8th Grade LD/Special Needs Kid Wants to Talk College

Parents Forum Learning Differences and Challenges - LD, ADHD
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<p>My DS is in the 8th grade and wants to talk about college but because of his LD I have no idea about the possibilities.</p>

<p>In many ways I don' have any idea what will happen in the next 4 1/2 years. We are just starting to really see more than just our local college as a possibility. My son is currently in 8th grade and taking Algebra I (H), Advanced Science, Advanced Art, Reg English 8, Reg Geography, and PE. We are so proud. The school counselors and administrators walk around patting themselves on the back. He started 6th grade with all remedial classes (except advanced Math) despite strong test scores and stanines. He couldn't do the work. He could comprehend all the information but couldn't show his knowledge if not multiple choice which is why his test scores are high. </p>

<p>He is not Aspergers but doesn't assimilate social clues at an average level. Maybe at low normal level. He has friends but his articulation is poor.
His IQ is around 140. The Psychologist told us when he was 6 she had never seen a kid with such profound weaknesses have such a high IQ.
In fact he has no real diagnosed disability despite all the doctors he has seen. We just use 'Language Learning Disability'.
He has been receiving special services since age 2. IEP's ect. </p>

<p>A perfect example would be in Kindergarten DS did not know his alphabet nor how to count to 10. One day he sat down and wrote to 100. I was shocked! I started printing off math worksheets and he started doing tons of Math! 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade. 27 + 34 = 61 in his head. However he didn't know the name of 27, 34, or 61. He just knew their values. He didn't have the words of any of the math…just the ability to do it. </p>

<p>In Kindergarten he wasn't even speaking fully. </p>

<p>These days his written presentation is not strong but he is using a laptop in school which helps a ton. He is really starting to be able to produce work which conveys his knowledge level. I think his school thinks he is the most exciting special needs student they have ever seen from the standpoint of progress obtained. The thought of where he started and where he is now produces tears at school among the admin and teachers. Seriously to tears. </p>

<p>I'm not sure if words will ever flow fluently for him. It affects his speech, reading and writing. His Algebra I (H) and Advanced Science teacher tell me he is certainly one of the smartest and obvious standouts in their classes. His Geography teacher came up to me and flat out told me she could tell he had a disability. </p>

<p>Now he wants to talk college. I have NO idea how to proceed. I suspect he will take many advanced classes in HS. He is already planning his HS activities such as swim team. Because he tests well I expect him to at least get above average SAT scores. This kid works HARD. Frequently he pounds the books from the end of the school day until he goes to bed just to get a normal amount of work accomplished. Words do not flow but he is hungry for knowledge. He is an A student. </p>

<p>What is out there in on there for college for learning disabled people? DS is looking at the University of Southern California because his older brother attended. I'm thinking smaller on the west side of the country. I'd actually be good with him attending our local university and living at home. There is nothing wrong with that! Yet he has different aspirations and I love that he wants goals for himself. </p>

<p>To those parents with LD kids, if you could go back and do anything different…what would it be? How does all of this work?</p>

<p>I need guidance. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

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<p>My son has language-related learning disabilities (my phrase, SpEd folks use less descriptive phrases) including severe dyslexia and delayed speech and articulation issues. He has a very high IQ and like your son, a psychologist who saw his profile said, “We call kids like this severely gifted. I’d hate to be inside his skin.” It’s like having a supercomputer for a processor but input/output is done via dial-up lines. He did badly on standardized tests (mid 40’s percentile) until he got accommodations and until his reading improved. He didn’t really start to read until third grade and his writing didn’t become decent until partway through high school. Both are now very good but quite fatiguing. He was a sponge for ideas (and surprisingly complex ones at every age level) and could think really well but could not express his thoughts well.</p>

<p>The good news: he graduated in the top 5 in his HS class (they don’t do class rank but that’s an educated guess) at a highly regarded, pretty competitive suburban Boston public high school and surprised me by scoring 99+ percentile on each part of the SATs and as well on the ACTs and even got a 770 on the SAT II literature exam despite the fact that he hadn’t taken a literature course since first semester sophomore year. He was successful in arguing Moot Court cases in his high school’s competition and lost in the finals in front of a panel of state judges (and was offered an internship by one). He’s co-authoring a novel that has gotten interest from agents and publishers. He was admitted to a number of very good schools and is now a freshman at a very highly ranked LAC. His main extracurricular activity in college is on their debate team (who would have ever thought this possible for a dyslexic kid with a speech delay).</p>

<p>Things I would do differently.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>More focus early on remediation and assistive technology to address the fatigue. Make sure he is really comfortable with the technology.</p></li>
<li><p>Start partial homeschooling or homeschooling earlier. Partial homeschooling enabled us to focus on building skills rather than doing assignments that often had a lot of busywork that for him was tiring. We did partial because my wife was concerned about social skills. Although he’s not a slap you on the back type and prefers a few close friends, his people skills actually seem reasonably good. He reads people well and is making lots of acquaintances/situational friends in his first year in college while looking for the close friends. He would have preferred full home-schooling and that might have been better. Who knows? </p></li>
<li><p>Play more to his strengths (which we downpedaled a bit too much) while addressing his weaknesses.</p></li>
<li><p>We did this well but I’d give you advice to get IEP, 504 and neuropsych testing sufficient to get SAT and ACT accommodations. Pay for private testing as appropriate but get documents that the testing agencies (and the colleges thereafter) will feel are sufficient. Not all neuropsychologists know how to write for that audience. Be prepared to negotiate with the College Board or ACT folks if they don’t offer him appropriate accommodations.</p></li>
<li><p>Consider colleges with few requirements and lots of curricular flexibility. So far, this looks like a blessing. Skip colleges with intense core curriculum or distribution requirements. Small may be better than big.</p></li>
<li><p>Take a gap year. He did and needed it to recover from HS and get surgery for an energy-sapping condition. Because of the extra effort our kids have to make, they may need the year to build up energy reserves.</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>Nevada-
Was your son evaluated for dyslexia? Early sequencing problems an dproblems with sound-symbol relationships and the lexical representation of language is often an early indicator of a reading disorder. Just wondering.</p>

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<p>Nevada–</p>

<p>Shawbridge really knows his stuff. You might want to print his recommendations and keep them where you can find them.</p>

<h1>5 may be especially important. Some of our kids get swept away by the marketing, hype and image of the big, well-known schools. Even kids that don’t otherwise aren’t interested in trends or trying to impress people.</h1>

<p>When he was in about 9th grade, one of my kids started envisioning himself at a large stateuniversity. Once his vision was “set,” no logic could convince him that he might be better off at a smaller school. Given his struggles in college, I wish he would have gone to a smaller, more flexible college. </p>

<p>There definitely ARE colleges out there for kids with unique learning needs. Some kids’ needs are more unique than others. And some colleges are better than others at truly meeting unique needs. You and your son may have to make a lot of campus visits, talk with a lot of Disabilities Directors on those campuses, and sort through the lists of goals, priorities, wants, and needs. </p>

<p>While that discussion of goals/wants/needs happens for nearly all parents and kids as they consider colleges, it can be a lot more complicated for kids with LDs or unique learning styles.</p>

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<p>Landmark is a 2 year college that has a fantastic reputation for working with kids with LDs.</p>

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<p>I am sorry but Landmark costs an arm and a leg for a two year college, even given its specialty.</p>

<p>[Admissions</a> | Landmark College | Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.landmark.edu/admissions/financial_aid_tuition.html]Admissions”>http://www.landmark.edu/admissions/financial_aid_tuition.html)</p>

<p>Truly, I am sorry. To spend over one hundred thousand dollars on a two year degree from a college specializing in LD’s is a heck of a lot. No offense intended towards anyone. </p>

<p>With OP, I wonder some things. When was the last time your child was formally evaluated for their LD? I also wonder what their IEP is like? It’s like your child has a NOS issue going on. And sometimes a NOS issue makes sense, but sometimes it is a cop out from a psych.</p>

<p>Lastly, my own humble opinion is that your child could do well working along with the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation while attending Community College for two years and then they could just speed through the rest of their degree at a four year school (I say that because your child seems darned bright and hard working). If your city has a fully funded Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, then it would be worth looking into what they could do to help your child make that progression from high school to college and everything in between, you know what I mean? :)</p>

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<p>I would disagree with Mildred about the right path for your kid. I would work for the next 4 years on skills and finding a college/university that works for him. My son, who as I said is really dyslexic, seems to be doing pretty well in his first semester in college. He got the highest grade on his economics mid-term and seems to be doing well across the board as far as I can tell.</p>

<p>Another post includes this link to a dyslexic biology professor who just won the Nobel prize this year.</p>

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<p>It’s so GREAT that he’s already interested in college! So much will change in the next 4 years, he will grow and develop and change…and so will the conversation. He’s a good student, he tests well, he has dyslexia and some difficulty with social skills…he may be a good candidate for a number of schools. (I’m sure he does want to live on a campus and have the full experience, and he could try that, at your local U, with the knowledge that he could always move back home and continue his studies if necessary.) He sounds like a great kid and I’m sure there will be some bumps, but I would definitely encourage him. (My d sounds like his opposite, with very high social and verbal skills, but dysgraphia and trouble with standardized tests. She too is hard-working and ambitious, and we talk a lot about how to find a place where she can learn a lot without suffering in math/science classes that are simply beyond her.) </p>

<p>“Flexible curriculum” is key-- and if anyone knows a link on here to a good list of colleges with more flexible or open curriculums, I’d love to have it. Thanks!</p>

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<p>I actually really thank you for disagreeing with me! I completing glossed over or otherwise ignored the fact that OP’s young adult child still has four years to go with schooling! Thank you. </p>

<p>I still cannot help but wonder about the LD testing results in this scenario. </p>

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<p>What do the doctors use? If they use “NOS” (not otherwise specified) then that is really not all to very good a thing. Have you ever thought of going to a neuropsychiatric doctor? I am just wondering.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the advise. I appreciate the feedback. Things have been full speed around our house lately with an entire extended family (4 pp.) having been hit hard by the economy and moving in with us. They are back on their feet and gone. It’s tough to have 2 families living together!</p>

<p>We recently redid my son’s IEP. He’s entering HS in the Fall. That is going to be interesting. Everyone is really excited for him as he is just rocking his world. He will probably enter HS with 4 full credits - Spanish 1, Algerbra 1 (H), PE, Health (half credit) and Computers (half credit). Not too shabby. He is currently taking 9 classes (several are independent study), swimming every day in preparation to try out for a swim club (he is still learning the strokes, breathing, diving and turning). Plus he is working on merit badges because he wants to get his Eagle Scout. He made all A’s for the semester. </p>

<p>My son has seen doctors, psychologists, therapists his entire life. We’ve seen professionals from Vanderbilt, Duke, Cornell in addition to our hometown specialists. No one has a clue what is up with my son. They all agree it’s NOT Aspergers. The most definitive diagnoses we’ve received is ‘language learning disability’. It seems to be a different from what is typically seen and understood. His comprehension is excellent but getting it back out to prove it is the challenge. His writing skills are the pits. Mildred, I guess his actual LD’s are reading, writing, speech, and spelling. They discontinued speech services at school because they didn’t want to pull him out of his HS classes and they said he ‘basically’ had his R’s. Heh. What is interesting is despite the fact my son has these language issues he tests in the 99% nationally for vocal. </p>

<p>Shawbridge, our sons sound similar. Is his only diagnoses dyslexia? I really appreciate your recommends. We’ve had an amazing tutor for a year and a half which is one of the reasons my son is currently doing so well. I’d say he is partially home schooled. It’s like paying for a private school education while your kid goes to public school. He was/is a bit resistant to technologies but we are getting him there. He currently using his laptop in almost every class. How did you handle EC’s? He really wants to do this swimming thing but I have no idea how he is going to work it in when he is slammed by school.</p>

<p>He still loves to talk college. He is taking the foreign languages with the tutor. He only wants to take 2 years. Should we push for 3 years? I just have no idea where we will aim. How important are AP’s for a LD kid? He fully plans to take math and science AP’s but draws the line at English AP’s. Although he wants honors English. That sounds reasonable to me with his skills sets and disabilities. I just would have never thought this kid would be performing at this level even with these issues. I have NO idea what the next 4 years will bring but it is a bit exciting.</p>

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<p>Nevada, I am glad to hear that all is going well thus far.</p>

<p>The diagnoses are relatively inexact as descriptors because different brains are wired really differently. My son has dyslexia (decoding is slow and painful though comprehension is superb); dysgraphia (probably mostly over this but it used to kill him to write by hand and it is still tiring to write on the computer); and has some kind of speech delay (it takes a while for him to respond but the delay has shrunk over the years). His processing speed was slower but this has increased over the years. The brains actually rewire themselves. At one level, he does not hear sounds well. He can’t reproduce the sounds of a foreign language. He puts the capital T in Tone Deaf. Although this has improved, for years he could not hear whether the notes were going up or down and his singing was worse than you can possibly imagine. Interestingly, when he sings Happy Birthday, his notes are somewhat correlated with the correct melody (they used to just go down). However, he still can’t think with music playing (especially high-pitched music). [However, he can listen to an audiobook and read another book or do math proofs and retain the audio and written content – this would be impossible for me]. What is this package called? Who knows? We call it dyslexia for short. I think they call it Specific Learning Disabilities.</p>

<p>My son had to (and has to) limit ECs. He did essentially none before he started partial homeschooling. Then, he started a club and started competing in Moot Court. But he didn’t play sports. In college, he has a couple of ECs. His strategy is focus. Wow the he… out of the teachers/professors at the beginning of each term/year. Use that to get additional flexibility if needed. [His advisor in college was the Dean of Students, who has already been helpful in part because of how well ShawSon knocked the ball out of the park in his first semester]. Pick one or two activities. Do things with a few close friends (hopefully including exercise). He just cannot do more. </p>

<p>I can’t comment on the foreign language. If he can do it, great. Three years beats two. But, if he can’t, he can get into a good college without it as long as there is a good explanation for why he didn’t take it.</p>

<p>AP classes in Math and Science were fine for ShawSon. His school didn’t offer AP’s in English or Social Science. We engineered not to do English at the HS so that he could learn to write, but for him an Honors English course would be entirely counterproductive – they would be looking for literary analysis but not teaching writing except by osmosis. If your son needs work on writing, I’d say screw the literary analysis until he can write (though ShawSon found the literary analysis part relatively easy).</p>

<p>Good luck with it all.</p>

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<p>Nevada, my son is dyslexic and profiles similar to Shawbridge…which is similar to your son. I’m suprised he didn’t test as dyslexic…really surprised. Mine also had speech issues and saw a speech theapist for several years in elementary school. By the way my son is one year ahead of yours and doing well in high school. He did drop a fluff class to put himself into a resource room study/hall because he was struggling keeping up with the reading and writing. He plays two seasons of sports and was up past midnight in the fall trying to keep up. The extra hour each day during the day has helped him immensely. My son is very pragmatic about dyslexia so does not have any problem speaking up when he needs extra time and being classified by his peer groups as “special ed”. He’s so bright that it’s pretty much a non-issue with his friends. Other than that he is having a great freshman year with a 4.0. He also entered 9th having taken some of the traditional HS classes in 8th grade. He will take some APs but not in English. His writing is still terribly lagging but we’re going to spend 4 years concentrating on that His reading is painfully slow but his comphresion is excellent so we’re going to back off the reading to focus on the writing. He may never read any better or any faster. Good luck to you. I held my breath the first two months of high school wondering if my son was going to be OK and I’m starting to relax and move to cruise mode. The hardest hurdle for me was making the teachers understand that he even had issues as he’s following on the heels of two older brothers. The teachers figure it our pretty quick when he has to write a paper. One of his teachers asked me about dyslexia because he didn’t know much about it and wanted to know what it was like because he couldn’t imagine. Shawbridge I’m going to remember your analogie about the supercomputer and the dial up…that is a perfect description. But boy, I still can’t believe your son wasn’t dx-ed with dyslexia.</p>