they are small words like on or of immediately before an unfamiliar word - I think he misses them because he is focused on the unfamiliar words. But he can read a story from the 3rd McGuffey Reader aloud, sight-reading the first time through, and narrate it perfectly.

 

It's things like Pilgrim's Progress and Howard Pyle's Robin Hood that I read aloud to him because he says he it's harder to read them himself and then be able to narrate. Ambleside selections are on a higher grade level. They aren't children's versions of Charles Dickens or things like that. I hardly think that an 8-year-old third grader should be labeled dyslexic because he can't read this sort of selection on his own.

 

Other selections are easier and such that he could easily handle except that he gets overwhelmed by the length. Yes, that could be a sign of dyslexia, but it could also mean that he is reading these selections at a very young age and simply hasn't had the practice to have the confidence that he can read those selections fluently on his own. Just because you have a 2-year-old that can walk doesn't mean you take them on a 5-mile hike and expect them to walk the whole thing themselves.

 

That is also why I'm pondering holding him back - I think with an added year of maturity and experience, these same things would be much easier for him. His birthday is 5 days from the cut-off so he is at the young end of the range for his grade. If he were one of the oldest kids in his class rather than the youngest, things would be much easier for him simply because he's had time to develop rather than being pushed into things.

 

He started crawling at 7 months so we thought we'd have an early walker, but then he didn't walk until 18 months. When I started school with him and placed him in first grade, he loved books and had a great enthusiasm for learning. He did very well with phonics (which I think is why he is such a good speller), but now he seems to have stalled out like he did with crawling.

 

I've heard of many kids for whom reading doesn't "click" until they are 8 or 9. I was very good at phonics when I was in kindergarten, but I didn't really take an interest in reading until third grade (age 8) when it finally clicked for me and I learned to enjoy reading for the love of reading. I think it simply hasn't "clicked" for him yet and additional time would take the pressure off.

 

He is very good at spelling. He is also very good at phonics. In fact, now that we do Latin he goes around sounding out words with Latin pronunciation rules just for fun. The area where he is stalling out is building fluency and endurance for longer passages. We are working on that by doing selections from the McGuffey reader.

 

I think before I do any testing for dyslexia (from what I read, the testing is quite extensive), I need to have a teacher who has heard many a third grader read listen to ds read and tell me if he is behind for his age or if his reading skills would be perfectly acceptable for a child his age.

 

To be clear--I'm suggesting that your son might be *gifted* with dyslexia or another LD, which can present differently than what you might expect. Google "stealth dyslexia." If he is indeed gifted (I'm thinking this might be the case from your mention of you and your husband scoring at the 98th or 99th percentiles on standardized tests as children, and I'm assuming that your son is your biological child), the goal isn't reading as an average 3rd grader might at age 9; he should be reading several years ahead, and if he's not, it's another red flag for an LD.

 

If you don't want to get him assessed right away (keep in mind that it can take several months to even get an appointment), I'd read about dyslexia and 2E issues and see what you think as you continue to teach him. Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz is a great book as is The Dyslexic Advantage by Brock and Fernette Eide. The Eides also have a lot of information online.

[deacongirl]

To be clear--I'm suggesting that your son might be *gifted* with dyslexia or another LD, which can present differently than what you might expect. Google "stealth dyslexia." If he is indeed gifted (I'm thinking this might be the case from your mention of you and your husband scoring at the 98th or 99th percentiles on standardized tests as children, and I'm assuming that your son is your biological child), the goal isn't reading as an average 3rd grader might at age 9; he should be reading several years ahead, and if he's not, it's another red flag for an LD.

 

If you don't want to get him assessed right away (keep in mind that it can take several months to even get an appointment), I'd read about dyslexia and 2E issues and see what you think as you continue to teach him. Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz is a great book as is The Dyslexic Advantage by Brock and Fernette Eide. The Eides also have a lot of information online.

 

Very well said, again this is what I was thinking too.