Low result on British Ability Scale cognitive test - advice needed

[petersham]

Hello, I posted on SN but there seems to be good advice on dyslexia IN PRIMARY SO HERE GOES..
I'm feeling a bit confused re above. DS is 6 and in MS - had a cognitive assessment - EP said it was the BAS covering 6 or 7 areas - never really reached 5th centile in any of the categories. She said that she would test again next year as he was distracted/not engaging/ was recently st traumatic physical abuse by his father whom I am divorcing.

HOWEVER... he has been reading Enid Blyton type chapter books since he was 5 and could talk about it for hours so comprehension is there. I know that he is a poor learner in a large class of 30 (dreamy, doodles, disinterested in social stuff) but school and EP have acknowledged that he writes in full sentences and learns well in smaller group, follows instructions etc. I support him a lot at home and I roughly know his level, strengths, weaknesses so it just doesn't make sense to me how he has emerged as being right down there.

Should I ask for a different type of test/different conditions (he is a child who needs hand-holding and guidance to get anywhere academically - the opp of an independent learner)? He doesn't get any 1-1 atm really but surely the results suggest that he would need it?

On the one hand, I know that the test may be meaningless if he was not engaging and I am satisfied that he is progressing from what I can see. However, it has knocked me for six and I now feel as though I was deluding myself into believing that he was progressing so well as surely progress is not just what you can demonstrate at home in a 1-1 situation, though should also be demonstrable at school as well? Where should I go from here?

private schools do not have any obligation to support a child who is different. if you find a good one, they will support him admirably (but will invoice you for every single hour of 1-1 that he needs/ gets, and may tell you that he cannot continue in the school unless you pay for the 1-1 provision.) this will, of course, be on top of your potentially considerable fees.

some private schools have much higher academic standards. as long as your child is exceeding them, they will welcome him with open arms. if his issues with distractibility etc cause his grades to fail, you may find you are less attractive as fee payers as a result. particularly if the school uses the academic excellence badge as a means of attracting high achievers.

in some schools, the level of academic attainment is much higher than in the same year group in ms. for a child who has struggled in the past with confidence, this may not be an ideal situation.

in ms, if 'something' crops up, there is a system in place to deal with it (even if you have to push for support). in private, there is more likelihood of the 'something' being left for you to resolve, or to pay the bills if you agree to school accessing assessment etc. 'something' often crops up with kids who aren't quite nt.

ds is obviously very vulnerable at the moment. it's hard to know what would be the best thing to do. i would definitely continue to seek camhs follow-up and also to consider he if it is an appealing option. i note that you are in the process of a divorce from the abuser? i'm a bit unsure why after physical abuse his father still retains custody to the extent of schooling choice? (i may have got that a bit mixed-up... i'm not clear on the circs of the abuse/ perpetrator/ divorce etc)

private schools can work really well for some kids. usually the really bright and just quirky enough to be different, but not enough to attract bullying kids. but there are additional pressures to be considered and the likelihood of issues cropping up that a private school may not consider within their remit.

petersham

To go back to your original question, regarding more information about dyslexia.

Dyslexia is a man made problem about having problems with a man made communication system, the visual notation of speech, or decoding and recoding the graphic symbols society chooses to represent the sounds of speech.
There are two types of dyslexia; Alexia (acquired dyslexia) which results from a brain injury, substance abuse, stroke, dementia, or progressive illness, and Developmental Dyslexia which has a genetic origin.
Dyslexia is language dependent.
Most children have Developmental Dyslexia which has three cognitive subtypes: auditory, visual and attentional. Which means that an auditory processing disorder, a visual processing disorder, an attention disorder, or any combination of the three can cause the dyslexic symptom. Each of the different types of disability require different forms of support and help.

In a ideal world dyslexia would be assessed by a multi - discipline (multi- professional) team. An audiologist to assess for any auditory processing issues, an optometrist to assess for any visual processing issues, and a psychiatrist to assess for any attention issues. Unfortunately we are in a permanent time warp created by the UK dyslexia which ignores the advances of the last decades of research to maintain their funding and income streams. They even have their own qualifications, which only mean that they are a specific support program provider.

In the current antiquated education, and SEN support system, your best bet would be to seek a referral from your GP for some form of medical assessments for one or more of the underlying causes of dyslexia. From the way the thread has progressed you could have a look at a couple of my links lists
UK APD (auditory processing disorder {a listening disability})
Attention Disorders

Many thanks for your detailed insights. I am clear now that they are probably not suspecting dyslexia. What I am not so clear about is how you could get such low cognitive scores yet be fairly promising academically. Surely the low scores suggest a LD (esp if they do not improve next time round). I would think that such a child would perform equally as badly in conventional baseline assessments?

Private schools can work for children with SN - just to give a balanced view!

First, the suggestion that a school may not be able to deal with problems if they arise is redundant - you already know that your child has additional needs (although not pinpointed yet) and so you would only go to a school that could accommodate them. You set out to any school you visit what you need from them and they are only going to accept your child if they believe they can deal with the additional needs. If, should the worst occur, and then they don't deliver as promised you can hold them to it - they contractually are obliged to deliver what they assured you they could (otherwise it's misrepresentation and you could get out of the contract with the school without giving notice and potentially get a rebate on fees already paid).
Next, smaller class sizes really do help some children and can be a progression towards greater independence. Also there are some schools that do not charge for 1-1 support - for example in two separate schools learning support has been included in the fees (and the swap of schools was made not due to disatisfaction with the school but geographical relocation due to work).
Also, whilst Indigo has found that her school was not to blame for her DCs failure to learn this will not always be the case! My son's first MS school definitely contributed significantly to his failure to learn and arguably is failing all its children to some degree! So do not persevere with a school (in either sector) where the support you get from staff is not sufficient.

The other benefit my DS has derived is that there are so many other opportunities available that he has a chance to feel valued for something!

I don't want to be seen to push the private sector - it has some real duds, but so does the state sector so keep your mind open when considering the best options for your son.

petersham

Cognitive activity is managed by the working memory, which has limited capacity, and its used is priorities subconsciously.
If your DS is suffering from post traumatic stress due to previous environmental events, then this will be detrimental to any test performance.
Have a look at
Early Development
Learning Disabilities

All of our family have a cognitive disability, Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), and we would not benefit from all 1 to 1 as we nor not learn to develop the coping strategies we need to enable us to communicating with larger groups of say 3 or 4 people or more. So 1 to 1 is not always as good as it may be made out to be.

Sugar - you are right, there are some good / great / fantastic private schools out there. And if Petersham is very open with the school, and happens to be lucky enough to live near one of them, then private schools can work.

Petersham - A lot of kids with ASD or ADHD can't 'perform' well on tests like this (Despite being very bright). There is a very strong possibility that your child has either ASD or ADHD or both. This is the main reason I can think of why his score wouldn't reflect his cognitve ability (apart from him being scared of the EP)

I really think you need to take him to the GP, and ask for a referral to a child development paed. If you don't know what you're dealing with, I don't see how you can help him.