Reading Comprehension Challenge

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You might want to look into a screening for Irlen syndrome as well.

irlen . com

used to be called scoptic sensitivity

@Ha, has your son ever had an IQ assessment? I was just wondering because my daughter's assessment showed low scores in "Visual Memory" (38th percentile) and "Working Memory" (18th percentile) while she scored very high in "Verbal Memory" (99.9th percentile!!). I am wondering if this is impairing her reading comprehension. If she can't process the visual input and hold the memory of what she has just read, that might be affecting her comprehension. I was interested to know if others with reading problems had this same cognitive presentation. I've read that "Working Memory" has to do with Executive Functioning. Does anyone have any information on this?

Yes, Mama to Grace. You are right. DS was tested at UCLA and found to have impaired working memory.

I just dropped DS off at the local middle school for testing. I had requested specific reading-comprehension tests which have been shown to effectively assess ASD students for reading comprehension. I was told the school is a public school and therefore has limited testing ability which does not reflect my area of concern.

@Grace's Mom. At last I found Mars' scores in these areas. They were done at UCLA in 2008. His percentile scores break down differently than Grace's.

Visual: M had something called a "Processing Speed Domain" which assesses visual processing speed, attention and fine motor skills.
2 % Percentile

Working memory: 55% Percentile.

Verbal comprehension 27% Percentile.

Mars' comprehension was OK until he went to an Autism school which supplied rewards for quick processing. Mars aims to please, so to please teachers he would respond with any mindless thing to get M and M's for quickness. After three years of not taking enough time to process for himself, his thinking was poor and language nonsensical. I pulled him out of that school. We spent the year of 7th grade letting him think his own thoughts to replace robotic babble with natural speech. Now he speaks meaningfully. But he must pick up at age 14 when he left off with reading at the end of 3rd grade.

I find an overwhelming tendency in LAUSD funded Autism education and therapy to favor behavior over thought. So I don't know where I will find a mindful educational therapist who will work collaboratively with the family and Mars at LAUSD expense.