Low iq

[Salskey]

Dd8 has been seen by ed psy and assessment concluded her iq was 70. Ed psy is under the impression that school have provided lots of intervention, they haven't. During the meeting it came out that she has had one session this last term. school told the ed psy that although she has suggested daily precision learning this probably won't happen due to staffing issues. Is there anything I can do to support dd at home, feel a bit lost. Her strengths are musical ability, good sense of humor and willingness to learn.

sounds like she needs to have an EHCP so that you can have it guaranteed that she will get the help she clearly needs at school

I agree with bjk, Have a look on the IPSEA website and find out about apply for an EHC needs assessment.

Also talk to the senco at school and ask if they will apply for one, if they say no just do it yourself.

Good luck

If the school is unwilling to apply for an EHC plan (education health care) I recommend you do it yourself.

Check IPSEA and SOS!SEN websites to know how to apply. They have advice lines as well. Check all their links related to the new laws related to Special Educational needs, specially the SEND Code of Practice.

I found the book Special Educational Needs Getting Started with Statements by Tiana Tirraoro very useful. Saying that the system has changed now but I think most of the advice still applies.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy lessons by Siegfried Engelmann is a really good book and it's based on the principles of Direct Instruction.

She's 8.4 mths with a reading age of 7.3 and on stage 10 so reading not too bad. Spelling age is 6.7 and 2c for maths and literacy, possibly 2b for literacy. I can see her main challenge is writing :( I've been invited by ed psyc to go into sch to learn precision learning so I can do this at home and I'm going to push for the support after rather embarrassingly for them the learning mentor bounded into the meeting and slipped up that she had only supported dd once! If they come up with excuses I will apply for Ehcp

Is that a standard score of 70 or a percentile of 70?

My daughter Nigel has a standard score of 70 for reading and 69 for maths, her IQ overall was put at 21. I've already been to tribunal and won a refusal to assess for the LA to issue a Nil and say her needs can be met at school action plus

What's iq scored out of ?

I thought it best to show you a copy Nigel, I'm a bit lost with it all. The assessment was over 3 hours but the recommendation stated she needs short blocks of support. Can't these tests be done over two sessions?

I asked EP if she received support now will she improve and was told no, these are her scores, she will always struggle through school. Please tell me this isn't right

You need to take what I now say with some caution. I am not an EP and you should check my comments against that of an EP and take their view over mine.

On that basis it would seem that you may be getting confused between IQ/ ability and attainment or it has no been fully explained to you.
The IQ is relatively fixed. It depends on how the child was on the day of the testing, but broadly speaking that's probably accurate.

The issue is has he received a differentiated education [and support] to date?
Thus his attainment scores for maths Eng spelling can be improved if he is appropriately supported at school by staff who understand how to teach children with such a range of problems. This is the basis of supporting children with Dyslexia or any child with SEN. [Im not saying he is dyslexic]
In your case it would seem that the testing is showing a child with a quite spiky profile.

It says that he is not very good, at the 8%, on Verbal Comprehension - ie 92 of the same aged persons would do better than him.

He's got a poor Working memory thus he cant hold in his head ideas or instructions. These will cause him problems as he may not be able to understand what is being said in the more complex classroom situations and then may not be able to remember it, particularly if he can not understand what is being said. He has no hook to hang the words on to.
His Full Scale IQ is at the 7th percentile which is not great and he will always struggle in a school that is not preprepared to support him appropriately.

I would suggest hat you go back to the original EP and ask for a more detailed explanation to what the scores are telling you.
I am very sorry that what I have said is not better news.
I do at least hope you now have a better picture.
Regardless of the scores he is the same child today as he was yesterday and will be tomorrow. At least you know know what the situation is and what you now need to learn is how he is going to be supported to be enabled to achieve the best educational outcomes.
The following site may be of some assistance

www.dystalk.com/talks/38-iq-tests-explained

Thanks Nigel, I'm out of my cloudy haze now and I know what we need to do.

Update-met with Dds teacher at parents evening last week. She was 2c maths and literacy in September but in recent levelled assessment scored 2b+ in literacy and 2b in maths. Really pleased with her progress even though she has had very little support in school.

Did she do her sats last year? How did she do with those?

Keep a note of those nc levels as when they stop going up or get two sub levels behind your la will have a hard time getting out of is giving a ehcp

2c for literacy and maths, no movement in yr 3, job share teachers. Y4 teacher more structured and she's now finally jumped a sub level since sep.

Update: we met today with the senco, class teacher, ed psy and specialist learning mentor. Dd has made progress since beginning of November when support began. Reading age was 6.9 now 7.6, spelling age was 6.11 now 7.7. Reading comprehension has gone down slightly but is being focused on. She is getting support each day now at last :)

Hi Salskey
If the school say they can't provide what the EP says your wonderfully musical DD needs, because they do not have the money, you have the perfect case for an EHCP.

My daughter went backwards with working memory (which makes organisation skills difficult, so school have to help get her the right books for each lesson). It turned out that actually she was still improving year on year, but because the scoring was relative to her peer group, she was slipping back relative to them ie they were improving at a faster rate than she was.

So for the future, if it is a National Curriculum Level then it is a question of whether a child can attain specific skills. If that doesn't move or goes backwards, it definitely helps your EHCP case.

I have been looking at these boards since the start of this year, and whatever you do, I feel sure you will have the support of a great band of mumsnetters here to will you on, and see you through the process.

Lots of people on the planet have extremely happy lives with IQs of 70 and less, and plenty of very arty people are hopeless at maths (thinking of my wonderful MIL here).

Good Luck

has your dd been assessed for spld? I'm just wondering as dyslexia or dyspraxia can lower the score for overall iq, making it an unreliable source to measure cognitive ability. Your dd's seems to be making good progress with little support and her assessment scores aren't significantly behind. Children with low cognitive ability tend to present with very slow progress (when unsupported) and very delayed in standardised assessment.

I agree with billiejean. You say writing is not her strong point. If you write or type for her, does she do better?

If so, she may have difficulties with the process of writing and those difficulties are putting off her ideas of what she wants to write. And if this is the case I can suggest some paediatric OTs who will assess and make suggestions for work arounds like pencil grips and writing slopes, but also exercises to make writing process easier.

i think the main problem has been the support in school before the assessment which was virtually none. With the input of the ed psy school have finally pulled their socks up. The precision teaching at home must of helped too. EP said it wasn't dyslexia but today the learning mentor suggested it was and ed psy didn't disagree! She has a good long term memory, is good at remembering music and long words, reads well but struggles to put her ideas down on paper. I'll see what she's like if I write for her.

There are lots of things that can make the process of writing difficult.

From my DCs I know about dyslexia, dyspraxia and hypermobility.

Then I heard of someone with viral arthritis which went away, as viruses do.

It may take DC a few shots to get used to dictating but it is worth a look.

Good Luck