proven that late bloomers are rare, that
they usually wilt, and that skill deficits
consistently prevent them from blooming as readers (Juel, 1988; Francis et al.,
1996, Shaywitz et al., 1999). In fact, the
research showed that there is about a 90
percent chance that a poor reader in first
grade will remain a poor reader.
Specifically, the probability that a child
who was a poor reader in first grade
would remain a poor reader in fourth
grade was . 88 and the probability that an
average reader in first grade would become a poor reader in fourth grade was
. 12. The probability also showed that an
average first-grade reader would remain
an average fourth-grade reader was . 87
and the average poor first-grade reader
would become an average fourth-grade
reader was . 13 (Juel, 1988).
TIP 3: Don’t fall for the “late bloomer,
feel good” theory. The research clearly
proves that struggling students do not
catch up and actually wilt.
If the public school
agrees that your child
may have a disability,
they must evaluate your
child at no cost to you.
TIP 4: Gather information regarding
your child’s performance on standardized
test scores, report cards, and classroom
performance. Identify the strengths and
weaknesses and discrepancies in your
child’s scores and performance.
language, listening comprehension,
and oral expression.
The child’s academic discrepancies
must also be related to one or more of the
following processing disorders:
Q. What is a learning disability?
According to Education Code Section
56337 (a), a Specific Learning Dis-
ability, as defined in paragraph ( 30) of
Section 1401 of Title 20 of the United
States Code, is a disorder in one or
more of the basic psychological pro-
cesses involved in understanding or
in using language, spoken or written,
which may manifest itself in the im-
perfect ability to listen, think, speak,
read, write, spell or perform math cal-
culations. A student is recognized as
having a Specific Learning Disability
(SLD) when he or she exhibits a signif-
icant discrepancy ( 18 points or more)
between his or her Intellectual Quo-
tient (IQ) score and academic standard
scores in reading, reading comprehen-
sion, math, math reasoning, written
• Attention—the ability to focus and
maintain attention
• Auditory Processing—the perception
and use of auditory stimuli
•;Visual;Processing—use;of;visual;stim-
uli in learning or using feedback from
the eyes to coordinate the movement
of the body, i.e., copying from the
board or book in a timely manner
•;Association—long-term;memory;skills
• Conceptualization—using informa-
tion logically, such as in conclusions,
judgment, inferences, and academic
reasoning skills
Q. Where do I go to determine if
my child has a learning disability?
If the public school agrees that your child
may have a disability, they must evaluate
your child at no cost to you. The public
school may disagree with your analysis,
however, and refuse to evaluate your
child. If so, the school must notify you
of this refusal-to-test decision in writing.
If the school district refuses to evaluate your child, you should do two things
immediately:
1. Ask the school district for information about their special education
policies and about parents’ rights to
disagree with the decision made by
the school district.
2. Get in touch with the Parent Training and Information (PTI) Center by
contacting the National Information
Center for Handicapped Children
and Youth (NICHCY) at nichcy@
fhi360.org.
Look at your child’s test scores that
you charted above. A common scenario for a learning disabled child is high
standard scores in one subject area such
as math (average are 85–115 or better) but low scores in other core subject areas such as reading or language
arts (lower than 85). Students usually
perform in one or more subject areas
commensurate with their IQ but much
lower in the subject in which they have
a learning disability.
TIP 5: Testing to determine if your
child has a Specific Learning Disability
(SLD) is free. Parents need only request
in writing that they suspect their child
has a Specific Learning Disability. The
school district must then conduct an
evaluation to determine if the child has a
learning disability.
Dr. Chris Davidson is a licensed educational psychologist, educator, lecturer, author,
parent and student advocate. Her approach
is based upon a solid foundation in child
development, educational assessment and
consultation, learning differences, special
education laws, and teamwork. Dr. Davidson received her B.S. in elementary education from Rutgers University, her master’s
degree in counseling from California State
University Long Beach, and her Ed.D. from
the University of LaVerne in educational
management. www.Drdavidson.com
Endnote:
1. www.ldonline.org/article/Waiting_Rarely_
Works%3A_Late_Bloomers_Usually_Just_Wilt
www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com