6 year old with developmental delay?

Question

When it was time for my son to enter kindergarten, school personnel questioned his readiness but welcomed him. His kindergarten teacher stated that he was a little behind the other children, but had no reservations about promoting him to the 1st grade. She stated that he could be placed in a smaller class as to allow for more attention. Now that he is in first grade his teacher is concerned that he may have developmental delays, and they want to have him tested. His grades are good and he does beautiful work at home. His school papers tell another story though (sloppy, incorrect). He is in a class with several autistic children as well as children with behavioral problems ( I have met with their parents). My son comes home and tells me he is distracted by the other children's outbursts (biting, screaming, talking, tapping on his desk). My question is this- could this be environmental instead of a developmental delay? He never showed any delays in the past.

Answer 1

I would have the tests done to be sure. He's behind as you stated and his work is sloppy. He might need modified grading when he gets older. If you have him tested, which the school should be providing timely and free, you'll know where he is. You might ask also to have his desk moved away from the child who is tapping on it. This should not be allowed. He has the right to work undistracted.

Answer 2

Who is 'they' ? Who wants to have him tested?

Why do they want him tested? To see if he actually does have developmental delays?

Schools can not do testing to diagnose this. Schools do testing ONLY to see if a child can qualify for special ed services.

So, they want to do testing to see if he can qualify for special education services.

The call is yours, they can't do this if you don't want them to. Just make sure you put it in writing to them that you don't want this testing done.

What I would do is have a meeting with the teacher and bring all the childs work you have that is 'good' and tell teacher he has no problems at home, show her the work.

Tell teacher to show  you some of his homework that he did at home, AND show you classwork he has done in class. Should be a night and day difference. Then she can not deny it.

Tell teacher what your child has said, about the bad behavior in class. Ask teacher what has she done to help the behavior? Ask did she know your child is having trouble because of the behaviors?

You wrote -- She stated that he could be placed in a smaller class as to allow for more attention. (for first grade)

Well, DID they place him in smaller class for more attention in first grade ?

It is almost the end of the school year. Have they just now brought it to your attention that they think he's having trouble? Do they just now want testing to be done?

They should have told you as soon as they noticed.

It's almost the end of the year so I would suggest waiting and see how he does next year, and tell him to make sure he tells you of any bad behaviors by other kids that are hindering him.

If they DO testing because of this, he will be alone while doing testing and should do fine, this will PROVE to them it is the other kids behaviors that are hurting him and not that HE has problems.

Answer 3

yes....environmental! He is not autistic so get him out of that class.

Answer 4

go talk to the school personell again, has he been tested? if not have him go through some testing to find out.....it could be part enviormental and part delay...he might have like add.....the school should be of help to you....

Answer 5

could be both!

has he been to the school counselor and psychologist? ask them what they think that's what they are there for.

Answer 6

Well first of all he cannot be in this classroom if he doesn't have the developmental delay label or a learning disability label. It sounds like the classroom they have him in is a varying exceptionalities or cross categorical; depending on what state you live in. I know where I live students lose the DD label after they are 5 they get retested to see what diagnosis they may have or not have. I don't know if you know about FAPE but your child deserves the appropriate classroom. It could be environmental cause that your child is bringing home sloppy papers. He may have ADD, I'm not a psychologist to diagnose him. I would definitely fight to get him out of that classroom.

Answer 7

Good for you for wanting the best for your child and seeking more information! It can be scary when teachers/schools suggest testing. Your son might have delays. Delays become more evident as a child gets older and the "gap" between their development and the development of their peers becomes more evident.

Or your son might be having challenges just because his environment is too distracting.  Then again if your child has some delays, it is likely they might be made worse in a chaotic environment-esp. if he has any sensory issues as well.

It sounds like your school is interested in better meeting his needs. Depending on the testing, they may unearth either of these issues or something entirely different.  By defining his challenges the school (in partnership with you) will learn better how your boy learns best, what type of enviroment best meets his needs, and what if any outside supports would be helpful to his development.

That said: schools can not always afford the most thorough evaluations. Your son would be best served if in addition to the school tests, you were also able to provide an outside evaluation. These are sometimes covered by health insurance.

You are a member of your son's team and if you don't agree with the eval results, you have the right to request an outside evaluation. (The school system must provide these at minimal cost if you are low to middle income.)

Never Forget: You know your child best AND You are his best advocate!

Answer 8

Yes the environment could be a factor in what is going on with your son especially if no delays were shown in the past. The test can not be a bad thing though if he gets tested and everything turns out ok you know it is the environment that is affecting your son. I am sure it must be very distracting with children biting nad screaming I cant imagine doing all of that work. I hope you figure out what is going on with your son.

Answer 9

It could be both.

It sounds like the plan of putting him in a smaller class backfired as he was put with the special needs kids who need more attention.

As he is with other children who need more attention than usual he as the 'normal' child doesn't get that much.

Ask the school if you can transfer him to another class where he can get a bit of extra attention and see if he improves.

If he is still showing problems in the other class then consider their request to get him tested.

It could be that he has delays in social or emotional development rather than cognitive.

This may have been seen in the concerns of his previous teacher and yourself about him being ready to start kindergarten and 1st grade.

It's also shown by his grades being ok.

Answer 10

Your son by law is to be placed in the LRE (least restrictive environment).  Since he is not thriving in this smaller classroom I would have him placed back into the typical classroom and have them make accommodations there.  At this point I definately would NOT have him tested.  Its a can a worms that you don't need open.  My son is autistic with developmental delays and despite being in the 50th% on his previous IQ test this last one was <1%.  Obviously its wrong but now I am fighting the school to not have him classified under mental retardation (educable mental disability) and fighting not to be placed in the smaller class (self-contained).  Should he have a learning disability it is unlikely that someone as untrained in neurological disorders will get an accurate reading for your son.  If you are concerned go to a specialist for an indepent psycheducational evaluation.  That way you can choose to share the information if you want to.  Don't be to naive in thinking the school is trustworthy in all that they are telling you.  Just be cautious.  My son has no behaviors. They can make accommodations for your son in the regular ed. class.  This year my son received preferential seating, a corrale around his desk, a picture schedule, earmuffs, a timer, pre-teaching material,  a point card, sticker reinforcers, a break card, a core disc, highlighted paper, a weighted pencil, a slantboard, individual reading instruction, scribe for long writing assignments and so forth.  Not all children can thrive in all environments.  In my son's class they did move a few typical students to another class because they were falling behind being in a class where 25% is identified as delayed in something.