Smart Kids With LD

By Beth Margolin

Starting a new school year can be exciting—but it also can be stressful, particularly for kids who have learning disabilities or ADHD and have struggled in academic settings in the past. Here are five ways to minimize those first-day jitters and start the new school year off right:

1. Don’t over-promise

Every school year I feel the need to talk up how this year will be the best one yet in order to spark some excitement and reduce anxiety in my child. Don’t do it. Each year is a bit more challenging, so it’s better to remind your child how he overcame certain difficulties last year, and discuss upcoming hurdles as challenges you can work through together.

2. Check out the school and the teacher

Along with your child, visit her school a few days before the semester begins to do a walk-through. Go to her classroom and acquaint (or reacquaint) her with the building. Perhaps you can even schedule a five-minute meet-and-greet with her new teacher. Seeing the school and her classroom beforehand will help prepare her mentally and eliminate some of that first-day-of-school stress.

3. Speak with the teacher

Don’t let your child’s learning difficulties remain just words on a piece of paper. Call his teacher as soon as school begins, and share with him or her the things that have worked and not worked for your child in the past. The teacher may already know that he shouldn’t read out loud, but tell her how much he loves to share his vast knowledge in science or art.

4. Find a friend

Get on the mommy hotline to see if you can find out who is in your child’s class. One friendly face, even if it’s not a great pal, can help reduce the anxiety of walking into a new situation.

5. Build in free time

With more homework, sports, religious school, music practice, and tutors, it’s easy to over-schedule your child. Make sure you set aside a few hours a week to do nothing. She may use that time to talk with you about what’s going on at school, so you can continue to be there to support her.

By Candace Cortiella

The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) released its biennial report: State of Learning Disabilities: Facts, Trends and Indicators. The publication provides the authoritative national and state-by-state snapshot of learning disabilities (LD) in the United States, and their impact on the ability of students and adults to achieve educational success and employment. State of Learning Disabilities also clarifies what a learning disability is and explains the common misperceptions associated with LD.

The report documents significant advancements for students with learning disabilities as well as continued challenges facing older students, college students, and adults with LD. Key findings include:

• The number of school-age children with learning disabilities has declined by 14%during the last decade.
• 2.5 million public school students have learning disabilities and are eligible to receive special education – representing 42% of the 5.9 million students with disabilities, down from a high of over 50% a decade ago.
• Learning disabilities do not include conditions such as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, intellectual disabilities, autism, deafness, and blindness yet such conditions are often confused with LD.
• More students with LD are graduating with a regular high school diploma (64%) than only a decade ago (52%) and fewer students with learning disabilities are dropping out of school (22%) than in 1999 (40%).
• Students with LD attend postsecondary education at lower rates than their non-disabled peers. Only 10% of students with learning disabilities enrolled in a 4-year college within 2 years of leaving high school.

The State of Learning Disabilities: Facts, Trends and Indicators updates the initial release of the State of Learning Disabilities published in 2009. These reports provide the only comprehensive examination of LD in the U.S. and the impact on educational achievement and obtaining and maintaining employment. The full report and related information can be found at www.ld.org/stateofld.

Candace Cortiella is Director of The Advocacy Institute and the author of the State of Learning Disabilities report.

By Devon MacEachron, Ph.D.

School districts may conduct evaluations under certain mandated conditions. Although these evaluations are free of charge, there are potential drawbacks. Before your child can receive an evaluation, he typically must meet the following criteria:

• Be performing at a level below the average for his grade (the definition of “average” is above the 25^th percentile);
• “Failed to respond” to general classroom instruction for an undefined period of time (Tier 1 in Response to Intervention);
• Failed to respond to a Tier II general intervention, which need not have been customized to his specific learning needs.

Thus a bright student whose verbal ability is at the 95^th percentile but is reading at the 26^th percentile may fail to qualify for testing as he is performing in the “average range” for his grade.

In addition, valuable time can be lost in waiting for “failure to respond” to general classroom instruction. Finally, a student with reading comprehension weaknesses may be grouped in Tier II with students being given instruction in phonological processing (which is not the intervention treatment that the student with reading comprehension difficulties needs).

Even if your child qualifies for a public school evaluation, due to time and cost constraints the evaluation is not likely to be as thorough as most independent assessments. School evaluations tend to focus on the child’s areas of weakness, not on developing a full profile of strengths and weaknesses. This gives you just one side of the picture—the bad news—and the disappointing feeling that your child is somehow lacking. When a school conducts an evaluation the findings become part of your child’s permanent school record. Labels may be given which can stick with your child throughout their academic career.

In my experience the recommendations in school evaluations are often limited to interventions that are readily available at the school the child attends. These are not necessarily the optimal recommendations to address the child’s learning needs. It is highly unlikely, for example, that a school evaluation would recommend a program that is available outside of the school as this would give the child’s parents (and advocate) just the information they need to argue that the school district should pay for private treatment.

In contrast, an independent, privately contracted psychoeducational assessment gives you the information you need to help your child realize his or her full potential. With this information in hand it is possible to work cooperatively with your child’s school to see what they are willing and able to provide, while supplementing what they can do outside of school.

Devon MacEachron is the Co-Founder and Director of Psychoeducational Assessment at the CT Center for Exceptional Learners, LLC.