If I describe my dd, can you help?

[walkermamaof4]

She's the same one who had an 18 point testing gain on the Woodcock Johnson after plowing through CLE LA 4-6 this year, putting her at grade level in the grammar area of the test. And after doing 2 math curriculums every year since 3rd grade, her math scores are now great. Yet, as I help her with math it is still quite evident that her real area of struggle is with language. She doesn't understand word problems. She can't decipher what is being asked. She has the mechanics of math down. So in her testing, in the test area of general knowledge, she scores many levels below her grade. The test administrator said that as she watched dd answer, she really felt that the issue is knowledge retrieval. All of the questions asked were things I was shocked she didn't know and felt confident she really did know. One of them was, "Which organ pumps blood." She said she didn't know?!?!?!?! Mind you, we literally are doing Anatomy right now and that very day we had this near life-size picture of the body on our living room floor with the heart, kidneys, and skeleton on it and little blood cells as game pieces that move around and carry food and waste and oxygen and carbon dioxide (from Ellen McHenry.) We had just read that week about circulation. Never mind the other times she has heard about it or the magic school bus movies - lol! So the administrator decided to give her another subtest. On that one, she showed her a picture of a funnel. DD looked into the kitchen, looked at her, and said she couldn't remember the name. Then she showed her a safety pin and dd called it a paper clip. This went on and on with her either answering that she didn't know or giving a wrong answer for many of them.

 

(If it helps to know this, ds is 3 years younger and scores above grade level in all areas of the test, and he is schooled with her here. He reads more, to be fair, but still their overall exposure is quite similar. But he also tests as gifted in math too and does word problems easily in his head. I feel fairly confident that this is not an exposure to material problem. She may just need mastery programs in every area or something. I don't know.)

 

Any ideas on what might be wrong and how to help?

 

Thanks!!!

[ocelotmom]

That sounds like something called dysnomia or anomic aphasia (basically the same thing, dysnomia seems to refer to it more in a learning disorder context). I'm sorry - I don't know much beyond that, but that should give you a starting point for searching. Don't let google alarm you, especially if this is how she's always been.

[wapiti]

Is she weaker in vocabulary generally? It could be something as simple as a language processing glitch involving auditory comprehension or it could be a full-blown LD such as dyslexia or it could be a combination of issues. There are quite a number of possibilities and it's difficult, over the internet, to guess without further test results. Possible testing avenues would include language tests that an SLP can do or a full neuropsych eval (of which the WJ achievement test would be a portion already completed).

 

Does she react negatively under test pressure or in situations with strangers? With language weaknesses, I might expect a visual-spatial learning style.

 

Also, with a gifted sibling, if you should go down the road of neuropsych testing, I'd look for one experienced with twice-exceptional (2e) kids.

 

Other than testing, at home you could focus on her weaker areas (for example, if she's weak in vocabulary, making inferences, etc., there are workbooks available).

 

Eta, you might also post on the Learning Challenges board, as some posters there might have more ideas for you.

[ondreeuh]

My son has similar problems with word retrieval - especially when on the spot. I am very sure that if you casually asked your dd to tell you about circulation, she would tell you that the heart pumps blood. :) I don't know of any way to "fix" it, but I don't give verbal tests. When possible, I provide a word bank.