<p>Looking for any help, please! We have thought that DD may have some issues with learning for many years. Her IQ is good (enough to qualify for G/T), but it takes a tremendous amount of effort (ie:tutoring and help from me) in order for her to achieve fairly good grades (meaning 1 or 2 As, more Bs and occsionally a C every few years). Because of her grades, whenver we mentioned an LD, her schools have just poo-pooed us away. The last time we mentioned it, we finally put it in writing and the school had a complete disciplinary meeting with us, only to say that they don't feel she warrants testing (because her grades are fine - even though it takes hours and hours of extra studying in order to achieve a low 'B' on a history test.) They believe that she may just not be the type of kid that should take honors or AP classes (she is in all honors now, and was going to take 2 or 3 AP classes next year.)</p>
<p>Let me state that my intention is not for DD to get perfect grades! I just feel that since she has been tested as G/T, since she struggles so hard to maintain slightly above average grades, there seems to be some sort of "disconnect". Case in point - last USHistory test - I helped her study for three days straight, then she had a study group session with one of the smartest kids in her grade. She received her lowest score ever - 43! Concrete stuff (like math) are her fortay. Comprehension - forget it! The discplinary team said that some kids just aren't good at that kind of stuff and it doesn't mean she has an LD.</p>
<p>I have read that some kids have LDs and compensate for many years, then hit a wall in high school when the work gets really hard, and I think that's DD. I'm not trying to go the private route for testing, but good grief it's expensive. But I still think that the school should test her.</p>
<p>I would definitely push for testing as any significant disconnect between ability and achievement is a sign of something.</p>
<p>My youngest has an LD and was diagnosed in 2nd grade. In his case, he had issues with word retrieval and with substituting similar but incorrect words, so there were some signs of a problem visible to anybody that spent any significant time with him. It was also clear that his processing speed was slow. The school tested him and diagnosed him with language-based learning disabilities. He has always tested on grade level, but his IQ is 140+, so he should be well ahead of grade level. The school gives him a bunch of extra assistance and support, and he works his butt off and mostly what he has to show for it is grade-level acheivement (but we’re thankful for that given his challenges!)</p>
<p>We have supplemented the school assistance with a private Orton Gillingham tutor. She has a daughter in our local public school (schools are reasonably well rated), but she has commented several times that it’s good our DS is in private school because in our local public school, a kid who tests on grade level wouldn’t receive much attention even given the disconnect between ability and achievement.</p>
<p>I would definitely pursue whatever it takes to get your DD tested…either through the school or privately. If she does have a learning disability, she should get that documented so that she receives the assistance she needs, and, if appropriate, she receives accommodations for the SAT, ACT, etc.</p>
<p>I share the frustration of having a kid that’s simultaneously gifted and learning disabled. We just need to keep plugging away and doing what we can do to help them achieve their potential (even if their potential is never directly visible in their grades.)</p>
<p>We are in the same boat. My D(16yo) is gifted with a big discrepency between verbal and performace. She has already been great at reading, but terrible with math. We first had her tested at age 4, but issues with this did not really start becoming obvious until the 6th grade. In 7th grade she was tested by a behavior and developmental pscyh at our local children’s hospital, and she received a very comprehensive evaluation and report. We thought she had non-verbal learning disorder, but she was diagnosed ADHD. We used these results to get a 504 at the school. It took us over two years to get it, though, because she was not failing everything. She does have a few accomodations that she uses when necessary, but they are a safety net for her. She will be testing again this summer as she will need updated results to ask for accommodations in college if she chooses to do so.</p>
<p>There is a huge difference in what you will get, testing wise, going through the district as compared to a private doctor. The district will do the bare minimum. I strongly suggest going to a private provider, they will have the best interest of your child in mind, and will do a more thorough evaluation. Our insurance covered DD’s testing. Some insurances will not cover straight ‘educational testing’, but DD’s testing was more comprehensive, so was included. </p>
<p>Just wanted to add that my 13yo son was diagnosed ADHD at 9yrs old, but I had long suspected that he had some learning issues going on. He was tested last summer by the same doc that tested my daughter, and was found to have a few issues, one being a LD unspecified that has to do with processing verbal information(to make it short). I am not sure if we would have found this going through the distict. He will be entering HS next year, and while his eval has been important for this year, it will be invaluable when starting high school.</p>
<p>Edited to add that my son’s ADHD was diagnosed with a child psychologist using a battery of behavior tests and scales(Conner’s, BASC) instead of actual testing(before D). Concurrent with this, he was given the WISC by the school psychologist who found no issues at that time. Because it is basically an IQ test, it did not measure for any LD that might have been present. DS had a HORRIBLE 5th grade year, and we attributed this to the ADHD, but were also dealing with a LD that was not yet diagnosed. DD was also tested by a school psychologist(same district) in the 4th grade for gifted, and even though the tests showed a 24pt discrepency, we were not informed of what this might suggest. This alone could have saved us years of trying to take care of things. Go to professionals.</p>
<p>These children are known as “twice exceptional” or “gifted learning disabled” or “2E” .
Many otherwise competent psychologists, doctors, and others are not familiar with this phenomenon. Google those terms and you will find lots of information. Some helpful information and websites are linked to [url=<a href=“http://www.hoagiesgifted.org%5DHoagies”>http://www.hoagiesgifted.org]Hoagies</a>’ Gifted Education Page<a href=“do%20a%20search%20on%20that%20website%20using%20%222E%22%20or%20%22twice%20exceptional%22%20or%20%22gifted%20learning%20disabled%22%20as%20your%20search%20terms”>/url</a> . You also can google those terms on amazon.com and buy books about it to educate yourself. You need to have your child evaluated by a psychologist or neuropsychologist who first confirms back to you that they are familiar and experienced in evaluating and diagnosing children who are both gifted and have a learning disability at the same time. Professionals who are inexperienced with this won’t recognize it. And by the way, if you demand in writing that your public school evaluate your child for a learning disability, by federal law they have to do so; if they are balking at it, it’s time to get yourself an advocate or a lawyer. But likely the school staff who would do the evaluation are not familiar with “2E” kids and their evaluation won’t be helpful to you; you are much much better off getting your own private evaluation done by an appropriately qualified professional who is experienced and knowledgeable about “2E”. I am the parent of two different “2E” kids and have been through the trenches for years…it’s very tough…but in the end the kids CAN succeed and really shine, and you CAN eventually get the school to “see the light” and give them the appropriate help they need to do well in the most advanced, gifted level courses (where they often will do better than in the corresponding lower level courses; another one of the paradoxes that go along with their makeup).</p>
<p>Thanks for posting splokey. D will have updated testing this summer in case she needs to ask for accommodations in college, and I will look into this. Very interesting.</p>
<p>How hard has it been to find a college for your child that is both gifted and has a learning disability?</p>
<p>My oldest is an applying senior right now. she is doing great. seems to even have a shot at ivy’s. but it has been a long, hard road to get to this point (but well worth it).</p>
<p>Wow, that’s great! D is trying very hard to have the stats for Smith, but her ACT was a 29 with a 34 english, 34 reading, 22 math, 27 science. She tries very hard, and is such a smart kid, but just does not seem to have the brain for math, and has poor EF skills. I am going to check into all of this tomorrow. Thanks again!</p>
<p>My daughter’s standardized tests are lower than that. But in the colleges that accepted her so far, she is getting big scholarships that are out of whack, way above what her stats would predict. I believe this is because from her essay and her recommendations, the adcoms are seeing that she has overcome quite a lot in doing as well as she has despite the obstacles posed by her LD, and because of unrelated character strenghths that are shining through…she’s doing as well thus far or even better than much higher scoring non-LD classmates. I would think your daughter has a strong shot at Smith, especially because I have the impression that Smith doesn’t care that strongly about the standardized test scores (aren’t they optional there?) anyway; and your daughter scored so well in the non-math areas.</p>
<p>They are optional at Smith, but since D’s english/reading are strong she would probably submit them. She is a very unique kid, and will, I believe, have strong essays and teacher recommendations. I know she is planning on disclosing her ADHD and the challanges that she has faced and overcome. Of course, as much as I want her to get in where she wants to go I totally fear her acutally going to college and dealing with these issues on her own. But, that is a bridge we will cross when we get there. </p>
<p>Congrats to your daughter, it sounds like she has some great options. When deciding which colleges to apply to did your D take into account their disability services?</p>
<p>My oldest daughter doesn’t really need any services; basically she just needs the accommodation of extra time on tests. She doesn’t have any executive function difficulties and is very able to advocate for herself when need be. So, for her, disability services aren’t much of a concern. However, her younger sibling (who is not yet in high school) is also “2E” but has executive function difficulties and when it’s time for that one to go to college, disability services are probably going to be a huge factor in choosing a college. For your daughter, I would think a place like Smith would be fantastic. We have visited Bryn Mawr and I assume Smith is similar; it seemed at Bryn Mawr there is a lot of personal support and close relationships between students and their assigned “dean”. The one aspect that is of concern to me, though, at least for Bryn Mawr, is that the workload seemed like it might be super heavy (heavier than an ivy insofar as quantity/ amount of time needed to study to get it all done) - for someone (like my kids) who need “extra time”, that might mean that all they have time for is work, and not much time left over for socializing (at least that’s how it seemed at Bryn Mawr).</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. We will keep that on our radar when we visit at the end of the month. I am not sure that D has been focusing on that aspect yet. </p>
<p>I checked this morning with the psychologist who will be doing D’s evaluation in the summer about her familiarity and experience with diagnosing giftedness and learning disabilities at the same time. She responded that yes, she is very familiar with evaluating this sort of situation. Yay! </p>
<p>I have no idea if she will be diagnosed 2E, although I strongly suspect that she will and S might also. When I read this last night it was literally liked a light bulb went off in my head, why hadn’t I thought of this before? If this turns out to be correct, I will truly be sad for my D, whom I have been trying to advocate for since before she even started school. I am very disappointed with my local school system, who would never provide gifted services for her because she did not “qualify” because of her performance scores, even though they knew of the large discrepancy. But, it would give me hope for her future success, and I will try to focus on that. Thank you so much for taking the time to post.</p>
<p>Just wanted to share our experience with you. Both our older daughters were diagnosed with LD. They were diagnosed out of the district and while our youngest daughter received a 504 and accommodations and pulling out of classrooms, we also used private tutors for both girls who specialized in working with dyslexia and other LD diagnosis. We found that tutors who were not trained to help with LD offered no help to our girls. We continued with the 504 until graduation with the youngest, but through specialized help outside of school, they both learned how compensate for their disabilities and go to the school of their choice. The oldest will graduate in August with her Masters in marriage and family therapy and has a 4.0 in her grades. The youngest graduated with a civil engineering degree and is working for a major oil & gas company. Go with your gut, get tested out of school if you can afford it otherwise push very hard for the testing. Find the right tutor and if you can afford it do it both in and out of school, do it and whatever you child is capable of, don’t be satisfied with less.</p>
<p>I also have to admit, that private tutors have been a necessary and hugely valuable piece of the solution for my children. I feel fortunate that we have been able to afford that and understand many people cannot, though. For my oldest, during her last couple of years of high school, tutoring was no longer necessary. However, for her younger sibling, tutoring is necessary actually every day and may need to continue throughout high school. With that, and the right accommodations in school, my kids are able to be in AP level classes (with accommodations) and sometimes (in their areas of strength) even outperform the brightest of their classmates who have no LD. It is an uphill battle, though, to get certain teachers to understand that someone CAN be “gifted” and “LD” at the same time, sometimes within the same subject area (i.e., have gifted mathematical reasoning ability but have a severe disability in doing calculations).</p>
<p>Parents have the right under IDEA to request testing and school must comply. It isn’t optional.</p>
<p>I would recommend that you visit the following forum and post there about difficulty with getting school to test or anything else. There are some very experienced parents who would provide with you great advice.</p>
<p>Another parent of 2 2e kids here! Adequate grades are not a reason to deny testing–but I agree you will get better results with private testing. Happy to share more experiences…</p>
<p>I run a private psychologist practice in PA. Don’t delay any longer in getting your child tested. If you are frustrated, imagine how she feels. I know it’s expensive for private testing but it is an investment in your child’s future. Perhaps a respected practice in your area can offer you a payment plan. It’s worth a phone call ASAP!</p>
<p>I got tested…$3000 (most reputable psychologist in the area). It was the only way I could get extended time. I was in the Honors Program and taking 4 APs; my counselor told me to drop out (of the program). My GPA was a 3.4 that year, and everyone thought I was stressing myself out too much. My parents went up to them and basically said, “If someone would be able to perform at their highest potential, why don’t you let them do it? Why don’t you even let her finish her tests?” I am also Asian, and I can’t tell you how many times they thought my parents were just pushing for better grades. It made me pretty upset.</p>
<p>Psycho-Ed testing pretty much saved my life.</p>
<p>It sounds like you were a very high performing student and that all you needed was extra time. Do you mind disclosing here (since you are anonymous here, anyway) what the evaluation revealed was your disability, that was able to get you the extended time? And how much extra time: 50percent or 100 percent or unlimited? This information might be very helpful for others in your situation. Thanks so much!!!</p>
<p>I was given 300% over multiple days, which I believe is the most that the ACT gives (I could be wrong). My psycho-ed analysis started out with a brief summary of my background, test for IQ (134), and A LOT of other tests I can’t remember the name of (there were normal academic tests, tests that determined neurological issues, physical tests, speed tests, etc). I was tested over 2 days and resulted in the following diagnosis:
CP (already had that before)
Mixed Expressive/Receptive Disorder
Adjustment Disorder w/ Anxious features
The doctor also ruled out ADHD and stated that explicitly in the diagnosis section (but somewhere else she said I showed signs of attention issues). </p>
<p>In addition to the facts itself, I think the psychologist also wrote an amazing summary of my current needs and said that if I was not given extended time, I would be performing horribly and end up with health issues (which was true; I slept around 1-2 AM everyday). </p>