Stepson’s test looks like NLD

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Posted by Wrenda on December 06, 202 at 20:05:48:

Hello to everyone,

Well I’ve posted here before, but not consistently. My 11 yr. old stepson was finally tested by the school. We had taken him last year to the only Dev. Ped. in our city who did no testing. We still don’t know why and she didn’t give us any answers. Over the last four years he has also been to two psychologists, still no testing done. He has had consistent periodic behavior difficulties at school, usually from being tactile defensive which he has been doing quite well with the last few weeks. He has been suspended 3x so far this year. All along we have known that something else must be going on. He has had a lot of the NLD criteria, but not all. The most notable things are that he takes everything literally to the extreme, comprehension reading level way below his reading ability, written expression way below his level, still struggles with tying his shoes. He can do it, but it takes him a long time. Initially struggled with learning to ride a bike. We have been so frustrated. I finally asked the school to test him after his last suspension.

The WISC-III showed his total IQ to be 103. VIQ 118, PIQ 103 indicating a 15 point spread. All of his subtest scores were within average to high average range. However, significant scatter especially on the PIQ scores, some slightly below the average. WIAT showed his reading to be at 9th grade level, but with only 6th grade level comprehension. He did, however, seem to do well with math, although this scattered as well, reasoning at 10th grade level, calculation at 7th grade level. His written expression was at a 2nd grade level. (He is in 6th grade.) He spells very well, but had a significantly difficult time getting his thoughts to paper.

What was noted by the psychologist was his significant difficulty with processing speed as well as focusing on the insignificant details either verbally or visually causing him to not be able to understand the inferences or get the main idea. She also noted that he was rigid in his thinking and unable to shift from one task to another easily. When I talked to her today, she felt that what we were seeing was most definitely a nonverbal learning disorder. He could do certain tasks, but had extraordinary difficulty with doing so in a timely manner which included all areas of the testing even where he did well.

What is controversial here is that he seems to play sports quite well. He is in basketball and does not seem to be incoordinated. He has been swimming since he was a baby and this may have helped him tremendously with coordination, musle tone, etc.

The psychologist is going to recommend special educational services on Monday. What are my questions? Well we don’t seem to have a competent Dev. Ped. in our area so we are going basically on the schools testing. Our concern is that we feel that he needs a good Dev. Ped. to help us and him. We don’t where to go for that. The other thing is that we’ve had him on a waiting list now to be evaluated by an OT for three months and when I called today he is still 25th on the list. At this rate, it will be 2 years before he gets seen. We don’t know where to go with that either. We are checking with the school on this, but then again it needs to be someone who is familiar with this. Also I feel it might be very helpful if he can be evaluated by the schools language and speech pathologist, is this something that any of you would recommend? It seems a logical thing to do.

We are trying desperately to get this child the help he needs and feel we keep running into road blocks. I asked his pediatrician today about pushing along the OT eval. and she said that a lot of times they are dealing with critical care patients, but as soon as someone stops therapy there could be an opening. I got to thinking about that after I got home and it made me kind of angry. He is already in the 6th grade, he can’t wait too much longer for an OT eval and his situation is also critical in my opinion.

The school psychologist is hoping that the OT will do the VMI testing and the Visual perception testing as she says that would help better to determine his abilities/deficiencies with that.

So here we are, wondering how the heck we are supposed to get this child all the things he needs to develop a good solid support system. We live in Springfield, IL which is a relatively small city compared to others and apparently the resources here are very limited.

Any suggestions? Comments? I would appreciate this immensely. I hope this makes some sense because as I write this, I realize I’m pretty tired. Our house is interesting to say the least, both boys (both 11, one my own and my stepson), both on Concerta, but both different as night and day. My son is a gifted spatial learner, who had certain areas that looked like NLD with his sensory integration issues, but with all the testing on him his DX is atypical ADHD, dyslexia, SID and most definitely quite amazing visual abilities with an extraordinary memory. My stepson is the opposite learning best through auditory means as we have known with definite high intelligence and many strengths as well. They have both had social difficulties, but my son’s been due to impulsiveness, talking too much impulsively. John’s is due to misinterpreting social cues. What a journey this has been!

Anyway, rather long I’m afraid. I apologize for that, but would appreciate any comments or suggestions.

Sincerely,

Wrenda

Follow Ups:

Re: Stepson’s test looks like NLD debbie 14:19:33 12/09/2(0)
Re: Stepson’s test looks like NLD kc 08:37:24 12/09/2(2)
- Re: Stepson’s test looks like NLD Wrenda 12:06:56 12/09/2(1)
  - Re: Stepson’s test looks like NLD kc 17:37:55 12/09/2(0)

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: Hello to everyone,: Well I’ve posted here before, but not consistently. My 11 yr. old stepson was finally tested by the school. We had taken him last year to the only Dev. Ped. in our city who did no testing. We still don’t know why and she didn’t give us any answers. Over the last four years he has also been to two psychologists, still no testing done. He has had consistent periodic behavior difficulties at school, usually from being tactile defensive which he has been doing quite well with the last few weeks. He has been suspended 3x so far this year. All along we have known that something else must be going on. He has had a lot of the NLD criteria, but not all. The most notable things are that he takes everything literally to the extreme, comprehension reading level way below his reading ability, written expression way below his level, still struggles with tying his shoes. He can do it, but it takes him a long time. Initially struggled with learning to ride a bike. We have been so frustrated. I finally asked the school to test him after his last suspension. : The WISC-III showed his total IQ to be 103. VIQ 118, PIQ 103 indicating a 15 point spread. All of his subtest scores were within average to high average range. However, significant scatter especially on the PIQ scores, some slightly below the average. WIAT showed his reading to be at 9th grade level, but with only 6th grade level comprehension. He did, however, seem to do well with math, although this scattered as well, reasoning at 10th grade level, calculation at 7th grade level. His written expression was at a 2nd grade level. (He is in 6th grade.) He spells very well, but had a significantly difficult time getting his thoughts to paper.: What was noted by the psychologist was his significant difficulty with processing speed as well as focusing on the insignificant details either verbally or visually causing him to not be able to understand the inferences or get the main idea. She also noted that he was rigid in his thinking and unable to shift from one task to another easily. When I talked to her today, she felt that what we were seeing was most definitely a nonverbal learning disorder. He could do certain tasks, but had extraordinary difficulty with doing so in a timely manner which included all areas of the testing even where he did well. : What is controversial here is that he seems to play sports quite well. He is in basketball and does not seem to be incoordinated. He has been swimming since he was a baby and this may have helped him tremendously with coordination, musle tone, etc. : The psychologist is going to recommend special educational services on Monday. What are my questions? Well we don’t seem to have a competent Dev. Ped. in our area so we are going basically on the schools testing. Our concern is that we feel that he needs a good Dev. Ped. to help us and him. We don’t where to go for that. The other thing is that we’ve had him on a waiting list now to be evaluated by an OT for three months and when I called today he is still 25th on the list. At this rate, it will be 2 years before he gets seen. We don’t know where to go with that either. We are checking with the school on this, but then again it needs to be someone who is familiar with this. Also I feel it might be very helpful if he can be evaluated by the schools language and speech pathologist, is this something that any of you would recommend? It seems a logical thing to do. : We are trying desperately to get this child the help he needs and feel we keep running into road blocks. I asked his pediatrician today about pushing along the OT eval. and she said that a lot of times they are dealing with critical care patients, but as soon as someone stops therapy there could be an opening. I got to thinking about that after I got home and it made me kind of angry. He is already in the 6th grade, he can’t wait too much longer for an OT eval and his situation is also critical in my opinion. : The school psychologist is hoping that the OT will do the VMI testing and the Visual perception testing as she says that would help better to determine his abilities/deficiencies with that. : So here we are, wondering how the heck we are supposed to get this child all the things he needs to develop a good solid support system. We live in Springfield, IL which is a relatively small city compared to others and apparently the resources here are very limited.: Any suggestions? Comments? I would appreciate this immensely. I hope this makes some sense because as I write this, I realize I’m pretty tired. Our house is interesting to say the least, both boys (both 11, one my own and my stepson), both on Concerta, but both different as night and day. My son is a gifted spatial learner, who had certain areas that looked like NLD with his sensory integration issues, but with all the testing on him his DX is atypical ADHD, dyslexia, SID and most definitely quite amazing visual abilities with an extraordinary memory. My stepson is the opposite learning best through auditory means as we have known with definite high intelligence and many strengths as well. They have both had social difficulties, but my son’s been due to impulsiveness, talking too much impulsively. John’s is due to misinterpreting social cues. What a journey this has been! : Anyway, rather long I’m afraid. I apologize for that, but would appreciate any comments or suggestions.: Sincerely,: Wrenda

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