Learning Disability? - Snohomish,WA

My advice, as an educator, is if she has a late birthday and is having trouble paying attention you should hold her out of kindergarten. She just might not be socially ready for KG and that's not a big deal at all. Hold her back know rather than later! If cognitively she's great and has the language skills then maybe it's just immaturity. Please don't rush into the whole ADD-medicate'em and send'em to school trap. I would start at making an appt with the doc. she saw last and ASK lots of questions. You have to be your child's advocate. Ask for a referral from your family doc. It's their job to help you "even if you are on DSHS". Don't let that be an excuse for them to give you lousy care. Your child deserves good care- you need to demand it! Good luck and it's good to see a parent care so much about their child.

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I personally think that four years old is WAY too early to be making diagnosises about ADD or anything else like that. If it were up to the AMA, every single American would be medicated somehow. Please be cautious with this and maybe she just needs a little time to grow into herself. Try cutting way down on T.V. and sugar first and see if that helps. I would also be extremely careful with "detox" for children as suggested by someone else. I worked at a health food store for 2 years and have done detoxes on myself with great results. But these are NOT designed for kids. When she gets older she can choose to do a detox herself and really get some great benefits from it.

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I have a 6 yr old who is in specail Kindergaren and she has a speach inpedamint and refuses to talk as soon as she gets near her class.. She has what is called select Mute. She also dosesnt want to participate in class and never wants to go up infront of the class and kind of has to be taken by the hand to do stuff. She also dosnt want to tell anyone when she has to go to the potty when she is at school. Its kind of hard to get a child to do thing when they dont want to do it and when they dont want anyone to hear them talk. Belive me she talk alll the time at home and never shuts up also she knows what we are telling her she just dosent want to do it. I also Have her 12 yr old brother and he has a very hard time with word math problems and Comperhending what needs to be done. But of corse his birth mother did do durgs and drunk with him while she was pregnent but both him and his sister have a rear gentic problem that causes some of these problems

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i have a 4 yr old, and he is about to start EISE, which is early intervention special education. its free thru the school district, and if your child qualifies, they can either go to the class run by the district (my sons is at a school not far from me) or you can keep them in preschool and they have someone that works with the preschool. my son has trouble with personal space and sitting still, and its really cool because they work with you on what issues your child has so they know what to work with. i just called the district in my area and asked for the early intervention number. you can always look into it. i totally understand about scraping by, which is why i'm so glad its free thru the state. good luck!

You are a very eloquent writer! I know some folks at the local university hospital who would know what to do. I have no idea where the city you live in is, but if you're near a university hospital, go talk to their pediatrics unit. Hospitals should take DSHS, and the doctors working there can make appointments to see you (you don't have to come in through the ER). University hospitals have resources that regular ones don't, i.e. grad students and lifetime academics who may have worked with this issue before. It's a place to start.

It doesn't take lots of *stuff* to be a great mom! I hope you find some answers soon.

Fish oils with DHA are excellent for developing brains and do manytime help with LD. But you must be consistent and give it to her every day. You can actually get DHA chewables at Fred Meyer and liquid fish oils with flavors like lemon. Usually helps settle hyper kids as well. Used commonly in Europe for LD and post partum depression successfully.
K.

Although I can't help with giving advise for a Ped, I do have one diet tip for your child's concentration.

I have found that diet can play a big role in children's behavior. Of course, if you don't have a lot of money, it is really hard to cut out all the artificial flavors/colors, yeast, sugar and wheat; there isn't much you can do except NOT give them extra junk food. So, here is one big help: Mocha/coffee. It is a natural help to even the most "normal" child that needs to settle down and focus as well as a natural replacement for drugs used on ADD kids.

The recipe I use is roughly: 1 tsp of sugar free (Splenda) chocolate flavor syrup (for coffee), 1/8 cup coffee with half-n-half, 4-6 oz milk, over ice. Of course, like any recipe, you need to mix and taste. Start out creamy and as they get used to it you can lighten it up with more milk and less half-n-half.

It is recommended to give once in the morning and again after lunch. (I send it to school with lunch.) Sometimes I will give a few sips to my daughter at dinner if the squiggle bug has got the best of her. (She is 4yrs; and is not ADD, just is sensitive and easily excited, as well as has some allergies).

The amount to give really depends on the child. For mine a half of glass really helps her just calm down, focus, and listen a lot better.

Don't give up. You'll find what works for your family.

What I would do is enroll her in kindergarten. When she gets there, make the school test her. It is free. They have to make accomodations in class for her too. What school district will she be in? First of all, make sure that you request what you want in writing. The school has 30 days to respond by law. I also suggest calling Exceptional Parents Unlimited. They have what is called "advocates" there and that service is free. You go in and stress your concerns and then they will help you through the testing and meeting process. Going through this process can be extremely stressful and if you do not not the special education laws, for example what is the difference between and IEP and a 504. You as a parent need to know your rights. Also, you need to be an advocate for your child. Because if you won't do it,nobody else will. When you request testing for your child, state your concerns. If you have any more questions, feel free to email me. I have lots of practice as my child is ADHD and Asperger's Syndrome which is on the high functioning end of autism. He too is extremely bright. A lot of people do not realize what kinds of services a school has to offer parents. Of course they are not going to come out and advertise free testing for your children. Good luck. L.

I don't know if anyone mentioned the possibility to you, but at the age of 4 my daughter started exhibiting the same behaviors as your little girl. Fast-forward 5 years and now she's been diagnosed with ADHD. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (they don't call it ADD anymore). She isn't bouncing off the walls, but she can't pay attention to save her life and doesn't listen well when others are speaking. That's where her hyperactivity comes in. Anyhow. We're trying behavioral therapy right now to see if that works. If not, then medication is unfortunately the next avenue. Good luck to you and your little girl!

Hi, I have a daughter with autism and we just moved to Skagit County WA from Montana. We're having to repeat doing the things we did in Montana for my daughter to get the same care here. You just have to jump through the hoops. I got lucking and called a pediatrician office in Mount Vernon and they said they took DSHS. Perhaps you could ask the school for recommendations. Your Family Dr. might just need a little convincing from you that she needs this. If your family Dr. can't do it, maybe they can refer you to a spealist who can. In MT the school said go to the CDC in Missoula to have her evaluated or take her to "Dr. White" a neouroligt in Helena, so that's what we did and that's how she got diagnosed with autism. Here in WA, I'm not sure if they have a CDC which would provide you with an evaluation, but I am pretty sure they have clinics for children with disabilities in Seattle that you can find on the internet. Very strangely, I had to tell the teachers not to put my girl in kindergarden this year. It was so strange because my daughter is right at the cut off point to be chronologically old enough to go to kindergarden. It feels like I have to shout "She's already behind, stop trying to push so hard, let's get her the help she needs now!" You know your daughter, and you'll make the right choice.

Have you checked with your local Regional Center. They should be able to help you get your daughter evaluated. If you are in the San Gabriel Valley you would probably need to call the East Los Angeles Regional Center or check out their website. Also, after age 3 (I think) your local school district can evaluate your child. My son is mildly autistic and my pediatrician told me to check with my school district. They had their psychologist evaluate him and he was put in their preschool. Since then he has started Kindergarten, receives occupational therapy and is doing great. All of this does not cost anything. It's our tax dollars at work =) Take Care and Good Luck. Feel free to contact me!

B., I am touched by your story. I have an older sister with a 9 year old son who has been diagnosed with Asburgers Autism, a very slight form of autism that leaves a child very capable in a social and learning environment, they just need more focused attention. My nephew was lucky to have some great doctors, who were by the way DSHS, and some great teachers in a co-op program. I can get some more info for you from my sister, but I was also going to suggest a montessori school or the home school organization. I think both of those settings for learning are ideal for children with learning special needs. Have the doctors looked into your daughter having autism? It's not as scary as you might think, my sister has been able to handle their situation along with many other issues unrelated to her oldest boy. I wish you luck and feel free to contact me if you might have any questions I could answer for you. Take care!
L. Ramos =)

Hi!
I dont understand the ECEAP or DHDS, so please forgive me if you've gone this route. Have you checked with the school district. They must send someone to evaluate her, if you request and if found that she needs assistance, they have a wonderful program. I have a 6 yr old who is visually impared and started with the MVUSD since he was 5 weeks old. If I can help further please email me. N.

Eceap should have a resource list of agencies that will help you with evaluations..if not the local mental health agency will and they take DSHS. The most important thing is that you be assertive with either your current family practice provider and tell them exactly what you want done or they will let everything slide. I have a daughter that is hypoglycemic and one that is diabetic the DR. tried to shine us off when I told them there was a problem. I had to become the mother bear and do what ever it took to get the right test done to get the right diagnosis. When it comes to learning issues they try to sweep them under the carpet even more. Another option is to contact your local university, they may have a program that will evaluate your child, the students who are learning to give these evaluations need someone to work with, especially if they have a education department or early ed department. Hopefully this will help. good luck.

Hi B.,

I am not familiar with DSHS, however...I would suggest calling EPU(Exceptional Parents Unlimited). I called them about my daughter who is 14, I am trying to get her tested for ADHD/ADD. They test children for learning disabilities, but only test from the ages of 1 to 11 years of age. They might be able to steer you in the right direction.

The Doctor's name is: Dr. Snyder ###-###-####

I wish you the best of luck in getting the help you need for your daughter.

~Barb