I feel rather dickmittenish posting this with everything that BB is going through with his son but I owed an update to the GMTAN about my son and his issues. We met with the Nueropsychologist yesterday to find out the results of the testing my son had last month regarding his reading and learning issues. Some good news and some not so good news.
Good news, no ADHD type issue is neither the root cause nor a contributor to his issues with reading. She has a diagnosis of mild unspecified adhd type with no need for meds or any intervention. Essentially there is no clinical indication of ADHD but she saw a few minor things that resulted in that diagnosis. That's the good news.
The not so good news. He has a severe reading disability. It's tied to visual issues primarily visual memory, which is a severe problem for him. Most of the tests relating to the visual perception, processing, memory all scored in the low or very low and some were less than 1% meaning that 99% of kids his age are above where he's at. He also has an issue with phonological processing being very slow, which causes reading comprehension problems on it's own. He also has major visual tracking issues. Those of you with younger kids will likely know what sight words are. Because of the visual issues he has, sight words are something he can't do without serious repetition. He recognizes letters, but not like you and I do. It takes him a minute to get the letters and then he has to begin the process of decoding the sounds in the word. He can't just learn the word one time or after a few times, it can take thousands of times before he can recognize it from memory and often times it can take longer.
The doctor recommended seeing a developmental ophthalmologist to see if there are any issues with his eyes (his vision is fine) that are contributing/causing the issues. If there are not we are at the limits of what can be done to help him. Reading will likely always be a problem for him and be a big challenge for the rest of his life. She really had no suggestions on any programs that are better than the one he is in currently, or anywhere we can turn to for additional help.
She had a few suggestions on things the school can do to further help, ie audio books, use of a computer as often as possible. Extra time on all tests and homework, tests read to him, etc. So we have passed that on the to school and will be meeting with them at the end of the month, and hopefully they will have implemented those suggestions by the time that meeting occurs.
More good news. His auditory modality functions at the 98 and 99%, meaning if he can hear it he will learn it. He can't recognize it visually but knows and understands it verbally. That's a huge positive and will be a very big asset to him. Also, his difficulties are not affecting his self-confidence. He understands he has an issue, knows he will need help with things but it doesn’t bother him. He’s only slightly concerned about bad grades but nothing else. He has a very high self-awareness and some other stuff I can’t remember but from her tests she doesn’t have any concerns with him and self-esteem which is a big concern of mine.
The last bit of good news is that everyone has commented on how hard he works, even though he’s not making a lot of progress he still puts forth a ton of effort.
That’s where we stand today, we have an apt with the eye doctor on 10/22 and hopefully will get encouraging results that they can help with his visual issues.
Thanks to all of you that have offered support, PMs and advice, it’s greatly appreciated.
To the waiver wire!
Hawks! good to hear.
Glad it's mostly good news.
