Couple of school related Qs, please help, I'm so confused!

[OverflowingMum]

oh Iknow...its me again...I'm sorry !
I do have a couple of specififc questions though that keep going round in my head and wondered if anyone could shed any possible light on them for me.
As Ihave posted already, DD3 was diagnosed with Aspergers last week.It was a very thorough assessment, and culminated in her attending the centre for 2 days and being seen by various professionals including a SALT and a Pyschologist (as well as Consultant Developmental Paed, another Paed an OT and Opthalmic assessment)
Anyway...outcome in brief was Dx of Aspergers,her pyschology testing showed her to be generally of above average intelligence, although with signicantly below average scoring for the social related questions- a typical profile for Dx of AS.
This was quite revealing because at school she is currently performing well below average and the consultant Paed agreed that this meant she was not currently reaching anywhere near her academic potential.
Her SALT assessment showed that her language on the whole was not delayed, although she did tend to mispronounce longer , more complicated words and had some immature use of grammer (Him falled for example instead of He fell...)This is in keeping with what we have noticed, as well as the fact she tends to mishear certain word endings sometimes and muddle words up.
Because of this the SALT said she would "refer her to the School SALT, who would then liase with her teacher" Now I am not sure what this means exactly? Are they going to further assess DDs language?
She is really struggling especially with phonics, and for examle I was tring to do some rhyming words with her today and she hadnt got a clue...really couldnt grasp that cat ryhmed with hat for example...
It was also inthe feedaback vaguely alluded to by the Paed that these sppech/language issues could be a very specific learning problem that was contributing to her poor progress at school...but then it was sort of dismissed...
SOOOOO how do I get to the bottom of this???Is there something more there preventing her progress in literacy? Will the school SALT address this???If not who????
Also it was glossed over that there may be an elemant of Dyslexia....LOADS of her letters/numbers are back to front etc...but also not uncommon for her age, but then again may also explain her poor progress in literacy....
Sooooo again,how do I pursue that further? Who could assess her more in that regard??

I am just so confused and baffled by it all...not to mention worn out just trying to cope with her everyday and my other 5 dc....
sigh....

Thanks to anyone who got this far!

Hi,

Sorry, I'm not much help really. We are in a similar position with my ds1 being given a verbal dx of Aspergers, with a query dyspraxia, but we haven't been through the CAMHS ASD Assessment Unit assessment yet.

The only thing that sprang to mind for me, was whether or not you are in regular contact with the SENCO at your dd's school, I think it would be him/her that co-ordinates any help your dd has and s/he'd be best placed to advise you on who would address what issues.

Also, we had some concerns about ds2 possibly being dyslexic and asked the SENCO at his IEP review about it, but were told that they don't test until year 2 as a lot of children mirror and reverse letters up until then and its difficult to get a clear picture. This seemed late to me, but I assume if they had serious concerns they would investigate sooner. Apparently, in our school all the children are checked for dyslexia in year 2 as a matter of course.

I'm sure someone will be along to offer more useful advice soon. Just wanted to bump for you.

Hi it is very common for children with ASD/AS to also have specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia.
Schools tend to not assess for these things until a child is age 7.
However my ds2 was seen at our local hospital reading difficulty clinic long before because of his existing dx of ASD & mild CP.

The clinic is in the eye dept & was very good, even if it is still too young for formal dx of dysexia or similar they can still help with strategies to assist.

Also has your dd seen the school ED psych, they should eb able to highlight her areas of strength, maybe phonics is not the way she is going to learn - maybe she is better by learning sight words/visual.
Once they identify the way your dd learns best you may find she has a big spurt academically.

see I can't spell dyslexia

overflowing

I have a nasty feeling that longer term you won't get anywhere far with the school SALT because there won't be anywhere near enough provision provided. And in the meantime your DD continues to be failed by the school.
Some SENCOs as well refuse to recognise such difficulties with numbers and letter formation.

I have heard of AS being interlinked with a variety of other learning difficulties like dyslexia and dyscalcula (in the manner of concentric olympic style rings).

On a wider level nothing short of a Statement is legally binding. Some other plans are truly not worth the paper they are written on.

Have you considered applying for such a document from your LEA?. Although it is a daunting process and you have a lot on your plate already I would seriously consider now applying for a Statement. You are best placed really to apply for such a document.

Also you need to think longer term as well. The higher up she progresses through the school system the harder she may find school on all sorts of levels particularly if there is not enough support in place already.

thanks for the replies.

atilla thanks for the statementing advice, here and on my other thread, I will definitely give it some serious consideration.
I know you mentioned about possibly in the future finding another school if things dont work out, but couldn't really do that....I have 3 other DC at the school, and no other option of any halfway decent school anywhere nearby!We actually had to fight to get our DC into this school,and have so far been happy with it for the other dc.I think I need to give them a chance really in light of her diagnosis,and me being more proactive and see how we go...
I will stand up for dd though, I am not afraid of rocking the boat! I did in fact Home ed the DC for 2 years as at that time the choice was that or disasterous school (afterwe moved area)that the DC attended for a term and was so awful we took them out!
willsee howit goes after meeting in new half term and take it from there....

How old is she?

Hi Cornsilk, she is 5.6, in Y1
I have 6DC, DS 1 11,DD1 10,DD2 7,DD3 5.6,DD4 4 and DS2 22 months.
The DC have been at that school for 1 1/2 yrs now. Ds1 moved to secondary school last September. DD1 is in Y5,DD2 in Y3, DD3 in Y1, and DD4 in nursery.