Today I went to an evaluation at my daughter's school. AM has been having some issues all year academically, emotionally, and behaviorally. After taking her to see her pediatrician and AM breaking down in her office, she was referred to a psychologist, who referred her to a pediatric psychiatrist. She has been diagnosed with ADHD combined type, childhood insomnia, and an unspecified adjustment disorder. She has been on medication for about a month and a half, and it has definitely helped her behavior. She can focus and concentrate better, and she seems to be sleeping better, so she is in a pleasant mood most of the time. Even her grades have improved in the last month, but not enough. AM has failed the first grade. There, I've said it. It doesn't seem real. I know a lot of children that have been retained for another year, but I never thought it would be my child. Maybe I'm just that arrogant. I know it isn't AM's fault, and I am in no way angry with her. I am disappointed. Not in her, just in general. I mean, this means there will be an entire extra YEAR before she moves out to go off to college. [Sigh.] Intellectually, there isn't a thing wrong with AM. Her vocabulary, cognitive thinking, and critical thinking are all above average. So why isn't she passing? Her math, science, and social studies' scores are average or above, but her reading and spelling. [I'm shaking my head sadly.] She is doing poorly in both subjects. Poorly. She's flunking both ridiculously. Her last two spelling tests were both sevens. She reads at home. It takes her awhile, but she can usually sound out a word. She retains most of the information that she reads. She can answer questions correctly about what she reads. However, at school she has to read out loud, in front of the teacher (and behind her, the class), within one minute. If she doesn't finish reading the passage in one minute, she misses every word she didn't get to. I hate one-minute reading. Why does it matter how long it takes a child to read a passage so long as the child CAN read the passage? This isn't the only reason AM is failing, but this is part of it. A child is diagnosed as having a learning disability if the child's IQ and the child's functioning level is separated by a certain percentage. For example, if a child scores average on an IQ test, but is functioning below average (bringing in C's and D's on his/her report card), that would signal that the child may need to be tested for intervention. Likewise, if a child's IQ scores above average, and the student is performing at or below the average level, the child may have a learning disability. A learning disability has nothing to do with a child's intellect. I want to have her assessed to have a learning disability ruled out. I don't think she has one, honestly. I think she has been through such a traumatic year at such a young age, and so many changes, that she is having trouble adjusting. I think that her ADHD is making it difficult for her to focus, but now that she's on medication that seems to be working itself out. But she's not going to second grade. If there is a reason that she can't read as well as her peers, I want to know, because as her mother, it is my job to ensure that she has as much help as she needs to be successful academically. Am I wrong? There are those of my friends and family who think that I am trying to say that there is something wrong with AM. There isn't. Even if a learning disability is discovered, it is something that can be overcome. She is still the smartest and prettiest little girl ever. (I'm not biased. It's true.) I am just trying to be a good mother, but am I going about it the wrong way?
