I know a little boy who is about 10 years old now. His mother doesn't know where to go for help, so I'm going to ask for her.

First, a bit of background information. Low income family. Single mother parent of a 10 year old boy and a 4 year old girl. I've known the family since the boy was not even a year old now. He's already failed first and second grade, he barely scraped by in third grade, and now he's failing fourth. His teachers have noticed the problem, as far as I can see, but they dismiss the problem as just "needing help". He scraped by with a 2 in the math section of the FCAT (florida comprehension assessment test- aka state testing) and a 3 in reading. The "average" is a 4, highest possible is 6.

Now, from what I've noticed. He definitely DEFINITELY shows every sign of having ADHD and Dyslexia. If I sit down with him on my lap, with some music playing lightly in the background and a Popsicle stick with his book, he cannot focus still. The Popsicle stick is used to help him not get distracted by text that is below what he's reading. Instead of reading sentence by sentence, he reads letter by letter or word by word, but won't remember what he read after the sentence is done. He stumbles over simple words such as "the" and "ball", forgetting that he's seen them before and actually knows them.

He's demotivated very easily. He doesn't "get" something right off the bat, so he'll get 'lazy' with it. He'll roll around on the couch and lay down and sloppily write a word, or mumble a word from the book. I try to help him but he gets close to crying because he's so frustrated by it- I can relate, but I can't figure out how to help him permanently because I just fought my way through school with no help. I don't want that to happen- I want him to get help so he can pass.

He can't sit still, even when watching t.v. His feet are always moving, kicking, touching everything. He doesn't even realize he does it. Shopping with him and his sister is a nightmare. He runs up and down the store isles even if he's told to stay by me/his mom/whoever. I've had to make him put his hands behind his back as we walked down the store isle, but even that didn't last long. I can only assume he's a nightmare at home too, but his mom doesn't know what to do. His sister follows in his footsteps, and doesn't see that his behavior is "bad" so she does the same... Combine the two, and it's grounds for major headaches.

The poor kid is about to fail 4th grade, and get held back again. Someone told his mom that the school wouldn't evaluate him anymore because too many parents complained and stuff. I don't know if that's true. Any ideas, links, or things to bring up in school that can help him get the help he needs?

(10-30-2010, 09:44 PM)Sila Wrote: I know a little boy who is about 10 years old now. His mother doesn't know where to go for help, so I'm going to ask for her.

First, a bit of background information. Low income family. Single mother parent of a 10 year old boy and a 4 year old girl. I've known the family since the boy was not even a year old now. He's already failed first and second grade, he barely scraped by in third grade, and now he's failing fourth. His teachers have noticed the problem, as far as I can see, but they dismiss the problem as just "needing help". He scraped by with a 2 in the math section of the FCAT (florida comprehension assessment test- aka state testing) and a 3 in reading. The "average" is a 4, highest possible is 6.

Now, from what I've noticed. He definitely DEFINITELY shows every sign of having ADHD and Dyslexia. If I sit down with him on my lap, with some music playing lightly in the background and a Popsicle stick with his book, he cannot focus still. The Popsicle stick is used to help him not get distracted by text that is below what he's reading. Instead of reading sentence by sentence, he reads letter by letter or word by word, but won't remember what he read after the sentence is done. He stumbles over simple words such as "the" and "ball", forgetting that he's seen them before and actually knows them.

He's demotivated very easily. He doesn't "get" something right off the bat, so he'll get 'lazy' with it. He'll roll around on the couch and lay down and sloppily write a word, or mumble a word from the book. I try to help him but he gets close to crying because he's so frustrated by it- I can relate, but I can't figure out how to help him permanently because I just fought my way through school with no help. I don't want that to happen- I want him to get help so he can pass.

He can't sit still, even when watching t.v. His feet are always moving, kicking, touching everything. He doesn't even realize he does it. Shopping with him and his sister is a nightmare. He runs up and down the store isles even if he's told to stay by me/his mom/whoever. I've had to make him put his hands behind his back as we walked down the store isle, but even that didn't last long. I can only assume he's a nightmare at home too, but his mom doesn't know what to do. His sister follows in his footsteps, and doesn't see that his behavior is "bad" so she does the same... Combine the two, and it's grounds for major headaches.

The poor kid is about to fail 4th grade, and get held back again. Someone told his mom that the school wouldn't evaluate him anymore because too many parents complained and stuff. I don't know if that's true. Any ideas, links, or things to bring up in school that can help him get the help he needs?

Hi,
Please tell your friend to start keeping all her child's classwork. This will help in the long run. She can use it to give as examples, especially if they are learning disabled.

Look for an Occupational therapist in their area and see if they will take Medicaid. The dr. should be able to help set up a referral to see one. Medicaid also has a provider finder number you can call that is listed on the back of the medicaid form.

Also, try your local 2-1-1 United Way hotline. You can google the one in your city. They have good referrals in the community.

I have medicaid and it was hard to get services at first but I found that writing to this address below helps resolve problems. Also on the back of the medicaid are numbers listed that you can call for help. They will also help you find a Case manager to help get these services going.

I don't know what city you are in but in Texas you can write:

Health Plan Operations-H-320
Health and Human Services Commission
P.O.Box 85200
Austin, TX 78708-5200

Ask your friend if she has tried asking the school for help. You may find a fight here too because I have had a hard time but hopefully the school this child goes to will help. It helped me to keep all the documents on my child. I took her to see her primary dr, then was referred to a Neurologist that did a series of test over the course of a few months. My daughter had an IQ and education evaluation done.

These are good webistes to get you started: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/special.ed/rules
http://www.wrightslaw.com/idea/index.htm
http://talac.tamu.edu/getinvolved.htm

I hope this helps!

As far as the reading problems go, I recommend her checking out Irlen Lenses (expensive) or an Irlen Overlay (cheap) for her son.

Sensory wise for me the Irlen Lenses kept the words from wandering all across the pages of my books. Even though I was an avid reader, it was getting impossible for me to read text starting in my early 20's. The Irlen Overlay was the first time since my teens that the words stopped moving so much. Additionally, the words flowed easily again for me instead of me constantly repeating the same word, sentence, or paragraph.

Supposedly the Irlen Lenses help dyslexics, but since I don't have that problem I can't guarentee anything there.

I got my Irlen Lenses after trying out an Irlen Overlay for two weeks and it made it possible to read my Masters degree Engineering books again.

I spent a lot of extra time studying compared to my fellow students and many times it was due to having to reread everything so many times.

Some kids learn better while moving and touching things. Sitting in a chair still is litterally hell for them. I didn't have this problem, but other kids I grew up with did. They were smart, but because they would do anything to get out of the chairs they often flunked classes.

(10-30-2010, 09:44 PM)Sila Wrote: I know a little boy who is about 10 years old now. His mother doesn't know where to go for help, so I'm going to ask for her.

First, a bit of background information. Low income family. Single mother parent of a 10 year old boy and a 4 year old girl. I've known the family since the boy was not even a year old now. He's already failed first and second grade, he barely scraped by in third grade, and now he's failing fourth. His teachers have noticed the problem, as far as I can see, but they dismiss the problem as just "needing help". He scraped by with a 2 in the math section of the FCAT (florida comprehension assessment test- aka state testing) and a 3 in reading. The "average" is a 4, highest possible is 6.

Now, from what I've noticed. He definitely DEFINITELY shows every sign of having ADHD and Dyslexia. If I sit down with him on my lap, with some music playing lightly in the background and a Popsicle stick with his book, he cannot focus still. The Popsicle stick is used to help him not get distracted by text that is below what he's reading. Instead of reading sentence by sentence, he reads letter by letter or word by word, but won't remember what he read after the sentence is done. He stumbles over simple words such as "the" and "ball", forgetting that he's seen them before and actually knows them.

He's demotivated very easily. He doesn't "get" something right off the bat, so he'll get 'lazy' with it. He'll roll around on the couch and lay down and sloppily write a word, or mumble a word from the book. I try to help him but he gets close to crying because he's so frustrated by it- I can relate, but I can't figure out how to help him permanently because I just fought my way through school with no help. I don't want that to happen- I want him to get help so he can pass.

He can't sit still, even when watching t.v. His feet are always moving, kicking, touching everything. He doesn't even realize he does it. Shopping with him and his sister is a nightmare. He runs up and down the store isles even if he's told to stay by me/his mom/whoever. I've had to make him put his hands behind his back as we walked down the store isle, but even that didn't last long. I can only assume he's a nightmare at home too, but his mom doesn't know what to do. His sister follows in his footsteps, and doesn't see that his behavior is "bad" so she does the same... Combine the two, and it's grounds for major headaches.

The poor kid is about to fail 4th grade, and get held back again. Someone told his mom that the school wouldn't evaluate him anymore because too many parents complained and stuff. I don't know if that's true. Any ideas, links, or things to bring up in school that can help him get the help he needs?

I would stongly suggest she have him evaluated by a PEDIATRIC DEVELOPMENTAL OPTOMETRIST. I was able to get my child an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) at his school under VISUAL PERCEPTION DISORDER and under that, we have added Occupational therapy, which he desperately needed. Now the SCHOOL provides these services at no cost to me, and my child also gets much needed accomodations such as preferred seating to minimize distractions, sensory breaks and much more. I am thrilled to get these services through the school, and he now gets 30 minutes of OT, and hour of vision therapy and a TA in his class for 30 minutes during art. This was well worth the cost of the initial exam and all the red tape I had to go through and he is getting help he really needs.