Is there anything more severe than severe learning difficulties?

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi, my daughter has recently been diagnosed with SLD. She is nearly 8 years old and can't read, write and struggles with the most basic of learning. She's mainly incontinant, but is improving with medication.
She can chat to anyone though. She remembers things that I forget. She has a wonderful imagination and a good vocab. She remembers huge chunks of words from musicals, and is musically tallented.
I'm just wondering why she's had this diognosis when there are children much worse off, eg that can't talk at all and have no capacity to learn anything. What would they be diagnosed with in terms of learning difficulty?
I'm only wondering this, as there are 2 secondary schools local to us, one for moderate LD and the other one for severe. As it stands, Lucy would have to go to the one for severe, where a great deal of the children are extreamly mentaly and physically disabled, in wheel chairs, unable to communicate, or severely autistic.
Lucy does have the ability to learn, even if it is a lot slower than other children.
If anyone could shed any light on this, I'd be very greatful.

My DS (now 14) was diagnosed with SLD early on. He cannot write easily (severely dyspraxic as well), has no idea of spelling, is on remedial reading, very poor memory, has v delayed speech and language, but is at mainstream secondary. He was encouraged by the LEA to go to the specialist school dealing with LD but visited it and the mainstream secondary with the best SENCO support and was adament he wanted to go to the mainstream secondary. He is very happy there and his school is brilliant with him. Maybe academically he would do better in the specialist school but it is better that he is happy. He has full time support and is much more exposed to the world than he would be in a specialist school. Visit all the options before you make your choice or are encouraged into a particular route.

While it really doesn't matter, Bee's cognitive/intellectual challenges root from her medical issues, but she is a study in "splinter" skills.

Bee is 7.5, and reads at/above her grade level, but cannot do nursery/reception level maths even with manipulatives. She can rote count, but not count with correspondence, read a digital but not analogue clock, but has no real idea what the time "means". She is VERY verbal and has a memory that boggles me (but cannot remember names at all). She is currently working on writing her fourth book (she types her work using a computer with predictive text software and a touch screen).

She remains incontinent even with time training (she doesn't resist at all, but can void 5 minutes after going to the toilet, even when toileting hourly). She cannot write her letters - after 4 years' work, she can almost write her name, but it looks like it is written by a child in nursery.

Currently, she attends a "hospital school" with 34 students. In her class of 7, she is the most physically able, but the most medically fragile. Cognitively, she is probably somewhere in the centre. The school has students who are profoundly globally disabled, others are physically disabled and cognitively intact, there is a nursery with a high proportion of children with ASD affiliated with the school as well.

Bee has her own IEP, and I can say that being in a school like she attends - even though she is not as involved as many of the students - has brought out the best in her. In fact, I have been told that the parents of 2 of her classmates credit her for their kids' evolving speech. Her program is very individualised, as are all the other students'. We are starting a transition for Bee into a community school next year (she will attend her current school 3 days a week, the community school for the other two) but the groundwork that has been laid over the last 2 years in the hospital school has been invaluable to ensure Bee will have an appropriate program even in the community school.

We are actually just starting a full neuropsychological assessment for her at school this week - it has been cancelled repeatedly because of health reasons. I look forward to seeing the results, since there is a wide disparity between what some of the professionals who see her say (neuro, for example, uses "GDD" and "cognitively impaired" to describe her in the first paragraph of every report, and the neuropsych, who questions the validity of the GDD and ASD diagnoses she has bee given.

This is the greatest benefit of a special school - definitely take a good look at both of the potential schools. One up-side of the SLD school is the student ratio - there will definitely be more 1:1 attention for your DD to concentrate on the SMART goals in her IEP.