Need advice on my son who is 14 and his education

[lisa_p76]

Hello all,

I hope someone can make these scores make sense. I feel my son's school is failing my son. On reports they are report different things one minute he is average the next he has a learning difficultly. Plus i have had him assessed for ADHD and the school have totally under reported and just say he is a lovely pupil as they beleive ADHD is naughty behaviour which i know it isnt. He cannot concentrate, he is daydreamy, forgets everything and no focus doesnt finish his tasks etc......

The scores i need put in plain english please are

test completed at 14years 1 month

Reading Age 10.8 Reading SS 79
Spelling Age 8.7 Spelling SS 76

CAT year 7

Mean 84
Verbal 82
Quantitative 85
Non verbal 85

I do not understand these scores and i am sick of being told he tries hard and he is lovely. I know all that but my son is going into his 4th year of high school and he is under the impression he can go to college and uni to become a teacher he really trys hard. I just feel his school is failing him. They did a computer test where it came back moderate risk of dyslexia. I hope someone could tell me what i should expect from his school he has a support worker in some classes but i have found out via his adhd assessment he is making very little progress. Any advice very welcome

[Sqad]

sherradk....that answer I CAN understand.........thank you.

[ganesh]

Actually there are some physical differences in the brain which they are still researching.Speaking as a non-scientist ,it is to do with the chemicals which act in the brain between the synapses when you are using your memory and concentration.Those 'suffering' with ADD have a lack of this chemical and so they are easily distracted.In fact they often speak faster as sometimes their train of thought can go in the middle of a sentence.The chemicals that are commonly used in treatments try to correct this imbalance enabling kids (and adults too-you don't always grow out of it,but learn to compensate and deal with it better)to focus and calm down.Sometimes these pills can turn them into zombies,they are better at school but lose a creative spark.
You may be right squad in that they over-diagnose hyper or naughty kids with ADHD but once diagnosed very little is done about it.In most schools they just label them with it,put them into a useless special needs class once a week,and give them extra time in the exams.
Having had experience (and a bad one at that) in all this I could talk,argue and moan all day about it-I just wanted to encourage Lisa to have faith in her own thoughts and try not to get bogged down in all these tests.

[Sqad]

ganesh...thanks.....I will watch the Journals of Psycho-Pharmacology with renewed interest.

[Prudie]

As an ex-teacher (and pupil) I can say that nobody had ADHD and not everyone who was bad at reading was dyslexic. It does appear that anyone not achieving must have one of these two these days. There is nobody left of low intelligence.
Boom!

[ganesh]

Just like to say that I didn't really believe in all these labels either until I was forced to confront my daughter's school who insisted there was something wrong with her and wanted her tested.After a lot of research I am converted.I would also say Prudie that she is extremely clever,has a very high IQ,has done some amazing work and is at Uni,but as an example, if you gave her a list of 6 numbers and asked her to repeat them straight away she would not be able to.
We all think differently and yes,there are thick people and clever people,but there are some that don't quite fit in and can't be labelled as 'normal' and we are currently obsessed with what is normal.As a teacher you should know that!