I need teachers (esp. Special Education) and anyone with a

[hisno1girl]

child who has a learning disability to please help me decipher some reports. Sorry for how long this is going to be.

ETA: I should have also stated that he was born at 32 weeks, he had tubes put in his ears in February and had his tongue clipped in April. He also had an intercranial (sp?) bleed when he was in the NICU but he's otherwise a healthy, spunky boy. Also, he screams everything instead of speaking in a normal voice but his hearing tests came back normal.

My grandson (Voldemort, he'll be 4 in about a month) attends an IEP (Individualized Education Program) through the public school system in northern MI.  His mother gave me & DH a copy of a review and I don't understand some parts of it. Can you please help me? The text in italics is copied exactly from the report.

His area of disability is listed as Early Child Dev Delay 340.1711.  Where can I go to find out what that code means?

A Preschool Language Scale-5th edition (PLS-5) was administered to asses his strengths and weaknesses in understanding and using language.  Scores between 85-115 are considered average. His language comprehension, or receptive language score was 69.  How horribly bad is it that he scored significantly lower than the average? Would you be concerned if your student/child had those scores?

Peabody Developmental Motor Scales II (PDMS-II):
Grasping skills: 15 month age equivalency (25th percentile)
Visual Motor Integration: 19 month age equivalency (5th percentile)

Does that mean he's performing the above listed actions at the age of a 15 & 19 month old child?

Sound errors occurred in all words on the test. Sound omissions were recorded in 19 out of 23 words. He simplified 8 out of 10 blends and reduced syllables in 18 out of 21 words. All words on the tester were modeled for "Voldemort".  What does "simplified 8 out of 10 blends and reduced syllables in 18 out of 21 words" mean?

Voldemort has no concept of the square of X. He is unable to produce any pre letters or tracing letter skills at this time. Movement is from the shoulder. He can now sit for 2-4 minutes of a group activity when the tasks change throughout such as the jumpstart sensory program. His length of attention to pencil/paper task is 4-6 seconds and needs frequent redirection. He is able to place the letters in his name on a template but cannot trace or make any of the letters in his name either with a visual or verbal prompt. He needs an adult model/indication for cross, circle, oblique lines. He scribbles for square. He needs adult one-to-one attention to focus and attend these tasks. He can attend 4-6 seconds before attention is diverted.

# # # # #

All of this sounds so....I don't know? Hopeless? Bad? I can't think of the right word.  Do these problems sound like something he'll ever be able to overcome? I wonder if he'll be able to improve on any of these skills.

Reading this report made me cry because I wish he didn't have to struggle so much.

FTR -  There's nothing I can do about this and his mother isn't asking me for advice.  I tried to talk to her about his diet (high in processed foods, very high in sugar, and I'd guess that about 90% of his meals come out of a can or a box and the rest of the time he eats fast food because she doesn't want him to go hungry) and she shut me down immediately.

I feel completely helpless.

[macmars45]

I'm an aide with SpEd preschoolers in a public school district. I'm not sure about all the deciphering of the IEP. Blending is blending sounds of letters together to make a whole word.
However, it might not all be hopeless. Over the course of a school year the kids I work with develop academic and social skills; it's amazing to see all the improvement over the months. Also we have OTs, SLPs and PTs that work with the kids that qualify once a week.
Is Voldemort in a SpEd program? Is there one in his school district? SpEd kids don't have to pay for preschool through a public school district... at least in the one I'm employed by.

[balletofangels]

I'm going to post and run, but this sounds like a A LOT of my students. It is great he is already receiving services and has an IEP and can make growth. You'll be amazed at the growth kids can make.

Regarding Developmental Delay. In Connecticut the law states that kids can only be DD until they turn 6. At that point a more specific diagnosis needs to be in place ie. Speech and Language Impairment, Learning Disability, etc. for the child to continue qualifying for special education.

Simplified blends means that for example he needs to say "black" and he says "back." It means that developmentally he's not ready to produce the blends, but it is all part of a developmental continuum. His chronological and developmental ages might not be jiving.

spedrunner Can probably respond to the specific assessments.

[miss1180]

I can help with the speech part (I'm a speech therapist). The "simplifying blends" means that he takes blends (Sl, sp, st, bl, gr, cl,) and simplies them, or leaves one of the sounds out. EX... instead of "SLeep", he might say "seep" (leaving out the "L" sound.
The reducing syllables is the same thing... he leaves out a syllable in a word. instead of "Crayon" (2 syllables) he might say something like "Cran".

I should also be able to answer about the Preschool Language Scale, too because that is also a Speech Therapy test... BUT I worked with elementary school aged kids, so I not very familiar with that Language test (I mostly gave language tests that were for older children).

[jenbugwi]

I'm sorry you're dealing with this.  Let me address these as best I can:

Nov 11, 2013 20:43:55 GMT -5 hisno1girl said:

His area of disability is listed as Early Child Dev Delay 340.1711.
 
Where can I go to find out what that code means? 
You should be able to find that code on the Michigan Dept. of Education's website

A Preschool Language Scale-5th edition (PLS-5) was administered to asses his strengths and weaknesses in understanding and using language.  Scores between 85-115 are considered average. His language comprehension, or receptive language score was 69.

How horribly bad is it that he scored significantly lower than the average? Would you be concerned if your student/child had those scores?
I am not an early childhood teacher and am not very familiar with that test, so I'm not sure how that score would be interpreted into a grade equivalent.  However, if you consider 85 "low average" then a 69 is quite a bit below and would suggest a delay that needs to be addressed.

Peabody Developmental Motor Scales II (PDMS-II):
Grasping skills: 15 month age equivalency (25th percentile)
Visual Motor Integration: 19 month age equivalency (5th percentile)

Does that mean he's performing the above listed actions at the age of a 15 & 19 month old child?
That is correct.  The percentiles mean that 25% of kids his age have worse scores for grasping skills and 5% of kids his age have worse scores for visual motor integration.


Sound errors occurred in all words on the test. Sound omissions were recorded in 19 out of 23 words. He simplified 8 out of 10 blends and reduced syllables in 18 out of 21 words. All words on the tester were modeled for "Voldemort". 
What does "simplified 8 out of 10 blends and reduced syllables in 18 out of 21 words" mean?
"simplified blends" means, in general, that he did not say the blend completely, but focused on one part of the blend.  For example, if the word was "that" he might have said "tat"---he didn't completely pronounce the blend.
"reduced syllables" means that he didn't pronounce all of the syllables in a word---so if he was asked to identify a banana, he might have said "nana"---he missed a syllable.

Voldemort has no concept of the square of X. He is unable to produce any pre letters or tracing letter skills at this time. Movement is from the shoulder. He can now sit for 2-4 minutes of a group activity when the tasks change throughout such as the jumpstart sensory program. His length of attention to pencil/paper task is 4-6 seconds and needs frequent redirection. He is able to place the letters in his name on a template but cannot trace or make any of the letters in his name either with a visual or verbal prompt. He needs an adult model/indication for cross, circle, oblique lines. He scribbles for square. He needs adult one-to-one attention to focus and attend these tasks. He can attend 4-6 seconds before attention is diverted.

# # # # #

All of this sounds so....I don't know? Hopeless? Bad? I can't think of the right word.  Do these problems sound like something he'll ever be able to overcome? I wonder if he'll be able to improve on any of these skills.

Reading this report made me cry because I wish he didn't have to struggle so much.

FTR -  There's nothing I can do about this and his mother isn't asking me for advice.  I tried to talk to her about his diet (high in processed foods, very high in sugar, and I'd guess that about 90% of his meals come out of a can or a box and the rest of the time he eats fast food because she doesn't want him to go hungry) and she shut me down immediately.

I feel completely helpless.

This is stuff that can be addressed with language therapy and intervention.  From what you've said, it sounds like talking to Mom about this might be difficult, but hopefully the staff at the school did a good job of explaining and recommending the next steps.

Good luck---and hugs.

[W.T.Faulkner]

It looks like everybody else has the other areas covered, but I just want to say that since Voldemort is only 3 (soon to be 4), many of these issues he has will most likely improve. Learning gaps can close (and do close all the time) in the early elementary years. It's great that he has an IEP now and that these issues have already been identified.

[speckledfrog]

I just googled the code as you wrote it and found this

www.misd.net/seconsult/ECDD.pdf

Which is what balletofangels said.

I know it sounds terrible but that's because it's very clinical and things always sound terrible when they are written in a clinical manner. They have identified that areas that he needs to work on and will customize their serviced to meet his needs. He's going to grow in leaps and bounds, particularly because he is still young.

[Monica Geller]

I like when bricco responds before me...she usually says what I am thinking and saves me from typing it all out.

It's not hopeless!! He's getting help & support now. He's been identified. It will be a struggle for him, yes, but you will be amazed at how much he'll improve with the right support. 

[hisno1girl]

Thanks everyone. I KNEW you would be able to help me out!

(heart)

[rugbywife]

Someone in special ed can correct me but if his hearing has tested as okay, but he seems to be sounding words out incorrectly, perhaps it is worth looking into a Central Auditory Processing Disorder.

kidshealth.org/parent/medical/ears/central_auditory.html

www.asha.org/public/hearing/disorders/understand-apd-child.htm

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder

[osulori]

I'm not a special ed teacher, but I AM an SLP and the language and sound production stuff is what I eat sleep and breathe 40 hours a week

re: the area of disability...I'm not in MI, and I know how preschoolers are classified has changed since I was in the schools (its been 4 years now), but that sounds like his disability category for lack of a better term. Someone who teaches special ed will likely be able to give more specifics about this, but in general kids in special ed are given a disability category or classification that they fit into the best. Elementary/middle/high school age kids have a pretty wide variety of categories (speech/language impairment, cognitive disability, multiple disabilities are a few examples) but many preschool age kids are given the same "developmental delay" type category until they hit kindergarten. Then once their transition (to KG) reevaluation is completed, they're given a more specific category. Again its been a while since I've worked in the schools so don't be surprised if I'm wrong

re the PLS-5 score...with 85-115 considered average, 85 is then obviously low average. His receptive language score of 69 indicates what I'd consider to be a moderate to severe language delay BUUUUUUUT it's not uncommon for these assessments and their scores to not accurately convey a child's true language ability. Especially with preschoolers-they may not be as cooperative, or may give an answer that while technically correct does not fit the specific parameters set by the test so the SLP has to mark it as incorrect. To answer your question, I would be concerned but cautiously so because like I said the test score may not be a 100% accurate representation of his receptive language skills.

re: age equivalency...that's exactly what that means. You're right.

re: the sound production stuff...simplified blends are like "kack" for "quack" or "poon" for "spoon".

It's not out of the realm of possibility that these delays could be overcome. He's already got an early start on services which is half the battle sometimes. Things may not look good on paper, but honestly the therapists have to be cut and dry when they write these things and often need to focus on the negative a little more to make it easier to qualify the child for services. It doesn't necessarily mean he's going to need help forever

[SusanBAnthony]

My son is 6 now, but reading your report is giving me flashbacks.

The general "developmental delay" label is what DS had all through preschool. It basically means they are delayed for no specific reason (or something more specific hasn't been diagnosed yet, either because it wouldn't be age appropriate, or because they want to wait and see what happens with time). Once they hit elementary school, they need a more specific diagnosis in my state, but honestly, even then, it doesn't have to be super specific, so don't worry about that yet. We ended up with "fine and gross motor delay" as our elementary diagnosis.

It sounds like there is probably speech therapy for pronunciation and voice modulation, occupational therapy (for fine motor stuff, and maybe sensory stuff?) and physical therapy for gross motor, in his future. Are those services listed in his IEP? It also sounds like they are saying he needs a one on one aide for much of the preschool day. Sometimes it can be a big fight to get a one on one aide, as they are expensive to provide.

To address the concerns about "will he ever catch up", we floundered a lot. We still do. (We have no idea why DS is delayed by the way. He may have autism, or it may just be one of those fluke things). He makes progress and we think he is amazing and catching up, and then we get another years testing report, see how much progress all the "normal kids" make, and how much more work he needs to do still. But at the end of the day, he has made tons of progress, loves kindergarten, and is one thousand times more mature, able to focus, stronger, etc, than when we started down this path. So we just have to keep working at it and hope he ends up where he needs to be eventually. It just Might take a little longer and be a little harder, but that's life.

[rugbywife]

Nov 11, 2013 21:36:20 GMT -5 @kirkette said:

Nov 11, 2013 21:05:53 GMT -5 rugbywife said:

Someone in special ed can correct me but if his hearing has tested as okay, but he seems to be sounding words out incorrectly, perhaps it is worth looking into a Central Auditory Processing Disorder.

kidshealth.org/parent/medical/ears/central_auditory.html

www.asha.org/public/hearing/disorders/understand-apd-child.htm

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder

 They may go this route when he's out of preschool. In know in CA, Auditory Processing would fall under Specific Learning Disability. 
Here, many times a pre-school psych will go with the general term developmental delay as opposed to SLD because there hasn't been an adequate educational career yet. They child is then usually given a more detailed diagnosis at a later evaluation when more time has elapsed. 

Other than that, I agree with most of what has already been stated. 
hisno1girl, it's great that your grandson was diagnosed early. Early intervention is key. 

It is the same here, we don't look at learning disabilities until the end of grade 3. I just thought there might be useful information in the links, but you are correct, too early for a formal diagnosis of an LD

[fivechickens]

Two of my daughters (also premature) have an IFSP (I think that is the right acronym) which is for kids under 3 once they turn 3 it turns into an IEP. Their issues are due to their prematurity (celebral palsy for one and 'typical' developmental delays due to being early) and they receive OT/PT through Early Intervention/Early On. I am not going to be much help with the IEP language. From what I do understand, nothing seems hopeless to me and it is good he is getting help now.

Soon, all three of my girls will probably have an IFSP because my first and middle one will need speech. I have been told time and time again speech therapy does amazing things for kids with speech delays.

[marissa]

Former special Ed teacher, mom of 3 preemies who all are autistic, and now a special Ed advocate. Most codes will have preschool disabilities as it's own code until a specific age. Where I live in NJ, the age is 3-5. At age 5 the child is considered of kindergarten age and the child must be evaluated to see if they still qualify for special education services. At that time they will receive another code varying from SLD, to autism, multiple handicapped, etc.

[ohiowan]

www.misd.net/seconsult/ECDD.pdf

It lists the definition and criteria.

ETA: Which I would have already seen had I read the responses. Well done ladies, carry on.

[bluesmoothie]

I am going to look up Evan's IEP information for comparison. He is special ed. As far as the eating goes, pre-Evan I would have been all kinds of judgey about what she feeds him, but my son is the worst eater on the planet. If it's not Captain Crunch or hotdogs, he doesn't want it. As a saving grace, he does eat a lot of fruit. Never seen him eat a veggie. Never seen him eat anything other than hotdogs or nasty fast food nuggets. I offer him healthy food every night and he won't budge. It goes in the trash. I thought it was a phase, but he's almost 4 1/2 and his pickiness grows worse. I'm at my wits end and I don't want him to starve, so I do give into him.

It's hard so maybe give her a break over that part?

[spedrunner]

child who has a learning disability to please help me decipher some reports. Sorry for how long this is going to be.

ETA: I should have also stated that he was born at 32 weeks, he had tubes put in his ears in February and had his tongue clipped in April. He also had an intercranial (sp?) bleed when he was in the NICU but he's otherwise a healthy, spunky boy. Also, he screams everything instead of speaking in a normal voice but his hearing tests came back normal.

My grandson (Voldemort, he'll be 4 in about a month) attends an IEP (Individualized Education Program) through the public school system in northern MI. His mother gave me & DH a copy of a review and I don't understand some parts of it. Can you please help me? The text in italics is copied exactly from the report.

His area of disability is listed as Early Child Dev Delay 340.1711. Where can I go to find out what that code means?

I am unsure of what that code means, I can ask my child study team here at school and see what they know.

A Preschool Language Scale-5th edition (PLS-5) was administered to asses his strengths and weaknesses in understanding and using language. Scores between 85-115 are considered average. His language comprehension, or receptive language score was 69. How horribly bad is it that he scored significantly lower than the average? Would you be concerned if your student/child had those scores?

Its low, yes id be concerned, but you also have to factor in it could well be a maturity thing, especially with his being born premature, etc.  Some kids take longer to develop, etc.....however its best he start getting early intervention, its the key to success

Peabody Developmental Motor Scales II (PDMS-II):
Grasping skills: 15 month age equivalency (25th percentile)
Visual Motor Integration: 19 month age equivalency (5th percentile)

Does that mean he's performing the above listed actions at the age of a 15 & 19 month old child?
Yes, but like I said it could also be a maturity thing

Sound errors occurred in all words on the test. Sound omissions were recorded in 19 out of 23 words. He simplified 8 out of 10 blends and reduced syllables in 18 out of 21 words. All words on the tester were modeled for "Voldemort". What does "simplified 8 out of 10 blends and reduced syllables in 18 out of 21 words" mean?

Voldemort has no concept of the square of X. He is unable to produce any pre letters or tracing letter skills at this time. Movement is from the shoulder. He can now sit for 2-4 minutes of a group activity when the tasks change throughout such as the jumpstart sensory program. His length of attention to pencil/paper task is 4-6 seconds and needs frequent redirection. He is able to place the letters in his name on a template but cannot trace or make any of the letters in his name either with a visual or verbal prompt. He needs an adult model/indication for cross, circle, oblique lines. He scribbles for square. He needs adult one-to-one attention to focus and attend these tasks. He can attend 4-6 seconds before attention is diverted.

Def need some fine/gross motor practice and early intervention.  See what services the school is willing to provide and if possible get services on your own!  This can really be the key. I find that parents/families that are consistent are the ones that have the children that do the best and overcome many obstacles. Stay proactive and on top of things, its difficult, be a PAIN, get involved, dont feel despair
# # # # #

All of this sounds so....I don't know? Hopeless? Bad? I can't think of the right word. Do these problems sound like something he'll ever be able to overcome? I wonder if he'll be able to improve on any of these skills.

No, not hopeless!! He WILL improve and overcome many things, its so early , there are so many factors, etc. Take it one day at a time ( I know its easier said then done)

Reading this report made me cry because I wish he didn't have to struggle so much.

FTR - There's nothing I can do about this and his mother isn't asking me for advice. I tried to talk to her about his diet (high in processed foods, very high in sugar, and I'd guess that about 90% of his meals come out of a can or a box and the rest of the time he eats fast food because she doesn't want him to go hungry) and she shut me down immediately.

There is not much you can do to change moms mind, she has to be the one to see it, you can only encourage, support and listen to her, its very overwhelming being a parent, especially when special needs are involved.   I have seen great positive changes in students (and my brother) with diet change, but i know food issues can also be a problem and its not the easiet thing to instill.

Be there, be supportive, listen. 

I feel completely helpless.


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