Hearing Impaired and Possibly Dyslexic (UPDATE IN COMMENTS)

[imagine.more]

I'm in quite the pickle. I'm homeschooling my younger kiddos but we just got our foster-adopt placement of our lovely 11 year old daughter this September. She's hearing impaired, wears hearing aids, and between the aids and reading lips she does very well at communicating and understanding in everyday life. She turns 12 next week and was held back one grade because of poor attendance so she ought to be in 6th grade.

 

However, her academics are a mess! The schools are giving her A's and B's but she's reading at a 1st grade level :-/  She studies spelling words and vocab words diligently every week and maybe masters 1 by the end of the week, then forgets it within another week. She has made zero progress in the last 2 years since being in foster care. In all that time she was in a healthy, stable, loving foster home with a 'grandma' type and then since September with us. Before that her life was obviously unstable and we suspect her hearing impairment was not properly diagnosed or treated for most of her younger years. There are some definite language gaps though they're not apparent at first. 

 

We insisted on a full educational/psychological evaluation done at her last IEP and they've been dragging their feet on it but the deadline is Jan 3rd so they have to do it before the Christmas break. We're hoping to see a basic IQ level and look for any other underlying issues such as dyslexia, which we STRONGLY suspect now. She still reverses letters in reading and writing, can't tell time, reverses numbers, mixes up terms like 'yesterday' and 'tomorrow', etc. She also makes decent progress in math, she's working on 5th grade work with lots of support and doing alright. So based on that and her 'normalcy' when talking with her and interacting in daily life we're sure her IQ can't be that far below normal, certainly not enough to account for zero reading progress in the last 6 years. 

 

I'm constantly fighting with her school trying to get them to give her the help she needs. They seem unconcerned that she's reading at a 1st grade level with little-to-no-progress and keep doing the same interventions her last school tried. It's all Read180 and System44 in their school. At best they said they could try SRA Phonics in a small group like 30 minutes a day. They do not have reading specialists in our district, which baffles and infuriates me. 

 

We're working on getting permission to homeschool Daisy and it's looking promising but no guarantees yet. 

 

Here's my dilemma. Do I keep fighting the school system to get her a fair and appropriate public education? Do I look into the local Catholic schools again which though smaller do have reading specialists and are generally more friendly to parents? Or do I simply pull her out and homeschool her, praying I can meet her needs through programs like Phono-graphix and All About Reading (which I see claims to be an Orton-Gillingham approach)? 

 

We made a big mistake in choosing the public school route for her. We had permission to put her in a private school, but it seemed as if the public school had more special ed resources for her and it was free and our neighbor liked it so we figured it'd be the best choice for this year. Now we are regretting it, which I don't often do, and hating that we have to move her school situation yet again. I want to make the right choice this time so we can give her the consistency she needs in education. I don't want to get in over my head with homeschooling her only to change yet again and put her in the Catholic school. But I don't want to put her in the Catholic school only to change yet again and homeschool her later. 

 

Ugh :( I'm a mess, I've been calling every expert in the area to seek help on this. I keep hitting brick walls and the few promising interventions look expensive. And I'm mad. Furious in fact, that the school is refusing to provide her an appropriate education that includes BEING TAUGHT TO READ!  How dare they deny my child the right to literacy by refusing to drop the ineffective instruction and bring in a method that has been shown to work for deaf and/or dyslexic children. They say they have no special programs if she is dyslexic that all she needs is more intensive phonics. 

 

Help :(  I'm new to all this and totally overwhelmed and just sad over the whole thing. 

[Heathermomster]

How long will this child be with you?  Is she going to be pulled any time soon?  In my view, your options rely heavily on where she will be living one to three years from now, and I don't understand this foster-adopt business.

 

 

[LaughingCat]

Just having reading specialists is no guarantee the Catholic schools would be better.  

 

Given your DD's hearing issues, I would look pretty seriously at the LIPS program.    You could do it as an afterschool program until you got permission to homeschool.    

 

For left/right issues, you could also do some of the VT type exercises at home.  An arrow chart like the one on the bottom of this page  or p/d/q/b work like on this page

 

[Plink]

Seconding the recommendation of LiPS.  It is fantastic for teaching hearing impaired students how to recognize sounds.  

 

Think about it - When you lip read /b/ and /p/ look the same.  Same for /d/ and /t/.  The list goes on.

There is a lot more to reading & spelling than most of us realize.  

[Lecka]

Could you go to the school to work with her, or pick her up early? If she is doing well socially -- I don't think it is necessary to pull her to do reading intervention with her.

 

After school is hard -- kids are tired, and maybe not at their most cooperative.

 

Where I live, it is common for kids to arrive at school one hour late or leave one hour early for therapy appts.

 

The teacher may have a preferred time for the student to miss class.

 

My son's teacher was overjoyed for me to work with him, especially when he made more progress than kids in the (not enough time, not enough one-on-one) school reading pull-out.

 

But I know a lot of schools would not allow this.

 

I hope you can find out a best course of action, I don't know.

 

Just saying there may be a middle ground to consider.

 

Another drawback is that the program you do at home and what she does at school may confuse her by not being coordinated.

 

I would not assume a public or private school would be more or less likely to let her miss school. It is very individual.

 

Right now I take my son out 1 hr 45 minutes early on Tuesdays and there is no problem.

 

My younger son will have more needs and I have been told that it will be no longer to schedule therapy blocks during his school day as long as we schedule around times that they think are priority times for him to be there. They also allow therapists to go into the school building and work with kids in a private area, and to observe, but the building principal must give permission.

 

Edit: it might even be possible to ask the aide to work with her.

 

I want my younger son in a certain reading program and not in a certain other, and it looks like we will be able to get that written into his IEP. (But that is not usual -- he has autism and will be worked with one-on-one anyway, and the program he is doing now is owned by his school and sometimes used. I do not want him doing a sight word program I am told is often used.). It would never have been possible to do that with my older son, I don't think.

 

Edit: that said -- I am just mentioning it.

[imagine.more]

How long will this child be with you?  Is she going to be pulled any time soon?  In my view, your options rely heavily on where she will be living one to three years from now, and I don't understand this foster-adopt business.

 

 

Foster-adopt means we will be adopting her. She is a pre-adoptive placement, we're just waiting for the 6-9 month waiting period to be able to officially adopt her. So we're making plans with permanency in mind just like any other adoptive child.

 

Lecka, I have considered going in to work with her but I have three small children at home too so I'd have to find a babysitter just to do that. And again I'm not sure what I would do with her, kwim? Like, which program, would I have to purchase it myself, etc. And if that's the case then I'd rather just straight homeschool and not worry about the silly school schedule and requirements there. 

 

I have seen the Lips program and it does look great, in fact a special education teacher-friend of mine recommended it too. But it seems to require training to do it? And it looks super expensive if I'm looking in the right places. I can't remember where I found it but it looked like it was several hundred dollars just for the program to do it myself at home with her. 

[Harriet Vane]

If she is in foster care, push-push-push for the state to fund a full assessment with a specialist outside of the school. Once you have detailed medical information on her condition, you can use that information to insist on a more appropriate IEP as well as other, state-provided services.

 

You will have to push and be the squeaky wheel on this. It's well worth doing so, though, especially if you hope to adopt as you will need to write those funds and services into the adoption contract.

[imagine.more]

If she is in foster care, push-push-push for the state to fund a full assessment with a specialist outside of the school. Once you have detailed medical information on her condition, you can use that information to insist on a more appropriate IEP as well as other, state-provided services.

 

You will have to push and be the squeaky wheel on this. It's well worth doing so, though, especially if you hope to adopt as you will need to write those funds and services into the adoption contract.

 

Thanks! I just left a message with a psychologist to do a full assessment on her today actually so I'm glad to know that's a good step :) 

 

What is an adoption contract? 

[Heathermomster]

Some public school systems only test enough to determine IEP accommodations and nothing else. Maybe speak with the school and determine what you get with their evaluation.

 

Private schools that don't accept federal tax dollars, do not follow Wright's Law. My DS attended a private school from Pre-k through 6th grade. I brought him home second-semester 5th grade and taught him to type. He wanted to return to the classroom for 6th grade, so we allowed that. Ultimately, DS came home for 7th grade as he wasn't learning at school. He grew to hate science and school in general. He studied like crazy while at home. In fact, studying was all he ever did, and he left school exhausted and with an overall GPA of 92%. ETA: The school in question retained three Wilson tutors. DS was in Wilson from 2nd to 6th grades and completed books 1-10.

 

Even with a full, private NP report that the school requested we acquire, they were irritating about the most basic of accommodations. I'm not saying that would happen to your family, but when you speak with private schools, don't be surprised if they lack the skill set or basic understanding of accommodations to assist your DD. Having a reading specialist on staff does not automatically mean that their in-class teaching peers have a clue about accommodations.

 

Gird your loins about costs and remediation because the costs are horrible.

 

Yes, Lips is expensive but can be purchased used. OhElizabeth has done this recently and will hopefully chime in and tell you about it. Here's a thread that she started. Barton may also be purchased used. Some Moms opt to attend a week long basic O-G course and then teach their children using Wilson or other materials. I realize that AAR calls itself O-G based but that's not the same as Barton or Wilson. Pacing is much slower with dyslexic specific reading programs and that is what you will need.

 

With your DD's hearing impairments, I'm surprised that she isn't receiving specific helps to address those issues. I wonder if you have to place a request for hearing and speech helps in writing? My eldest sibling was blind and attended a regional public school for the blind and hearing impaired. Again, each public school system is different.

 

Maybe read the books Overcoming Dyslexia by Shaywitz and the Dyslexic Advantage by the Eides. Another book commonly recommended is The Mislabeled Child.

 

Definitely, get the public school to test. I would also suggest you start setting money aside for private NP testing, perhaps for late summer. If you have a dyslexia school nearby, maybe call them and speak with the director. My local school has been extremely helpful and provided a ton of useful feedback.

 

Good luck!

[LaughingCat]

IMO you can do LIPS just by buying the manual ($130+s&h).  It comes with a dvd with short segments showing how it works.  If you read the other thread Heathermomster linked there's a lot of discussion of both Lips and Barton.  Also another thread OhE started has some too but I havent' found that one yet. (eta: here it is - the Lips conversation is mixed in with discussion of many other kinesthetic teaching methods)

[Heathermomster]

The following link may be relevant: http://www.pavcsk12.org/academics/special-education/

[imagine.more]

LaughingCat, that's good to know that I could maybe get by with just the manual for the Lips Program. 

 

Now, Daisy did pass (barely) the Barton pre-test thing that it says is the requirement for starting Barton or another Orton-Gillingham program. So she may not need a ton of work with Lips though my gut says that because of the hearing impairment she does need some at least.

 

I started Reading Reflex: Phono-Graphix with her 2 weeks ago and am doing it 4 times a week for 20-30 minutes after school. It's a stretch to make her do that much work on top of school (9:00am-3:30am) and homework (1 hour typically) but luckily it's fairly fun and she's a good natured kid. 

 

So I'm trying to think through what my steps would be IF I end up homeschooling her. Bear with me, just thinking out loud here and trying to process it all..... 

 

So I would of course finish up with Reading Reflex, which I have scheduled to go for about 15 weeks total. That would last us until March. Then would I begin Lips at that point or would it be best to begin Lips in January along with or instead of Reading Reflex? And how long would Lips last until we could begin an Orton-Gillingham reading curriculum? I'm also torn on which OG curriculum to even consider. 

 

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

I also suggest LiPS.  My mother used LiPS with my son and did not have prior training in this system.  She trained herself, then used it with my son.  Although the cost for a new system ($450-500?) might seem high, if you were to go through a professional trained in this system and have to pay for private tutoring you could be looking at thousands.  In the grand scheme of things, if this system were to help her and you could avoid private tutoring costs, I think it would be worth it if you can find a way to afford it.  Unfortunately, there are a LOT of public and private school systems that do not have teachers or assessors that are well trained to help with multiple learning needs.  If they don't seem to be helping, you very well may need to work with her yourself.  There are a lot of ways to do that.  

 

We are using Barton now, after going through LiPS up to where we could switch to Barton, but I have no idea how you would use Barton with a hearing impaired child since I have not had to do that.  Barton is definitely helping both kids with reading issues, though, and Susan Barton herself is usually quite willing to talk with people about whether her system would be a good fit if you decide to consider that route later on.  

 

First and foremost, though, I agree that you need a formal assessment from a neuro-psychologist and additional help with how to integrate whatever her hearing issues are with whatever strengths and weaknesses the neuro-psych can determine.  Our evaluation through the school was not very helpful (although some have had a great experience going this route) but our private assessment gave us a wealth of information we didn't even know to seek (although others have sometimes had a poor experience with private neuro-psychs and other private assessors).

 

If you are in this for the long-term, she is that behind in reading, the school is not helping much, you have younger ones at home that you cannot leave alone while you work with her at her school, etc. you may very well want to homeschool her, at least for now.  You can work with her when you are both fresh, not exhausted, you can make certain she is mastering skills before moving on, etc.  My kids were both in a brick and mortar school for several years.  They had great teachers, average teachers and poor teachers.  They learned, but honestly, it was an exhausting process and after years of reteaching material after school, both kids were behind in reading and writing, and my daughter was extremely behind in math, even though their grades did not reflect that.  The school just kept passing them on and they just kept getting further behind.  Finally, in the year and a half that they have been home, we are slowly reversing that trend and giving them the basic learning tools they should have had to begin with.  They just needed a different  approach and a slower pace.  I wish with all my heart we had done this sooner.  

 

On the other hand, have you talked to her about homeschooling?  Is she happy at school?  How is her self-esteem?  If she is really against it, that might make this whole process a lot more of a challenge.  Both of my kids were ready to homeschool.  

[imagine.more]

Onestep, you're right about the cost of Lips vs tutoring, that's definitely something to keep in mind. And we do get a foster care stipend for her which could help cover the cost, though preteens are expensive! lol! 

 

We have talked about homeschooling with her and while at first she was kind of confused by the idea she seems open to it, especially lately. She dislikes school but loves her friends. She's super sociable, cheerful, and makes friends easily so the social aspect appeals to her :) But thankfully her BFF lives next door and is one grade above her anyway and her other friends she has their phone numbers already so we can have them over for sleepovers and such. I think as long as I make an effort to a) retain her current friendships and b) cultivate new homeschooling ones so she sees that other kids her age are homeschooled then she should stay positive about homeschooling. She's super easygoing, we really lucked out in getting such a great kid! :)

[LaughingCat]

I would do LIPs either before or with Reading Reflex - the beginning/special part of LIPS is more about the phonemes and telling them apart (using your lip/tongue/breath).    Then you can use that with any program - the rest of Lips, Reading Reflex, Barton etc.  

 

How is she doing with the Reading Reflex?

[geodob]

Perhaps you could consider learning sign language ASL with her?

Their is research into moderate hearing impairment, that shows that sign language assists in learning to read.

Where it provides an alternative way to map phonological coding.

So that instead of the printed word mapping directly to sound.

It can be mapped to sign language as an intermediary.

 

 

 

 

[Lecka]

If she qualifies for private speech, that is how my son did a similar thing to Lips. If they will pay it might be worth looking into

[OneStepAtATime]

If she qualifies for private speech, that is how my son did a similar thing to Lips. If they will pay it might be worth looking into

Sorry to maybe sidetrack a bit,  but how do you qualify?  I have a friend who was asking me and I had no clue...

 

Perhaps you could consider learning sign language ASL with her?

Their is research into moderate hearing impairment, that shows that sign language assists in learning to read.

Where it provides an alternative way to map phonological coding.

So that instead of the printed word mapping directly to sound.

It can be mapped to sign language as an intermediary.

Another positive with ASL is that some colleges will accept ASL as a foreign language credit if learning a high school level foreign language turns out to be difficult for her and she is interested in college...

 

Really am keeping you in my thoughts and prayers, imagine.more, that you will find the path that works best for you and your new daughter.   So glad you are there for her.

[Lecka]

In my case -- my husband is active-duty military, and if we qualify for IEP services, we are likely to have insurance pay for outside therapies that are related.

 

It is just if insurance pays or not.  I had a thought like insurance might cover it since she is foster-adopt.

 

That is qualifying for it to be paid.

 

I was recommended to take my son to a university speech clinic.  They do not accept everyone b/c space, but I called them out of the phone book, and then the receptionist asked me some questions and sent me a questionnaire.

 

He had been in public school speech for 2 years at that point with no progress, for that -- I took him to an open community screening when he was 4, and he qualified for services through the school district.

 

For us -- qualifying for insurance starts with getting a referral from the pediatrician.  Our pediatrician has usually requested that we have an IEP before she will write a referral, but I am not sure what the exact requirements are for this.  The pediatrician or the receptionist at her desk or a certain nurse who actually writes the referrals (the doctor signs them) are helpful to me in understanding what I need to do for insurance, but I have also been in the Tricare referral office.  

 

In general -- I have no idea how it works. 

 

At a speech therapy office, there may be a person who files claims and knows about insurance companies, and what they will cover and whatever, the same as at the dentist office. 

 

I ask a lot of questions all over, it is pretty confusing to me.  I have had times of getting one phone number after another and each person refers me to another person.  Sigh. 

 

My younger son had a very, very complicated process to qualify for his ABA, but at least it is done now.  It is very frustrating. 

 

Sorry that turned into a rant!

[OneStepAtATime]

In my case -- my husband is active-duty military, and if we qualify for IEP services, we are likely to have insurance pay for outside therapies that are related.

 

It is just if insurance pays or not.  I had a thought like insurance might cover it since she is foster-adopt.

 

That is qualifying for it to be paid.

 

I was recommended to take my son to a university speech clinic.  They do not accept everyone b/c space, but I called them out of the phone book, and then the receptionist asked me some questions and sent me a questionnaire.

 

He had been in public school speech for 2 years at that point with no progress, for that -- I took him to an open community screening when he was 4, and he qualified for services through the school district.

 

For us -- qualifying for insurance starts with getting a referral from the pediatrician.  Our pediatrician has usually requested that we have an IEP before she will write a referral, but I am not sure what the exact requirements are for this.  The pediatrician or the receptionist at her desk or a certain nurse who actually writes the referrals (the doctor signs them) are helpful to me in understanding what I need to do for insurance, but I have also been in the Tricare referral office.  

 

In general -- I have no idea how it works. 

 

At a speech therapy office, there may be a person who files claims and knows about insurance companies, and what they will cover and whatever, the same as at the dentist office. 

 

I ask a lot of questions all over, it is pretty confusing to me.  I have had times of getting one phone number after another and each person refers me to another person.  Sigh. 

 

My younger son had a very, very complicated process to qualify for his ABA, but at least it is done now.  It is very frustrating. 

 

Sorry that turned into a rant!

Understood completely...feel free to rant away, Lecka.  You are among friends.  :)   And thanks for the response.  

 

(FYI, not that it matters one way or the other but my dad was military so Mom has Tricare.)  

[imagine.more]

I can get private speech therapy for her through her Medicaid (all foster kids in PA are on Medicaid until 21 I think even once adopted). I haven't found any speech therapists who use Lips so far but I'll definitely keep trying! That would definitely be good.

 

So a friend of mine is sending me her OG manual on cd-rom as well as scanned pages from the Lips program that have the basic mouth movement pictures. 

[Harriet Vane]

Thanks! I just left a message with a psychologist to do a full assessment on her today actually so I'm glad to know that's a good step :)

 

What is an adoption contract? 

 

It has been several years since I was personally involved with foster care, though I still have many friends from those circles who have done foster-to-adopt.

 

You need a good adoption lawyer who is familiar with DCFS adoptions. Don't let your caseworker tell you you don't need one. The state should pay for the lawyer too. A lawyer who has done foster-to-adopt will be familiar with this.

 

Prior to the adoption, you should build an exhaustive body of information about your foster child's physical, mental, and emotional state. That information is then used to determine what level of permanent subsidy she qualifies to receive. An adoption contract for wards of the state almost always includes a medical card up through age 21, for example. If your child has ongoing needs, the subsidy is provided specifically so that the child will have ongoing access to services that address those needs.

 

For example, a friend of mine has a child who has Asperger's as well as auditory processing issues. Their adoption contract entitles them to continued checks from the state as well as the medical card. They have used the state subsidy for occupational therapy, counseling, and anti-depressants (though they later found that the effects of the meds were worse, so they address his issues with different therapeutic applications).

 

A different friend of mine did not want money from the state once her child was adopted. She seemed to feel that that would make him less a part of their family. She felt that once he was adopted, he was hers absolutely, and so she should be financially responsible for him. The sad reality is that he has significant learning disabilities and possible NVLD or auditory processing issues, and they cannot afford the therapies he needs. Now that he is in the middle years it is very, very hard.

 

Bottom line--be aggressive in getting the very best specialists you can find to assess your foster child. Insist the state fund this--she is entitled to it. Get copies of all documentation and make sure your caseworker receives that as well. Talk to a lawyer and find out exactly what your child is entitled to so that when the caseworker attempts to deny the evaluations, you can insist.

 

The schools' evaluations are notoriously inadequate. They are not nearly thorough enough. You need medical and psych specialists.

 

It's important so that your child can get the help she needs both now and over the long term.

[Lecka]

The speech therapists (he had one and then a second at the clinic) did not use Lips exactly, but when I found out about it (in context of the screening for Barton reading) I looked into it, and my son's speech therapy was similar in how it was done.

 

So it is possible someone could cover similar things in a similar way, without using the exact program.

 

But I think I got lucky. It is not something school speech therapists do here bc they can only be in small groups with kids who are in for articulation as my son was. They just have to do the best they can with the time and kids they have.

 

I am not sure exactly how you would know ahead of time.... My experience was more one of -- finding out about lips and thinking "I have seen these techniques when I have observed!"

[City Mouse]

In addition to all the other advice you have been given,I would contact your state school for the deaf (and/or hearing impaired) for advice. They may be able to offer suggestions specifically for teaching reading to students with hearing impairments. Many state schoos offer summer and/or short term programs, so it doesn't have to be a full time residential program.

[imagine.more]

It has been several years since I was personally involved with foster care, though I still have many friends from those circles who have done foster-to-adopt.

 

You need a good adoption lawyer who is familiar with DCFS adoptions. Don't let your caseworker tell you you don't need one. The state should pay for the lawyer too. A lawyer who has done foster-to-adopt will be familiar with this.

 

Prior to the adoption, you should build an exhaustive body of information about your foster child's physical, mental, and emotional state. That information is then used to determine what level of permanent subsidy she qualifies to receive. An adoption contract for wards of the state almost always includes a medical card up through age 21, for example. If your child has ongoing needs, the subsidy is provided specifically so that the child will have ongoing access to services that address those needs.

 

For example, a friend of mine has a child who has Asperger's as well as auditory processing issues. Their adoption contract entitles them to continued checks from the state as well as the medical card. They have used the state subsidy for occupational therapy, counseling, and anti-depressants (though they later found that the effects of the meds were worse, so they address his issues with different therapeutic applications).

 

A different friend of mine did not want money from the state once her child was adopted. She seemed to feel that that would make him less a part of their family. She felt that once he was adopted, he was hers absolutely, and so she should be financially responsible for him. The sad reality is that he has significant learning disabilities and possible NVLD or auditory processing issues, and they cannot afford the therapies he needs. Now that he is in the middle years it is very, very hard.

 

Bottom line--be aggressive in getting the very best specialists you can find to assess your foster child. Insist the state fund this--she is entitled to it. Get copies of all documentation and make sure your caseworker receives that as well. Talk to a lawyer and find out exactly what your child is entitled to so that when the caseworker attempts to deny the evaluations, you can insist.

 

The schools' evaluations are notoriously inadequate. They are not nearly thorough enough. You need medical and psych specialists.

 

It's important so that your child can get the help she needs both now and over the long term.

 

Thank you for the info! Our social workers had already told us that we will be receiving a subsidy for Daisy, slightly less than the foster care rate, after adoption and that she will be eligible to stay on Medicaid until 21. We love our social workers, they're from a private Christian agency and had already mentioned that our next step now that her case was officially moving to the adoption unit would be to hire an adoption lawyer and that the state worker would help us with that. 

 

So it seems like the key is to get disabilities identified/diagnosed and any support/therapy started before adoption is finalized to make sure those needs make it into the adoption contract. Good to know! I honestly hadn't even considered that aspect. 

 

I am definitely not too proud to accept the subsidy :) We're a pastor family so, um, not rich, and I look at it as an 'education fund' for Daisy, since it will really help us to a) meet her current educational needs and b) prepare for her long-term education needs for post-high school so she can get any job training she wants. 

 

BTW, we just talked to the school psychologist today and she tested Daisy today actually. She did the Weschler test for kids and the Johnson test of achievement and curriculum based assessments. The Weschler I think is the one we need to establish her basic IQ and her overall ability. And I suspect that will be what I'll use to make our case that she is 'able' to learn to read based on her IQ but that clearly she's not receiving adequate instruction if she's not making significant progress in reading. I'm not sure about the Johnson test, I'll have to research that one to figure out what it covers.

 

And yeah, moral of the story "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"! I called on Wednesday and had a lengthy conversation with the special education director asking about a reading specialist for Daisy. While I didn't get any headway on the reading specialist I did allude to the 60-day deadline for doing the evaluation being over Christmas break and asked if the school psychologist could call us with those results as soon as she had them. Sure enough, 2 days later she miraculously does the test with Daisy? hmm, not a coincidence I think. 

 

Oh, and we got them to implement Visual Phonics with her! It's a phonics program that gives hand cues to match up with the letter sounds as you speak and is good for hearing impaired students. That took a lot of convincing at the IEP meeting and I wasn't sure they were going to do it since they never agreed to it formally. But they have someone lined up to begin it in January, assuming we bother to send her back in January. 

[Lecka]

That sounds like really good progress, whatever you decide. 

[1shortmomto4]

I am late in chiming in here but wanted to just put a few things into the back of your mind - not so much to do with curriculum but with hearing impairment because I didn't see much response in that regard.  I am a mom to a 20 year old ds who was diagnosed with a severe hearing impairment (also dyslexic - another inherited genetic snafu) when he was 14 years old (long story, late diagnosis).  He actually started having reading problems in 4th grade which is what prompted us to begin homeschooling but I had no idea what I was really dealing with at that time other than a kid that needed my undivided one-on-one attention. 

 

Here is a big important thing I learned - hearing aids are not like glasses.  You don't just put them on and they hear everything sound, word, noise, etc.  Nope - doesn't make a 20/20 hearing correction (so to speak).  This is so much a brain thing - the sound goes in the aids, reaches the brain, has to be interpreted by the brain and then processed and then the child can respond.  It is a tiring process - even for a young adult.  It takes a gazillion amount of patience, grace and understanding.  Hearing aids are awesome but it is still so much a brain-involved process.

 

There are things that the school can do to help your dd - placement in the classroom, special device the teacher wears that feeds sound directly through the hearing aids (helps with processing) are just two things off the top of my head.  These are covered under ADA.  They help and they do make a difference.

 

You need to know what sounds does your child NOT hear - and whether she will ever hear them with the hearing aids - this is key because no matter what phonics you use (or spelling) if they will never hear the sounds they can't make that connection that they are missing anything.

 

Also, it is important to keep in mind that her development (maturity, educational) was pretty much on hold until she started wearing those hearing aids.  These kids go into a protective mode and only take in what they can and when it all becomes too much they just shut down.  Benchmarks that you see in development stop until the correction is made.  There is a period that the body and mind grieves this loss and it is hard on kids.  We are wiser and know that things will most likely be okay but they don't have the benefit of that knowledge - especially when your little girl has already undergone so much already.  Now, once that takes place (hearing aides) then it becomes a very slow process forward (think toddler - three steps forward, two back).  It is slow but trust me, it happens all in due time - just not necessarily on what our society deems that time to be. 

 

What really helped my ds over the years were small amounts of lesson time - it is very hard on their brains.  He did so much better when there were no noise distractions (hard in a classroom) but as he got older his brain has gotten stronger and he doesn't get so tired anymore.  He is finishing up the first half of his sophomore year at college and boy, what a difference.  His freshman year was an upward battle but I was with him every step of the way and now he's flying on his own.

 

I can't tell you what the best thing (home school or public/private) as that is a family decision.  What is right for one isn't always the best option for the other.  But if you need anything please feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to help you anyway I can.  I didn't have a support system and no one around me understood what we were going through - they just figured it was like wearing glasses - once you get a pair you see great and all is well.  Hope this helps just a bit. 

[imagine.more]

I am late in chiming in here but wanted to just put a few things into the back of your mind - not so much to do with curriculum but with hearing impairment because I didn't see much response in that regard.  I am a mom to a 20 year old ds who was diagnosed with a severe hearing impairment (also dyslexic - another inherited genetic snafu) when he was 14 years old (long story, late diagnosis).  He actually started having reading problems in 4th grade which is what prompted us to begin homeschooling but I had no idea what I was really dealing with at that time other than a kid that needed my undivided one-on-one attention. 

 

Here is a big important thing I learned - hearing aids are not like glasses.  You don't just put them on and they hear everything sound, word, noise, etc.  Nope - doesn't make a 20/20 hearing correction (so to speak).  This is so much a brain thing - the sound goes in the aids, reaches the brain, has to be interpreted by the brain and then processed and then the child can respond.  It is a tiring process - even for a young adult.  It takes a gazillion amount of patience, grace and understanding.  Hearing aids are awesome but it is still so much a brain-involved process.

 

There are things that the school can do to help your dd - placement in the classroom, special device the teacher wears that feeds sound directly through the hearing aids (helps with processing) are just two things off the top of my head.  These are covered under ADA.  They help and they do make a difference.

 

You need to know what sounds does your child NOT hear - and whether she will ever hear them with the hearing aids - this is key because no matter what phonics you use (or spelling) if they will never hear the sounds they can't make that connection that they are missing anything.

 

Also, it is important to keep in mind that her development (maturity, educational) was pretty much on hold until she started wearing those hearing aids.  These kids go into a protective mode and only take in what they can and when it all becomes too much they just shut down.  Benchmarks that you see in development stop until the correction is made.  There is a period that the body and mind grieves this loss and it is hard on kids.  We are wiser and know that things will most likely be okay but they don't have the benefit of that knowledge - especially when your little girl has already undergone so much already.  Now, once that takes place (hearing aides) then it becomes a very slow process forward (think toddler - three steps forward, two back).  It is slow but trust me, it happens all in due time - just not necessarily on what our society deems that time to be. 

 

What really helped my ds over the years were small amounts of lesson time - it is very hard on their brains.  He did so much better when there were no noise distractions (hard in a classroom) but as he got older his brain has gotten stronger and he doesn't get so tired anymore.  He is finishing up the first half of his sophomore year at college and boy, what a difference.  His freshman year was an upward battle but I was with him every step of the way and now he's flying on his own.

 

I can't tell you what the best thing (home school or public/private) as that is a family decision.  What is right for one isn't always the best option for the other.  But if you need anything please feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to help you anyway I can.  I didn't have a support system and no one around me understood what we were going through - they just figured it was like wearing glasses - once you get a pair you see great and all is well.  Hope this helps just a bit. 

 

Thank you so much, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond! Like you I started out with the "well, she just needs more one on one instruction" mindset and have been slowly realizing just what we're dealing with in reality. I've been looking at her records with a fine toothed comb and I've pieced together that she got hearing aids for the first time in 2nd grade and an IEP for the first time in 3rd grade. She had an FM system last year and just finally got it for this year (another big fight with the school to make them get it for her). You're so right about the hearing aids not being like glasses. Only in knowing her have I come to understand that. And she's a very intuitive girl and lipreads well so she 'fakes it' very well in social settings and few people realize how little she actually hears or understands sometimes. It's interesting but I've come to realize her hearing impairment has been a massive blessing. She didn't understand or hear half of what went on in her family environment, the stuff that caused her to end up in foster care, so she's still quite innocent and trusting when compared to her hearing-able siblings. 

 

It's so encouraging to know that your son was able to work towards college and everything even with the hearing impairment and dyslexia. I don't think Daisy is heading towards a 4 year degree, there are other signs that just IQ-wise she's not at that level, but she wants to be a preschool teacher-aide and I really think with steady work and progress she could achieve that goal. She's sweet, helpful, and very good with kids and babies. 

[1shortmomto4]

These kids are smart kids despite their disability(ies).  They are people watchers and take in the scene around them and are most often quick to either jump in or react.  I'm sure your dd will accomplish things in her life that are amazing and awesome and she'll own those accomplishments because she'll have worked extra hard to get them.  She's got great support in her family now.  Just keep fighting forward and trust your instinct and educate her teachers about what is best for her.  If you need anything please feel free to PM me.  I went this route alone, followed my instinct but it sure would have been nice to have had some support from someone that had done this before me.

[imagine.more]

We finally got the evaluation results from the school. They don't tell us a ton but at least it's something. We'll have the written report tomorrow but for now I have what we were told verbally. 

 

They did a Non-verbal IQ test (WISC I think)  and her score was 87. So below average. Anyone else have a DC with an IQ in the 80-90 range that can give me some ideas of what this says about her capabilities?

 

In math she did well with rote problems but does not understand mathematical concepts at all. The instructor said she doubts she even understands that subtraction is the opposite of addition. 

 

We already know she's reading at a 1st grade level. She has a lot of sight words so can fake a 2nd grade level sometimes but has little phonemic awareness. 

 

Her writing she scored a 67, significantly below average....I think she said this is on a score range similar to the IQ test?

 

The school plans to pull her out for individualized instruction in math concepts in addition to her usual math class. They are also starting Visual Phonics, which we insisted on back in October, this February.  We insisted they find a different reading program to replace Read180/System44 for her as she's not making progress in those. 

 

Help? Any idea where we should go with this new information? 

 

I'm still considering homeschooling her because the school schedule is absolutely awful for us (DH works weekends and evenings a lot since he's a pastor) and we're homeschooling the younger ones. She seems to dislike public school, private school, and homeschool equally :) Maybe homeschool slightly less since she could sleep in, lol! Since her opinion isn't strongly for any particular schooling option, we're just going to make the decision between DH, her social worker, and I.  I've never ever worked with special needs before and my 5 year old got some bizarre genius gene from my sister-in-law and is very gifted. So we've got one on each side of the spectrum. Am I crazy for considering homeschooling her? If I do how do I go about setting goals for her?

[OneStepAtATime]

There are some great schools out there that have really well trained and experienced staff and a lot of support systems in place for SN kids.  There are many that don't.  If you don't think she is thriving in her current brick and mortar school, and you want to try homeschooling her, then I think you can do this.  I really do.  You are already homeschooling, so you have less of a learning curve to deal with than a beginning parent.  You also have a lot of evaluations in place already so you have a better idea of what you are facing.  You obviously care a great deal and are trying your best to help her.  She has so much going for her already with just those things.  

 

I know this is a scary prospect.  I struggle a lot with scope and sequence, expectations, etc.  And if we lived near a couple of schools I know that are excellent for kids like mine, I would put them there in a heart beat because I have seen how knowledgeable the staff is, how the kids thrive there, and the great support systems that are in place even after they leave the school.  We don't, though, and moving is not an option right now.  Homeschooling was our second choice and although we have had some bumps along the way, it is working.

 

If she is home, you can give her one on one attention, lots of love and support, she won't be comparing herself at every moment with others that may function much higher than she does in various subjects, you can give her extra time when she needs it, give her breaks when she needs those, and work on helping her with life skills, too, which I feel are just as important as academic learning (I was NOT taught many life skills growing up and it created some difficult times at first).  And if you really give homeschooling a good try, and it isn't working, ps is always there.  This doesn't have to be a final decision.

 

Are you considering pulling her right now, or letting her stay until the end of this school year and start homeschooling next year?

 

 

[Paige]

I wouldn't put a lot of faith in the Non-verbal IQ. My son is mildly hearing impaired and does horribly on those tests. Unless the tester has been trained to give the tests to people with hearing difficulties, it probably isn't a super accurate representation of her abilities. DS consistently scores in the high average to gifted range in every area except for the non-verbal tests in which he consistently scores in the same range as your child or even below. We didn't know he was hearing impaired until fairly recently and nobody could make sense of his test scores. When his psych found out about the hearing issues, he said that explained the low scores. A non-verbal test sounds like it would be good for hearing impaired people, but it usually requires the person to respond to oral instructions, which would be her area of weakness. Even now with hearing aids, my DS does not do as well on those tasks- partly because of years of missed cues that he can catch up on now that he can hear more clearly, and partly because even with aids, his hearing is not the same as someone without a loss.

 

If she's from a deprived background, it's hard to know how much of a low score is due to something that can be taught and she can catch up on and what is a reflection of true intelligence.

[imagine.more]

Paige, well she had her hearing aids in and was one-on-one in a quiet room and from her hearing therapy and our experiences I'd say she knows 95% of what we say in those kind of conditions. They also allowed her to respond with pictures and gestures (like pointing to indicate the answer) so I think they modified as best they could.

 

I really just have no idea what kind of goals to set for a kid who's slightly below average. Our families are all way on the high end of the spectrum so I don't even 'get' how her brain works, kwim? Like I keep trying to put myself in her shoes and it's hard. I don't even know if she can get a driver's license? I mean, if she can't read the test then she can't but what reading level is the test created at?  And signs, I'm not sure if she could learn all the road signs. So do I need to plan for her to be a non-driving adult? Or could she realistically (not pie-in-the-sky) get to the point where she could pass the driver's test in maybe 6 years when she turns 18? I don't even know. 

 

All I know is she spends 7 hours a day at school and doesn't seem to retain anything. 

[Harriet Vane]

Glad you are making some progress.

 

Do not depend on the information the school gave you. It does NOT tell the full picture. I strongly recommend that you move heaven and earth to get her a full battery of evaluations from several specialists--hearing, neuropsych, etc.

[imagine.more]

But where is a hearing specialist besides at the school? I googled and didn't find anything of the sort here. I also tried hearing therapist and got nothing. 

 

If the schools' tests don't tell us anything then why did I even bother fighting to get them done? What would different tests tell us?

[Ellie]

How significant is her hearing loss? Because if she's actually *deaf*, as opposed to just having some hearing loss, then honestly, you need to be going a whole different direction.

[Harriet Vane]

But where is a hearing specialist besides at the school? I googled and didn't find anything of the sort here. I also tried hearing therapist and got nothing. 

 

If the schools' tests don't tell us anything then why did I even bother fighting to get them done? What would different tests tell us?

 

The school tests to determine what accommodations to offer. That is their purpose.

 

The school does not provide a medical diagnosis or the detailed physical and physiological information that you need.

 

The public school do not attempt to "fix" problems. Rather, they will remediate a problem until the child is not failing. The child must first fail, for a long time, before receiving remediation. They will not remediate a problem any further if a child is not failing any more.

 

Your daughter's difficulties are rooted in physical problems with her brain, eyes, and ears. Therefore she needs an evaluation from medical specialists.

 

The medical evaluations provide:

 

--A detailed understanding of the medical, physical issues with your child. Therefore, this understanding also provides a much more specific picture of how to address those issues.

 

--Detailed information to provide to the school to force the school to provide more services. As such, you not only evaluate, but you re-evaluate BOTH medically AND at the school for further services repeatedly over time. You MUST have good medical documentation to get appropriate educational services.

 

You need referrals to medical specialists. Talk to your doctor.

 

Get a referral to a hearing specialist. Perhaps an ENT? You need to know why there is hearing loss (neurological? or other?? There are different types of hearing loss.). That specialist can refer you to further specialists to address learning issues related to hearing issues.

 

Get a referral to a developmental opthalmologist. That person can help refer you to other dyslexia specialists for further evaluation. Your OP said possible dyslexia. Neither you, nor the social worker, nor the school are qualified to determine if dyslexia is the issue or if there is a different vision-related diagnosis. Therefore you need a medical evaluation of your daughter's sight in order to understand her learning difficulties.

 

Most importantly you need a neuropsych for a global perspective on the neurological issues. Once you know physically what is causing the behaviors and learning difficulties, then you can figure out what is appropriate to address.

 

Until you have amassed the medical information, you are guessing at what is wrong and how to fix it. The school evaluation is an excellent and necessary step to getting her the help she needs, but it is not nearly enough.

[1shortmomto4]

Just checked my email and saw that this post has revived.  I'm not sure about the hearing therapist stuff but what the tests that you have in hand serve as documentation as you make this journey with her.  Should she decide to go to college these tests and Dr. tests, etc. provide the paper trail needed to get the required accommodations she'll need to succeed.  I'm not going to advise you on whether to keep her home or not - that is a family decision and a family commitment.  I know what worked for my ds but that is just one child.  I will say this though, you shared that she was indifferent about school - whether PS, private or at home -- does she believe and is confident that someone in one of these settings believes in her and she trusts to help her accomplish her goals?  I would not focus or emphasize on the IQ testing stuff as this leads to comparisons.  It is a human thing; we all do it.  Remember when I wrote about her maturity, which includes intelligence, stalls and even stops, until hearing aids and then it is a slow, slow process.  My ds could hardly read half way through 4th grade (before we even had a diagnosis) and he managed to memorize as many words as possible and had just run out of storage space, so to speak.  I did phonics with him, at home, one on one, and that began to work.  Key was finding which way the student learns best.  You're going to be doing the learn to read program for a while and it takes time for results.  They process this stuff so much slower than the average kid, really they do.  As for math keep working on the basics.  There is so much available to practice the skills via internet, paper and pencil, video games -- in a perfect world it would be great for everyone to make the connections between addition and subtraction or multiplication and division but sometimes, just like spelling a word, you just need to know how to solve the equation and not how to explain how you got there.

 

Please don't discount college as an option down the road.  Set big goals, set little goals - just because she's hearing impaired, dyslexic and dysgraphic doesn't mean her path has to be down a short path.  I was worried that my ds would not succeed in CC.  He barely placed in the remedial English class but he worked his heart out and passed and then went on this past semester to finally achieve his first of 2 English grades needed for a degree (in computers) with a B.  He earned that grade every step of the way and it has made him stronger because he can see his successes.  Your little girl can succeed to - it just takes much more time and patience and understanding and grace than most other parents might have to deal with and understand.  Someone (you) has to become her advocate and help her and eventually she'll make that transition and it will all be worth it.

 

Just wanted to add a comment in response to Harriet's response - sometimes (many times) there is no answer as to why there is a hearing loss or how it was caused.  We have no idea why my ds' has a severe hearing loss - and the only thing ruled out was hearing loss caused by loud music - it has a lot to do with what sounds they do/don't hear.  They attribute it to genetics and unless you test your family tree you just don't know but it doesn't make a difference because there isn't a cure to make the full hearing capabilities come back - even cochlear has its drawbacks.  

[Ellie]

But where is a hearing specialist besides at the school? I googled and didn't find anything of the sort here. I also tried hearing therapist and got nothing. 

 

If the schools' tests don't tell us anything then why did I even bother fighting to get them done? What would different tests tell us?

 

Are there any schools for the deaf in your area? Associations of any kind for deaf people?

 

If I discovered that my child were *deaf,* we'd all be on the short path to learning sign language, and connecting with as many deaf people as possible. Although of course your dd could have other issues, but I can also say that many of the things that you describe could easily be caused by just plain not understanding what the heck is going on in the world. Deaf children are champions at figuring out many things by context, but that context is only what they can *see," which truly is just the tip of the iceberg.

[imagine.more]

She's not totally deaf. She hears about 50-60% without hearing aids. With hearing aids she hears about 80-85% under normal conditions, 95% under ideal conditions. So we are just talking hearing impaired. She's been taught a few basic signs but nothing much, she seems in the category of being very able to learn english since she can hear most of what people say. 

 

She has been seen by an audiologist before she came to us but we don't have those records (foster care system, bleh!). As far as I know they did not pinpoint a reason for the hearing loss. Our best guess is that it originated from her blood transfusions and medical issues at birth (she spent 2 month in the NICU). It was diagnosed at 8 years old.

 

I did find a school for the deaf and hearing impaired but it's in Pittsburgh, 2 hours away. They have a residential program that I would consider allowing her to do in Junior/Senior year of high school maybe but obviously right now she needs a family and a normal family life more than anything. They said basically they don't have any services available for non-students (I'd hoped maybe they had summer programs or tutoring or something we could utilize)

 

So I've now gotten a few numbers of neuropsychologists and I'll call them tomorrow to see if I can find any information. We're a pastor family so we don't have a ton of money to throw at a lot of assessments so it will likely depend on the cost whether we can do it. Medicare might cover it, I did find out that they will cover speech and hearing therapy for her. I found speech therapists in our area but no hearing therapists unfortunately. 

 

Heidi, unfortunately she doesn't have any goals so trusting others to help her reach goals is moot. We've tried to gently encourage her but she has no concept of the future and no concept of setting goals. Nobody she knows from her birth family has ever held a job... so lots of things we take for granted are completely baffling to her. She loves swimming and is really quite good at it. She takes swim lessons at the YMCA with one of her school teachers who she loves. Anyway, she'll be done with all the lesson levels in spring I'm sure so i suggested that she should join the swim team since she's so good. Even with me and her teacher encouraging her she totally backed off and had zero interest. She got mad when she found out she'd be moved to the next swim class level soon even! She wants to stay in the same class forever. :)  

 

[Ellie]

You might consider contacting NATHHAN, which does have some resources for deaf/hearing-impaired.

[OneStepAtATime]

But where is a hearing specialist besides at the school? I googled and didn't find anything of the sort here. I also tried hearing therapist and got nothing. 

 

If the schools' tests don't tell us anything then why did I even bother fighting to get them done? What would different tests tell us?

Please don't feel that you wasted your time fighting for those evaluations through the school.  You didn't.  You needed those assessments.  But as has been mentioned (and many here have found out) the school comes at this from a different perspective.  They are trying to find ways to get your child to pass her classes and move on to the next grade level, they aren't looking at the whole picture, along with all the issues that may be causing her difficulties.  They aren't really looking at how to help her be a well-rounded, happy, successful human being in the short and long-term (although I'm not saying they don't want that, that just isn't the focus) and they don't usually have the time, energy or especially the training to really go into depth in many areas to determine all the various strengths and weaknesses that she may have.

 

This is a time-consuming and often frustrating process and it isn't easy to know when to continue pursuing assessments and when not to.  I really believe that my kids need additional assessments, but I have not yet found anyone in our area that I think really has the skills and training and perspective that we need for additional evaluations.  In the meantime, I work hard to help them through the areas I know they struggle while supporting them in their areas of strength.

 

If you are not comfortable trying to homeschool her, especially when you have littles at home and are trying to navigate through additional assessments, then don't. Wait and see how she does for the rest of this school year.  If, after this year is over, you feel it is in her best interest (and that of the family as a whole) to homeschool her, then by that time you may have additional evaluations and have a better idea on how to teach her and what long and short term goals may work.

 

In the meantime, it doesn't seem to me that focusing on things like whether she will ever learn to drive or even go on to college or even get through high school level material is that productive.  There are so many unknowns that predicting what she may or may not be able to do in the future could just worry you for no good reason.  Focus on how to help her progress right now, in whatever areas she can, while you seek additional answers and she settles into being part of your family.  Who knows?  She may end up truly surprising you and herself.  

 

My daughter could never read at grade level.  She could never spell, either.  Math skills were so weak I didn't know if she could ever really learn basic personal finance with any degree of success.  She hated books, hated spelling, hated math and felt terribly insecure about herself.  A year ago, I was truly fearful for her future.  I still have concerns but things are definitely changing.  She got the book Dauntless for Christmas.  It is a very thick book.  There was a time when reading that book would have been impossible.  Even 3 months ago, it would have been impossible.  She finished the entire book in 5 days.  And enjoyed it.  And was reading because she wanted to.  I never thought that would happen.

 

Hugs to you and your family.  I wish you and your family all the best and hope fervently that additional answers and a good path become clearer over time.  Your love and dedication to helping her are commendable.  You are a great mom.

[Harriet Vane]

She is a foster child, so the state should pay for those assessments. Be that squeaky wheel. If there is any attempt to deny the assessments, you just keep sweetly pushing. As a ward of the state she has a right to them. Figure out what medical specialists you want, and then talk to your social worker or other foster parents about how to get the paperwork done. I have done this (it was such a long time ago though) and I have many friends who have done this. You should not have to pay--the state will pay. Be the squeaky wheel.

 

[Harriet Vane]

 

 

Just wanted to add a comment in response to Harriet's response - sometimes (many times) there is no answer as to why there is a hearing loss or how it was caused. 

 

This is true. However, the OP is dealing with a foster child. Her history has been disjointed and there has been chronic neglect. There have not been organized, comprehensive assessments--as with most wards of the state, it is piecemeal for this child. It's best to start fresh, assume nothing, and amass as much information as possible so that the best course of action can be determined.

[Paige]

My son has mild hearing loss and I can guarantee that if she is only hearing 85-95% of what someone with normal hearing hears, then she is missing a lot and that will cause significant problems. That is not a small problem. It could easily account for the low scores on a nonverbal test. I don't think that she needs to learn sign language and go to a deaf school or anything, but we seriously had no idea how much DS missed until he got his hearing aids. I don't think anyone has given us a percentage like that, but my guess is that uncorrected, his hearing is about what your DDs hearing is with her hearing aids.

 

You need to find an audiology clinic for kids. We have one an hour away and it's worth the drive. They only need to see DS once every 6months so it's not so bad.

[Heathermomster]

http://www.captionlit.com/resource/directory.pdf

http://hdscenter.org/links.asp

 

I don't know where you live in PA, but maybe you can call one the agencies mentioned on the link provided to get answers.

 

I think if I were in your shoes, I would be tempted to contact the headmasters of some of the deaf and hearing impaired schools in your state to get some general direction about state helps, testing, and remediation. Perhaps with appropriate info, you could apply for the state to pay for the correct diagnostic assessments prior to adoption.

 

In spite of the fact that your DD is now logic stage, I believe that with appropriate teaching your DD will grow and learn.

[Terabith]

Okay, let me get this right.  She hears 50-60% without her hearing aids and this wasn't diagnosed until she was 8, correct?  And even with aids, under most real life circumstances, she hears about 80% of what she hears.  So for the first 8 years of her life, she lived in a chaotic environment that frequently changed and was not particularly enriching, and she could only hear half of what is going on, and nobody caught this, and a year later she scored an 87 on an IQ test?  (And the WISC isn't particularly nonverbal.  Plus it has a lot of subtests like vocabulary and information, etc.)  This is NOT a dumb kid!!!!! 

 

Of course she can't read!  My goodness, what a disaster.  She missed out on most of the early childhood language experiences that are so vital.  It's going to be hard going to catch her up, and frankly you may not be able to totally, but you haven't even scratched the surface of what she is capable of. The amount of language that she has been exposed to is closer to that of a preschooler than an average 9 year old, and she still scored in the low average range (and the high end of that).   I'd be trying to contact my state school for the deaf to get their advice.  They deal with ANYONE who has any degree of hearing impairment, not just totally deaf folks.  I don't know much about teaching reading to folks who are hearing impaired; Visual Phonics sounds like it would be good, but the school for the deaf would be where I would go for a consultation. 

 

She's put so much effort into being able to speak and understand what's going on around her, on top of the emotional and developmental issues caused from foster care.  She just hasn't had any energy left for academic learning.  A classroom with the background noise, not always being faced for lip reading, without accommodations, and up till age 8 without hearing aids, well, let's just say that's not an ideal situation for a child to learn under. 

 

I'd say you don't have to worry about her being able to drive.  I think that is very realistic.  She'll likely always have some language issues stemming from the paucity of language she understood early in life, but I would be surprised if you're not dealing with a fairly intelligent kid. 

[imagine.more]

Okay, our social worker is calling to get her an appointment with an Audiologist and Neuropsychologist. I'm going to start a whole binder just for all this medical/educational stuff and make sure we get the entire picture of where she's at. 

[OneStepAtATime]

Okay, our social worker is calling to get her an appointment with an Audiologist and Neuropsychologist. I'm going to start a whole binder just for all this medical/educational stuff and make sure we get the entire picture of where she's at. 

:hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:  Yeah!  That's great!  Best wishes to all of you!  

[Ellie]

Okay, let me get this right.  She hears 50-60% without her hearing aids and this wasn't diagnosed until she was 8, correct?  And even with aids, under most real life circumstances, she hears about 80% of what she hears.  So for the first 8 years of her life, she lived in a chaotic environment that frequently changed and was not particularly enriching, and she could only hear half of what is going on, and nobody caught this, and a year later she scored an 87 on an IQ test?  (And the WISC isn't particularly nonverbal.  Plus it has a lot of subtests like vocabulary and information, etc.)  This is NOT a dumb kid!!!!! 

 

Of course she can't read!  My goodness, what a disaster.  She missed out on most of the early childhood language experiences that are so vital.  It's going to be hard going to catch her up, and frankly you may not be able to totally, but you haven't even scratched the surface of what she is capable of. The amount of language that she has been exposed to is closer to that of a preschooler than an average 9 year old, and she still scored in the low average range (and the high end of that).   I'd be trying to contact my state school for the deaf to get their advice.  They deal with ANYONE who has any degree of hearing impairment, not just totally deaf folks.  I don't know much about teaching reading to folks who are hearing impaired; Visual Phonics sounds like it would be good, but the school for the deaf would be where I would go for a consultation. 

 

She's put so much effort into being able to speak and understand what's going on around her, on top of the emotional and developmental issues caused from foster care.  She just hasn't had any energy left for academic learning.  A classroom with the background noise, not always being faced for lip reading, without accommodations, and up till age 8 without hearing aids, well, let's just say that's not an ideal situation for a child to learn under. 

 

I'd say you don't have to worry about her being able to drive.  I think that is very realistic.  She'll likely always have some language issues stemming from the paucity of language she understood early in life, but I would be surprised if you're not dealing with a fairly intelligent kid. 

 

:iagree: :iagree: :iagree:

 

Well said!!! I especially agree with...well, I agree with it all, lol.  TPTB are not giving enough thought to how much this child's lack of hearing is causing her problems.