ed psych

[3kids]

The ed psych has finally been and assessed ds 9 and her report says that he has no short term memory or under standing how can you teach a child that has no short term memory? she also said that in less than a hour he was tiring and that was making it even more difficult for him. I've got a meeting with his teacher and senco on wednesday after school.

3kids,
How did the ep decide this? I imagine s/he used a 'recall of digits' test, i.e. one in which your child was asked to repeat a sequence of digits. You need to know whether your ds has any phonological language learning problems or attention problems or whether its a pure STM problem. The SENCo may not know - it should be in the ep's report. Their management of his difficulties will depend on the specificity of the problem. If the report has any more specific details, I'd be happy to make some suggestions.

The report said she used the british ability scales 2nd edition and found that ds was below average in verbal reasoning, immediate verbal and spatial memory, short-term auditory sequential memory. She said that ds made an effective start at solving a problem but then forgot what he was doing and he will struggle in class because he has difficulty remembering. She also said he couldn't recite the alphabet. Thanks for looking at this dobbin.

I'm not sure how much you know about this already so I apologise if too much detail. In order to process incoming auditory and visual information, it is held in a short term storage system. For things you hear, this is called the phonological loop and it allows a few seconds of information to be held. (For visual info it's known as the visuospatial sketchpad). If you want to hold the information for longer, you need to either interpet it, e.g. during a conversation, or rehearse it, e.g. remembering a phone number. If you have poor short term auditory memory it means that the information held in this store is lost or distorted before it can be interpreted and your rehearsal systems are ineffective at helping you to remember it. Children with this kind of problem often have difficulty learning simple sequences, such as the alphabet, the days of the week and their tables. They may have early language problems. I would anticipate some literacy difficulties as when they try to sound out words, the sequence of sounds will become confused. The child might also find it hard to function in class because they lose track of what the teacher is saying and cannot remember instructions. You often then get attention problems and loss of interest/frustration. Are these the sort of problems your ds has?

Yes! He dosen't get frustrated at school he takes it out on us. Do you know what will help him?

Does your son have a Statement?.

To know how to help him, it's important to know exactly where his difficulties are most evident. Does he have language or literacy difficulties or is the memory problem an isolated difficulty?

He dosen't have a statement, before the ed psych came out the senco said about trying for 1. He has literacy problems he's ok with maths but they are saying it is a problem now for ds as he's in yr5 it's a lot of problem sorting. He just dosen't understand most things that are said even at home. He's got a anixity disorder aswell and goes to group sessions every friday with a group of 8 children. I've been saying he's got problems since yr2 and they wouldn't listen and after having all these reports saying he's like a 5/6yr old just makes me mad i just want what's best for him. Thanks for your help.

3kids,

If your son had a statement then his difficulties with regards to school would be drawn up and documented in a legally binding document. He would be given extra support in terms of hours per week.

The onus though is on you as the parent to ask the LEA in question for such an assessment to be made. IPSEA are very good in this regard and can help parents with regards to this. Their web address is www.ipsea.org.uk.

Know what its like when you are not listened to - this happened to me also but I got a statement for my son in the end.

I've got meeting with his teacher and senco on wednesday i'll see what they say and push for the statement still.

Good luck Wednesday. Do keep us posted.

I think you need to get a clear picture from the staff regarding exactly where he has difficulties and how they intend to support him. In my experience, these kinds of problems do not readily resolve themselves and it is likely he will need some additional support. For example, he probably finds it hard to remember what people have told him will be happening during the day. This can really exacerbate anxiety. Simple measures, like giving him a detailed timetable of the day's routine, can help him to anticipate the sequence of events. You can use this at home and school. You can use written words or pictures depending on his lieracy skills. For example, the timetable could show that after school on Monday he will go swimming then to his Nan's for tea. You and his teacher should go through the timetable at the start of the day so he knows what will happen and at the end of the day, to talk about what has happened.

Within class he is likely to need individual instructions when tasks are being explained to him. These should be given individually to allow him time to understand each one. They should also be given written down so that he can refer to them if he does forget. It will help if the task can be demonstrated to him while it is being explained as the demo will help him to understand and remember the words being used and the sequence of events.

The simplest way to think about supporting him is how you will provide an external system to compensate for his poor memory.

In terms of his literacy difficulties, that will need more detailed investigation in order to determine how best he learns. He might be someone who finds it easier to remember words by sight than by sounding out. If he also finds it hard to learn the look of words, at this stage it is important to ensure that his literacy difficulties do not hinder his access to the curriculum and he will probably need help to read classromm text and to record his answers. It may not be that helpful to have someone scribe for him if he cannot read what they have written. Hence the need for further assessment to see what will be best for him.

If the meeting does not make you feel confident that the staff know how to support a child with memory difficulties, you might want to recommend a book to them. It's called 'Memory and Learning: A practical guide for teachers' by Bristow, Cowley and Daines. It's published by David Fulton. There's also a very useful website called 'All Kinds of Minds' by Mel Levine. It has an excellent section on managing different learning difficulties.

Let us know how you get on.

Had meeting today senco said not alot has been written in the ed pysch report so they are going to carry on with the work they are doing with him(he goes out for 10 mins every day to do a memory thing on the computer to try and help his memory) they are going to write a new iep for him and we're going to meet again before they break up for feb half term. The bad news is they have had a in class support worker who sits with my ds and 2 others who does remind my ds on what he should be doing but they have lost the funding and as of jan she will be gone,the senco did say it could go in are favour though as if ds goes down hill when she's gone then it will prove he does need someone sat with him. He also goes out everyday for thrass, mumercy and fls.

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Given the ed psych's assessment, you may have enough evidence to indicate a need to request a statutory assessment now (did the EP quote the test results or just the ranges for the scores? If you can tell me the test scores I can give you a clearer idea). There is as yet little, if any, convincing evidence that short term memory problems improve with practice. On the whole your child will need and benefit from being taught compensatory strategies. These will require input from a psychologist (rather than a computer) with knowledge of memory difficulties.
If you are not too concerned at the moment, it is fine to see how he gets on. If you are concerned, it would help to hassle the EP now for very specific remediation strategies and a detailed IEP. Memory problems affect behaviour and mood as well as learning so I'd be reluctant to wait and see if he manages on his own.

Hi Dobbin thanks for replying the report dosen't give any results she just put ds was "rather below average for his age with verbal resoning; Immediate verbal and spatial memory; Short-term auditory sequential memory." She also said "From this work, it appears has some difficulty with short-term memory and information processing skills. This may affect the way he is able to use knowledge of vocabulary and non-verbal reasoning skills to some extent. For example, I noted that sometimes made an effective start at solving a problem, but then seemed to forget what he was doing. In class, he may have some difficulty remebering the content of lengthy or complex instructions and explanations." We are concerned that when ta leaves in dec he will struggle and it will make his anixiety problem worse his classes for this finish at christmas.

Unfortunately you're probably right that he will become more anxious without support. At this stage, your best bet is perhaps to make a case to the authority that your son has been receiving x amount of help, which has benefitted him, but he still needs it and will struggle without it. He needs to have help allocated specifically to him for the exact reason you're currently experiencing - if it's not, he can lose it. Even if he is not yet far enough behind, it does no harm to start flagging him up to the LEA. It really depends on how concerned you are for him at the moment. It sounds like the school are trying to offer a range of support already but there's a limit to what they can do without extra staffing.
Given that he already attends a group outside school for his anxiety and the problems have been obvious for a while, I'd probably start kicking up a fuss and request an assessment now or at least insist that the LEA/school allocate some protected support time for him. How would you feel about that?

What would i need to do? I am concerned for him but i don't want to cause trouble at the school at the end of the day my ds has to come 1st so i will do what ever's needed. The other problem is that his classes finish at xmas so he won't have them or the support in class. Ds is also dyspraxic and was assessed by consultant who said he's like a 5/6yr old.

3kids,

Have a look at IPSEA's website. They have model letters on there you can use with regards to writing to the LEA re a statutory assessment. Would strongly suggest you do this now especially as he's going to lose any support at the end of the year.

IPSEA's website is www.ipsea.org.uk.

You won't get in trouble with the school; they in all likelihood will be delighted that you've started the ball rolling re the LEA. Unfortunately the onus is very much on the parents to push for the help otherwise it is not readily granted.

I wish you well