<p>Can any one give me some insight on working memory problems?</p>
<p>Three years ago, at 14 my son was diagnosed with deficits, but they did not qualify for any accommodations. He has managed to limp by with a C+ in math with alot of support from a private tutor. His other grades have been mostly B to B+' swith a smattering of A's.</p>
<p>This quarter the wheels came off the wagon. He had a barrage of personal setbacks and disappointments that seemed to come weekly. No one died or lost a limb, it was just one crappy thing after another that happened TO him as opposed to things he caused.</p>
<p>He pushed through his disappointments and kept up with his studies, but what he was doing before no longer worked. His test scores in Alg2 went from C's to D's and F's. And Spanish3 which he was able to always get a B slipped to a D. The GPA is going to take a hit.</p>
<p>In Algebra he said he couldn't remember "anything" when he got the test. His tutor tells me that the test results are not at all indicitive of what he knows. The last quarter in Spanish they transitioned from vocab/grammar lessons to reading a novel. He expressed that he was lost trying to keep up with the plot while translating in his brain. I must say in Spanish he is not blameless. The teacher is tough and unsympathetic and DS did kind of shut down.</p>
<p>I'm not sure where to go from here. School ended yesterday. He has fufillled his Spanish requirement, so it will not be an issue until college. The school has recommended that DS
take Trig as opposed to Pre-Calc next year.He may not be in the best school for him as it is a quite rigorous prep, but DS does not want to leave his friends Senior year and he has a shot at team captain for FB.</p>
<p>Should I have DS retested? Perhaps memory issues are related to stress? What accommodations are useful for memory issues? Any tips for college search and selection?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any wisdom you have to share.</p>
<p>I know that you don’t want to move your son from this school, but to be perfectly honest, if they aren’t willing to accommodate his learning disabilities then you might not be doing him much of a favor by leaving him there. Are there any other options readily available for him? </p>
<p>If he is going to stay there, you need to meet with the resource teacher to find out what has to be written into your child’s report so that he qualifies for accommodations. Then re-test if necessary, or just re-word things if further testing isn’t required. While you are in that meeting, discuss the effect of stress on exam performance with the resource teacher. Maybe your son will do better with more time, maybe he will do better if the assessments are done orally or in an “untestlike” environment. Do your best to get his fall IEP meeting on the schedule now rather than waiting until school starts.</p>
<p>As for Spanish, if he is ready to read novels, he shouldn’t be translating any more. He should be thinking in Spanish. If he is a bit of a perfectionist, he may not trust that his brain can operate in another language, and so he may revert to translating everything to English, and then back into Spanish. Some language learners operate that way, but it is not very effective because it really slows down anyone - even people with “normal” amounts of short-term memory. In your son’s case, translating everything just makes things worse. If he thinks he will have to continue with a foreign language in college, anything that he does that will continue his contact with Spanish is good - even if it is just reading a Spanish-language newspaper website once in a while.</p>
<p>You also should have a sit-down with the college counselor at your son’s school. That person should be able to predict with some accuracy where he may be admitted, so that you can investigate the disability services offered at those places. </p>
<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>
<p>There’s a fantastic web site you should also post your questions on. Google ‘millermom LD’ and it should come up. Really bright kids with learning disabilities often go through school for quite a long time before those LDs impact their learning. Millermom boards are very active and are geared toward learning problems, including those for kids who are of average to above average intelligence.</p>
<p>I can understand him not wanting to change schools at this point. I would think the school would want to keep him, as well, with only one year left. Sometimes kids can still go through graduation, but have to take summer classes to actually graduate. Maybe he can take and retake some courses elsewhere this summer and next summer, if necessary? Talk to the school to see what they would accept. If this is a private school, they probably don’t have to make accommodations.</p>
<p>With a D in Spanish, for schools around here, the class can be retaken (even elsewhere) and the new grade replaces the D, and the GPA is recalculated. It sounds like it’s just Spanish and Math that are troublesome. So retaking Spanish over the summer and taking a level of math that he can be successful at should get him through senior year.</p>
<p>Thanks. You’ve both given me a lot to chew on while await a return phone call from the psychologist.</p>
<p>doingdishes:</p>
<p>what kind of eval did he have at age 14? If he has poor working memory, this is a nice way for clinicians to say he has ADHD without the stigma. ADHD is the DSM-IV nomenclature. He needs to see a different psych or at least you should have kept your psych in the loop these past three 3 years. </p>
<p>He may need meds and this has been proven to help a lot of these kids.</p>
<p>Talk to your pediatrician.</p>
<p>You do not want to wait much longer.</p>
<p>Not sure to what you refer with the ADHD comment. It was completely ruled out in sons comprehensive pyscho-educational battery 3 years ago. Since I was unfamiliar with
DSM IV I looked it up, not where he is at all.
I agree this is something that needs attention. My original post was on a Saturday morning, I had to wait until today to make an appointment. In the mean time I was looking for some insight. Thank you for yours.
Are meds useful for memory issues not related to ADHD?</p>
<p>Medications can also cause memory and language issues. I use Topamax for migraines or I have them constantly and seizures also. No way out of not using it. Anyway the medication effects spelling language math and many other cognitive skills. It makes you lose weight too. To the point meds can effect your memory just as bad or worse as ADHD/ADD and if you have a LD plus Topamax it just makes things even worse for me. I need to study 2x longer than other students but I only sleep 3 or ４hrs if that so I’m lucky there I guess.</p>
<p>My daughter has ADHD (successfully treated with medication), bad working memory and slow processing. Memorizing for social studies has always been a problem. </p>
<p>Even reading a novel in English can be difficult for any kid with an LD, attention issues, slow processing, or working memory deficits, etc. let alone reading one in a foreign language. It sounds like your son won’t be needing to take spanish again fortunately. There are a number of adaptive measures. The key is to understand that it is okay to use such adaptive measures. </p>
<p>For reading in general-- try to figure out the plot of the story before reading, by using online summaries or sparknotes, if available. If not, try to band together with other students, though I know forming study groups is not that easy-- and synopsize chapters or divide up the reading. </p>
<p>For memory in general, repetition is key. Also important-- what I call “boiling down”-- in other words you try to sum up an idea with the fewest words possible. </p>
<p>I had to help my daughter ALOT with reviewing. In high school I read material with her, boiled it down for her, helped her create mnemonics etc. Also some things can be represented visually. She’s in college now and has avoided taking a memorization intensive course of study. </p>
<p>A question is whether there has been a change in the complexity of the material your son is dealing with and perhaps that is what is causing the problem with the grades and taxing his working memory more.</p>
<p>I’m deaf and even though I’m fully visually in my learning and communication I find visualize in my
mind the material and information helps me remember it. I get stuck voicing words and need to visualize the word and then I can voice it. My psychologist said that is something ADHD people usually have to do.</p>