Low IQ in catholic school

I'm not sure i things are that different in your area, but when I am, and everywhere that I have heard of, has to either adapt the school program for the child or create a special program for them if they have a learning disability or anything. I would look into it at the school because if she qualifies for an aid then it will really help her. Secondly I would find out more about which teachers are annoyed by this. is it all of them of just one in particular? I had the "joy" of working in a classroom as an education assistant. It was wonderful except for the one teacher. She had no understanding and no patcience for the special needs children in her classroom. She spent no time on them and left it all to us, which was not supposed to happen. Other teachers were great with these kids though and very accomidating. If they are already modifying her school program then she may actually be getting b's but just not at the same level as the other students. The not understanding things very fast does sound like a problem though. It could just be her age, or it could be something else. Have you considered having her tested at the school? They will be able to do some standardized tests to deal with her reading and understanding, coordination, all kinds of things. It's scary to think about the possible learning dissabilities of children and it is sometimes quite unbelievable, but it is good to have some kind of an idea of what is going on. If things go on without being checked out then it will likely get worse. As for the drugs... Catholic school is a great place if you feel that God is very important in your life. For my family it is and we will for sure be sending our children there, but that doesn't mean it's the "safest" place ever. When I was in junior high we had about 300 kids in our school maybe (k-9) and 4 kids in one year got busted for drugs. there was swearing and bullying and fighting. There were kids dating and everything. The problem is, the stricter the rules the more the kids want to rebel. Kids don't like being forced to do things and so they usually end up doing exactly what the rules tell them not to. When I was in a grade 4 classroom we had one student who only wore short shorts in the spring/summer. Her gym shorts were far shorter than the dress code allowed and no matter how many times they were warned and asked to get longer shorts neither the child or her mother had any motivation to do so. Grade 4.... It was really sad. And bullying... i was bullied and made fun of for my appearance (I have a mole) and my hair. When I dyed my hair red even the teachers started calling me names... What grand people, right? So basically my point is I wouldn't worry about being in Catholic school unless it's really important to you in the God aspect. Church is a great community and usually there are kids of all ages around. Girl Guides is not necessarily religious, but the basics behind it really teach people to be their best and promotes a lot of good things. Also monitoring who she is around. Just being with people who make a point to do good things will influence her greatly. Good luck and hope some of this helped!

Bubba scored a 104 or something before his meds. it was also later in the day. I told the diagnostician who did the testing that I thought it would be higher. he said he believed it would be too, later, when he was settled in, had worked on behaviors, and maybe had some meds. so, yeah. it could be higher. and why are they telling you? and why are they recommending medication? suddenly they all have doctor's credentials? I have no problem with Catholic schools, just problems with teachers and administrators who dabble in medicine. it's illegal. does she NEED to be evaluated for ADHD? or is it that she doesn't "fit" in the model of this school? I know that private schools are sometimes the way to go, and sometimes our kids just need something different. i'd seriously be inviting them to PAY for the stuff they're recommending. and i'd also be asking if there is another class or teacher she could go to.

Sorry, I wasn't clear on this. Her psychologist tested her. Three teachers did an eval they sent to the psychologist and she had independent testing at the doctor's office. I just don't understand what this means. I looked up that bell curb thing and her scores and it is like she is in the bottom 16% of the country on several items. I'm really scared. Her doctor said with ADHD drugs she could go up the 7 points and go to college and get "b"s but how is that possible if you are at the bottom 16%? I didn't expect her to be a genius but I'm worried about her taking care of herself. She still can't get it through her head how to shampoo it. She doesn't know what day of the week it is etc. I don't understand how she can read and do math okay but can't get the days of the week. I'm terrified that she won't be able to take care of herself, that people will take advantage of her and pick on her for being stupid. I read somebody say that kids with 90 can't hold jobs. Pardon me for saying this but I know an awful lot of dumb people at work, if they have higher IQ's than she does I'm petrified. Sometimes I wonder how they even drive cars etc. If that doctor is right she is way worse than them because there isn't that many down at the 80's. Sorry, I know people have been dealing with these things for years but I was prepared for 97 or 94. I wasn't prepared for bottom 16%.

I would not take this test as the end all, be all definitive evaluation. I have a special needs child who was in Catholic school and it was not a good situation for her at all. The school was small, which can be great, but it lacked the resources to help my child succeed. She was the same age as your daughter. Every day, she was miserable and hated going because she thought she was stupid. It was her worst year ever. When we moved her to a public school the next year, she repeated first grade. She really has excelled and is about to finish second grade. She now has extra help and is pulled out of class for reading help and for small group language help. However, IQ tests, especially for a young child with possible ADHD, are not super accurate. I would not be worried yet about her ultimate career, but I would look into a school that can help her hone her natural talents and develop skills so that she feels successful. Also, ADHD medications may be a game changer for your daughter. Ask her pediatrician about changes to her diet as well as medication and see what happens. Please do not feel discouraged or hopeless. She is only 6 and her future is not decided yet. Good luck.

hopefully4, you are absolutely right. ADHD meds can really help with focus. our daughter exhibits a lot of the facial features of FAS. her grades were awful. we had all kinds of interventions, but nothing worked until she started on Focalyn. now it's the Daytrana patch. she's doing much, much better. sometimes, BarbaraM, our kids take longer. maybe she does have an IQ in the 80s. maybe it's higher. maybe past experiences or diet or lack of focus are causing it to test out lower. you need some time to grieve for what you thought was your baby's situation. understand this, though--there are many strategies and avenues available to you and your little one that will help her learn at her best. sometimes it's a creative way of looking at things, sometimes it's a structure change, sometimes it's a modality issue, and sometimes it's medication. take the time to explore your options. and don't lose hope. she's still a little girl. there's time.

IQ is one measure. There are a lot of people who don't have a high IQ, but have good "street sense" or are great at certain things. Just because your DD scored lower on an IQ test than you had hoped does NOT condemn her to a lower standard of living. In terms of school.... I'd really look at whether they're trying to work with her. Whether they're trying to accommodate her needs or whether they're trying to get her to fit in to the mold. I'm battling this with my DD's school as well. In my area, the problem with private schools is that they're not held as strongly to special education laws ... they try to have everyone fit in to the mold. My DD is in public school, so we can "fight" to get her the help that she needs and as long as we can prove it, they have to provide it. Stimulant (ADHD) medication will not necessarily help with the speed of auditory processing. Talk to them and figure out why she is not understanding quickly enough. Is she able to focus? Would she do better with written direction/pictures? Overall, though, my feeling is that you should figure out if they're willing to work with you and with her learning differences. I would not medicate a child just because a teacher says so. Best of luck!

I would be disinclined to trust an IQ test in a 6 year old done at 7 at night. Even more disinclined to give it much weight when she might have untreated ADHD. Do you know what test she was given? The 6 year age mark is the ceiling and the bottom on a lot of them. So you could get inaccurate results if the wrong test was given. Did you get a full report or only the scores. The full report should have the testers impressions of things that might have effected the scores. 87 is low but it is not so low that she could not live "independantly" with supports. But the truth is that there is a huge difference in funtioning level if she is really a 97. Personally, I wouldn't put much stock in that score until you know a lot more about it. You will find that the vast majority of private school, including catholic schools are not able to accomodate different educational needs. I would ask to see her work next to some of her classmates' work. It should look without a doubt, as good as everyone else's if she is getting B's. If it does, then the IQ number is wrong. If it doesn't or they have her doing something lower level than her classmates, you are going to need to evalaute whether they are going to be able to continue to meet her needs. Understand that regular teachers really can't teach special ed (with rare exceptions). She might make leaps and bounds of progress with some specialized trained help but you are likely going to need to put her in public school for that.

This is pretty accurate in my area too. Up until last year, our public school provided an IEP for our kids, and would recommend services and write it into the IEP. Now, they still provide services (through our Catholic School) but it is called a "K-12 Nonpublic Student Special Education Service Plan". Essentially, we use the specials teachers from the public school, but they can't enforce accommodations for the kids. It is up to OUR school to do so. I feel so blessed because as minibus said, most Catholic/Private schools are middle of the road - they don't have the funding for children who struggle, or children who are above the median...so a lot of people who need services on either side of the aspect don't really "fit". Both my boys need special ed, and I have to say that our Catholic school has gone to bat and done anything and everything to make sure my kids get the help they need and deserve. We have 2 other Catholic schools within 2 miles of ours, and people at both have said they don't get the help they need for their kids. Between the way our teachers/admin has pulled together and the small class sizes, my boys get more assistance than they ever would in a public school setting. Good luck to you. I know how hard it is when your child struggles.

I was going to say what gcrockerj27 said: drugs can be found in Catholic/private schools as much as public. they don't have to report it which is why it's not known. L, who is now 15, is ADHD. He's on Strattera which is working for him. He's develomentally delayed. Why not go for other services first and see what happens. Medication isn't what I hoped for but it's the lesser of 2 evils.

Hummmmm, tonight during home work she was clueless again. She couldn't do basic things. I've had her doing that IXL computer program for weeks and some of things they had her doing in school she had already mastered on that program. So I was the first to say she wasn't that smart, now I'm going to say I'm pretty sure she isn't that dumb either. She was doing things like looking at 31 and saying it is 13 and I'm pretty sure that was playing me and not a learning disability. So IQ of 87 or faking part of it because she doesn't want to do this. Truth is probably somewhere in between, but it is getting more difficult for her to fake that dumb at now 7 instead of 5. I'm going to put her on the ADHD, do the IXL all summer and see what happens in the fall and pray. One other issue about the catholic school versus the public, I don't think there is much chance of seeing her half siblings or running into her mother's friends kids at the catholic school. There's a significant chance of it in the public. Here in our area they have torn down the projects in the city to keep federal funding and are paying rent for the low income people in the suburbs. So yea, there is a significant amount more issues in our local public schools and I'm going to try to avoid as much of it as possible for as long as possible.

I work as a vocational rehabilitation counselor (help teens and adults with disabilities obtain and maintain employment), and a person with an IQ of 87 is perfectly capable of functioning independently as an adult in a meaningful job. Advanced academics would be more difficult, but even a bachelor's degree is feasible with a lighter course load and a lot of motivation (I have one adult with an IQ in the mid-80's who is currently pursuing a bachelor's). That said, I have also seen people with untreated ADHD test much lower than what their "real-life" abilities would suggest, so I think it is possible that (assuming the ADHD diagnosis is accurate) the test is not a valid representation of her aptitudes.

Thanks all I'm feeling better. I just talked to our neighbor who is a retired teacher and I could tell she was surprised about my daughters score. Nobody who knows her believes it and I'm sure they aren't just saying that to make me feel better. Between these numbers and the numbers doctors are giving us for cholestrol etc. you don't know what to do anymore. Maybe it was better when we didn't know so much or atleast before we thought we knew so much.