Could this be a learning disability?

Question

My daughter for the last 2 years has struggled and struggled when it came to school. She has always had a hard time remembering important things. She gets letters and letter sounds confused with other letters. "B,D S,Z,ect. She is now in first grade and can't remember her sight words. Words she knew yesterday she doesn't remember today and so on. She has a speech problem and is in thearpy for that but noone believes me when it comes to her learning. I have had her eyes checked, hearing checked, talked to teachers, counselors, doctor, and noone agrees with me. She is having such a hard time and i just can't see it being normal for a first grader to struggle so much. Does anyone have any advice?

Answer 1

What you describe could be a learning disability, or it could be a fairly normal first grade problem. I would hope that your daughter gets some kind of reading intervention to work on the specific problems that she has, but I would try those interventions before testing her for a learning disability. I can't really tell where you are with the school in the process by the information you've given.

In my state, speech and language therapy is considered special education by definition, and your daughter would have an IEP and a Care Coordinator, which may be a Special Education teacher, or it could be her Speech Language Pathologist.

What you might do is contact the disability rights organization in your state, to see if they can assign an advocate to you. The advocate may have you sign some information releases, so that her or she can read your daughter's file and talk to folks at the school. The advocate may attend meetings with you or even testify in a due process. I find them beneficial for explaining what the options are and what exactly the school and district staff are talking about!

You can find help in your state at the site linked below. Look for the pull-down menu under "Get help in your state".

Answer 2

Don't let them give her Ritalin. I was on it and I had a lot of difficulties in the first grade. I failed it and was held back because of my disability. No one was able to understand why I couldn't understand anything. It took speech therapy, special education, and after school tutoring to help me learn. I also had one on one with a teacher.

Keep pestering her school until they believe you.

Where does she sit in class? Front row, middle row, back row? Sometimes it depends on where she's sitting in class. There could be distractions out of her classroom.

I have a slow learning capability and am in Nursing School and so thank goodness the disability I have does not show in my school work. However, other issues arise like hearing and seeing aren't the same for me. I have to read and do things on hands.

I had something called SLD, and 30 percent loss of hearing due to infections. That could also be my reason for my learning disability.

There are some special schools that could help her out. (I never went to them because my mother thought I would be all right.)

I spent many years in Elementary school trying to ignore bullies just because I was a bit sensitive and unable to understand most of the material. I read very well so I was blessed with my reading and writing. However, math will often be difficult.

I struggled throughout Elementary school, friendless. Keep working with her. Whatever you do, don't give up on her. She needs your support and encouragement.

Is there any tutors at her school that can help her after school?  

Answer 3

has the school tested her?  if not, request testing based on your concerns.  

don't let them let her slip though the cracks or you'll be kicking yourself in the **** a few years from now.  

Answer 4

Keep pushing until people take you seriously.  Some school districts are not very good and don't listen to the parents.  The parents should know best because they are the parents, but some school districts just don't trust the parents.