Oh I see what you mean now, Andrea.

My daughter has already had all that testing and has an IEP.  We know she
has a learning disability and a speech/language deficit, and we know how low
she performs compared to other kids her age.  When the teacher and I
discussed a "physical" problem, I think we were more referring to something
like a brain tumor or an illness.  At least, that is what I thought we were
talking about, but maybe now I need to clarify that with the teacher.  In
any event, the teacher seems to be saying it's the disability affecting test
scores, and she probably is right.  I just worry because sometimes it seems
like my daughter is regressing.

On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 8:36 PM, <andreawilder at comcast.net> wrote:


> Hi Katherine, I chose a big term, I don't know how this is broken down in

> your school into psych and IQ.

> What you want first of all is a descriptive assessment of reading

> skills--what our daughter can do as compared with a norming sample--3000

> children (or however many) in the US.  There are a variety of assessments

> which can do this.  From this you get a profile of what your daughter can

> do. Oh--by the way--you should also get this from her teacher, a description

> of what your daughter can do, how the teacher sees her, the kinds of

> assignments she is given, where she is different from many of the other

> students.  Who should do this?  I am assuming that your school has someone

> in house who can do this.  I would absolutely find other parents who have

> taken this route in school, and learn how the whole process has gone for

> them. You also need to find out from your daughter what she thinks is going

> on, why she is having difficulty, and precisely what she is having

> difficulty at doing.

>

> There are other reading assessments which will be more fine-grained, that

> is, they will be able to focus on specific reading areas or skills.  I think

> there must be a process at your daughter's school for doing this.  Again,

> check with other parents for their experiences. Also check the credentials

> and experience of the in-house assessor.

>

> If for some reason you are not satisfied, you should go outside and find an

> individual, a clinic, an organization, this does good assessing.  If you

> want special services for your daughter the assessments should feed into

> this.

> I haven't looked into assessments for about a year, so I am really not up

> to date in all of this.

>

> I don't know what the teacher meant by saying the problem wasn't physical.

>   The brain is physical;  perhaps she meant that there was nothing obvious

> she could see from the outside.

>

> Anyway, this is where I would start.

>

> Andrea

>

>

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: "Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt" <katherine.gotthardt at gmail.com>

> To: "The Learning Disabilities Discussion List" <

> learningdisabilities at nifl.gov>

> Sent: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 3:39:42 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern

> Subject: [LearningDisabilities 4256] Re: Brain research in education

>

> Not to be ignorant, Andrea, but what is a specialist in reading

> assessments?  Is that different than an in-school LD assessment or a psych

> and IQ assessment?

>

> On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 1:55 PM, <andreawilder at comcast.net> wrote:

>

>> The MRI is a type of brain scan.  How does the teacher know it isn't

>> physical?  And what does "physical" mean in this context?  Not much.  I

>> would want to take my daughter to a specialist in reading assessments.

>>

>> Andrea

>>

>> ----- Original Message -----

>> From: "Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt" <katherine.gotthardt at gmail.com>

>> To: "The Learning Disabilities Discussion List" <

>> learningdisabilities at nifl.gov>

>> Sent: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 1:27:27 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern

>> Subject: [LearningDisabilities 4247] Re: Brain research in education

>>

>> I just went to my daughter's parent/teacher conference yesterday, and once

>> again, was disturbed about her reading level.  She stayed back in

>> Kindergarten and is now a fifth grader.  Her reading and comprehension

>> skills are between 2nd and 3rd grade, even with summer school and extra help

>> over the summer.  I asked the teacher if she thought I should take my

>> daughter to have a second MRI to make sure nothing is wrong.  The teacher

>> didn't seem to think it was anything physical and assured me if she did

>> think it was physical, she would have told me long ago.

>>

>> Can someone explain how a brain scan is different from an MRI?

>>

>> On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 12:52 PM, Nora Chahbazi <ooprc at comcast.net> wrote:

>>

>>>  I just received a brochure for a conference titled 'Smarter Brains:

>>> Using Brain Rearch to Raise IQ and Achievement' at the 25th Learning and the

>>> Brain Conference in Sanfrisco in Feb, 2001.  Some of the workshop titles

>>> are" Neurointelligence and Education: Is it Time to Require Students to have

>>> a Brain Scan?" and 'What Neuroscience can teach us about Teaching' - along

>>> with many others.   This is a perfect example of the feeling of confusion

>>> and frustration by those of us trying to teach reading or anything else!

>>> There has just been a disdcussion on this list about how neuroscience and

>>> education are not connected and then I am exposed to this conference that

>>> has 3 days of educating educators in the power of neuroscience in

>>> education.  How does one choose who to believe?  Maybe neuroscience in

>>> education is akin to snake oil, maybe it is the best thing since sliced

>>> bread.  How would someone decipher the truth from 2 opposite camps

>>> proclaiming 'the truth'.  I have found this phenomena to be a source of

>>> frustration throughout my journey of learning how to teach reading.  Many

>>> research studies come to totally opposite conclusions about what is great

>>> and what is horrible amd damaging.(For example:  Whole language is the

>>> answer!  Phonics is the answer!......Teach them to memorize the words and

>>> the book to foster comprehension!  They must have significant

>>> repetition/drill in phonemic awareness and phonics before ever reading a

>>> book!,....  Look at the picture to get meaning!  Do not look at the picture;

>>> we don't read pictures! ..... Teach the phonics rules in order to read the

>>> words!  Don't teach phonics rules because they are developmentally

>>> inappropriate and slow you down!.....  You must learn the letter names to

>>> read!  You do not use the letter names in reading!....and on an on) leaving

>>> the consumer to scratch their head and get mired in the confusion of all

>>> this conflicting information.  Who does one believe?   In the meantime, the

>>> numbers of poor/non readers of every age continue to eacalate.  How do those

>>> on this list deal with this?!

>>> Thanks,

>>> Nora

>>>

>>>

>>>  Nora Chahbazi, President

>>> EBLI Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction

>>> Ounce of Prevention Reading Center

>>> www.ebli.org

>>> 810.732.4810

>>> fax 810.732.0366

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> ----------------------------------------------------

>>> National Institute for Literacy

>>> Learning Disabilities mailing list

>>> LearningDisabilities at nifl.gov

>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/learningdisabilities

>>> Email delivered to katherine.gotthardt at gmail.com

>>>

>>

>>

>>

>> --

>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt

>> Community Writer for NEWS AND MESSENGER

>> www.insidenova.com

>>

>> ---------------------------------------------------- National Institute

>> for Literacy Learning Disabilities mailing list

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>> settings, please go to

>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/learningdisabilities Email delivered

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>>

>> ----------------------------------------------------

>> National Institute for Literacy

>> Learning Disabilities mailing list

>> LearningDisabilities at nifl.gov

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>>

>

>

>

> --

> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt

> Community Writer for NEWS AND MESSENGER

> www.insidenova.com

>

> ---------------------------------------------------- National Institute for

> Literacy Learning Disabilities mailing list LearningDisabilities at nifl.govTo unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/learningdisabilities Email delivered

> to andreawilder at comcast.net

>

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>




-- 
Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt
Community Writer for NEWS AND MESSENGER
www.insidenova.com
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