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We have started to do Skype sessions for people out the area. I find the Skype sessions work best for Executive Functioning, math and writing skills. I do not know what areas your son is experiencing difficulty in, but most children with ADHD have weak executive functioning skills. Making sure he knows what work he has do, that he does it AND turns it in is important. Additionally, time management skills help make sure there is enough time to do the work AND study for tests, as well complete projects without undue stress.

This is a tough situation. The school system has guidelines they must follow. If a child is not receiving the correct services it can sometimes be helpful to consult with a child advocate who understands the laws and can guide the parents in the actions they need to take to get the services they need.

It sounds like your son may have a Neurodevelopmental Disorder (NDD), this is the new diagnoses for what was called the “clumsy child” and now has a DSM code so that intervention may be covered by insurance.

You can read below to see if you think this might match your child. If you think this might an issue with your child you can talk to your pediatrician or school about testing and interventions.

New cluster of NDDs are in the DSM 5, which includes six categories: Intellectual Developmental Disorders, Communication Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Learning Disorders, and Motor Disorders.

The motor disorder, which it sound like your son may have, includes developmental coordination disorder (DCD), which is also called developmental dyspraxia and the “clumsy child” syndrome. DCD has 4 diagnostic criteria, as follows:
• Acquisition and execution of coordinated motor skills are below what would be expected at a given chronologic age and opportunity for skill learning and use; difficulties are manifested as clumsiness and as slowness and inaccuracy of performance of motor skills
• The motor skills deficit significantly or persistently interferes with activities of daily living appropriate to the chronologic age and impacts academic/school productivity, prevocational and vocational activities, leisure, and play
• The onset of symptoms is in the early developmental period
The motor skills deficits cannot be better explained by intellectual disability or visual impairment and are not attributable to a neurologic condition affecting movement.

It is hard to tease out what difficulties your daughter is experiencing, but since you mention CP and editing, I would guess that her writing speed is slow. I don’t know how the UK views processing speed issues, but in the USA we are still working hard to educate teachers about this difficultly and how it affects the output of students. I would suggest that you check out the intervention on my blog on Dysgraphia

Here is some information on Neurodevelopmental Disorders. You can read the full articles for more information.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDDs) are disorders of brain function that affect emotion, learning, and memory. http://www.apadivisions.org/division-16/publications/newsletters/school-psychologist/2012/04/neurodevelopmental-disorder-implications.aspx

New cluster of NDDs are in the DSM 5, which includes six categories: Intellectual Developmental Disorders, Communication Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Learning Disorders, and Motor Disorders.

Diagnosis http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/915251-overview
The motor disorder includes developmental coordination disorder (DCD), which is also called developmental dyspraxia and the “clumsy child” syndrome. DCD has 4 diagnostic criteria, as follows:
• Acquisition and execution of coordinated motor skills are below what would be expected at a given chronologic age and opportunity for skill learning and use; difficulties are manifested as clumsiness and as slowness and inaccuracy of performance of motor skills
• The motor skills deficit significantly or persistently interferes with activities of daily living appropriate to the chronologic age and impacts academic/school productivity, prevocational and vocational activities, leisure, and play
• The onset of symptoms is in the early developmental period
The motor skills deficits cannot be better explained by intellectual disability or visual impairment and are not attributable to a neurologic condition affecting movement.

Great questions. I recommend that your son visit the student services office of the school. They should be able to provide referral for testing. Most likely they will require updated testing as testing general considered valid for 3 years. Hopefully the office can also guide to some help with executive functioning.

Your daughter’s scores are very strong. I do not see anything of concern in her testing that would suggest a problem. The only comment I can make is that while her Working Memory is strong, it is lower than the other indexes. Her Processing Speed is very high, it may be that her thinking and processing speed are working ahead of her working memory skills and she “rushes” to the answer without stopping a moment to consider if there is anything to correct before she answers.

Given that your son’s highest score is in Verbal Comprehension and his lowest score in in the Perceptual Reasoning Index I have copied a reply I sent to another parent about NonVerbal Learning Disabilities. I hope that you can find some good suggestions here.

Diagnosing NLD is difficult. Here is a great article that can help you learn more about NLD. I have only included part of the article; I highly suggest you read the whole article to learn about the traits to look at for NLD. There is a difference between dysgraphia and LND and it is important to know what the differences are. Many dysgraphic students have neuropsychologial deficits which lead to academic issues which are the same as a child with NLD, but they do not have the social/emotional issues.

The Syndrome of Nonverbal Learning Disabilities:
Clinical Description and Applied Aspects by Michael A. Roman
http://www.nldontheweb.org/nldadvancedreading/nldclinicaldescription.html

Edited article

Introduction

The syndrome of nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD) includes a number of specific, potentially debilitating symptoms. Rourke (1995a) has grouped these into three major areas:
1. neuropsychological deficits, include difficulties with
• tactile and visual perception,
• psychomotor coordination,
• tactile and visual attention,
• nonverbal memory,
• reasoning,
• executive functions, and
• specific aspects of speech and language
2. academic deficits,
• in math calculations,
• mathematical reasoning,
• reading comprehension,
• specific aspects of written language, and
• handwriting are primary academic concerns
3. social-emotional/adaptational deficits.
• problems with social perception and social interaction.
• Children with this disorder are also seen as having substantially increased risk for internalized forms of psychopathology, primarily anxiety and depression.

While the NVLD syndrome has only recently been described in detail (Rourke, 1987, 1989), a number of important articles and two major books have been dedicated to descriptions of the disorder (Rourke, 1989, 1995a). Despite this fact, the syndrome is unfamiliar to many psychologists, diagnosticians, and educators. There is no formal provision under federal special education law recognizing the existence of nonverbal learning disability as a handicapping condition. In most cases, children with this disorder are best classified as Other Health Impaired. Because they may also have specific motor skills deficits, problems with math, social interactional difficulties, and/or emotional disturbances, some of these children may also be appropriately classified as orthopedically handicapped, learning disabled, or emotionally disturbed. This may be particularly appropriate for cases of neurologically acquired NVLD rather than the more common developmental cases of the disorder.
Reply

Setting up a strong support system for your son and helping him build coping skills will help him move toward independence. Using the scaffolding system, you give support while a skill is being developed and then slowly take it away as the student is able to perform on his own. Here is an edited article that outlines many suggestions. The website LDonline is a great resource, http://www.ldonline.org/indepth/nonverbal.

Developing an Educational Plan for the Student with NLD
By: Sue Thompson, M.A., C.E. (1998)
Read the full article at: http://www.ldonline.org/article/6119/

Has difficulty coping with changes in routine and transitions
• Providing a predictable and safe environment with a consistent daily routine;
• Minimizing transitions and giving several verbal cues to the student before transitions;
• Furnishing the child’s parents with a schedule of activities so they can “rehearse” (preview and prepare) for the following day with their child and make sure he has the necessary supplies required for the day’s activities;
• Posting a simple written schedule on the blackboard at the beginning of each day in primary grades;
• Explaining the daily agenda to the older child so he can begin to internalize the structure of his school day;
• Writing out a high school student’s daily schedule on a card (with any changes in routine highlighted) that can be carried from class to class, so it is always readily available.

Has difficulty generalizing previously learned information
• Never expecting the student to automatically generalize instructions or concepts;
• Using language as the bridge to tie new situations to old learning;
• Reviewing past information before presenting new concepts;
• Verbally pointing out similarities, differences and connections;
• Verbally indicating generalizations which can be drawn in various situations;
• Methodically discussing the cause-and-effect relationships of events and situations with the student.

Has difficulty following multi-step instructions
• Writing out and/or tape recording multi-step instructions;
• Numbering and presenting instructions in the most efficient sequence;
• Breaking all tasks down into manageable segments and presenting them a few at a time;
• Making sure the student understands your instructions- don’t assume that repeating them back to you means that he will remember and can follow through;
• Pairing the student with NLD with a nondisabled “buddy” who can remind him of “the next step;”
• \Teaching the student mnemonic devices for short term memory enhancement;
• Checking with the student at frequent intervals to be sure he is not “lost” or confused.

Makes very literal translations
• Explaining what you mean by the things you say which may be misinterpreted;
• Simplifying and breaking-down abstract concepts;
• Starting with concrete concepts and images and slowly moving to abstract concepts and images, at a pace set by the student;
• Understanding that metaphors, emotional nuances, multiple levels of meanings, and relationship issues as presented in novels will not be understood unless explained;
• Teaching the student to say “I’m not sure what you mean” or “That doesn’t make sense to me” to give her a specific vocabulary to help her decipher your intent.

Asks too many questions
• Answering the student’s questions whenever it is possible and practical (other students in the class may actually have the same questions, but be lacking in the verbal abilities to ask them);
• Starting the other students on the assignment and then individually answering the rest of this student’s questions;
• Designating a specific time during the day when you can continue a discussion which needs to end at the moment;
• Telling the student you only have time to answer three questions right now (a specific number is important – – don’t say “a few”), but that you will be glad to answer three more of his questions during the recess break;
• Specifically teaching the student when it is appropriate to ask for help (i.e. if he will be unable to continue his assignment unless something he doesn’t understand is explained to him) and the appropriate methods of doing so;
• Explicitly teaching the rules of polite social conduct, so that the child does not constantly interrupt class activities with his questions.

Is easily overwhelmed
• Diffusing potentially weighty situations as early on as possible;
• Minimizing environmental stimuli (especially visual and tactile);
• Having a consistent strategy to employ when the child can no longer cope due to overstimulation, frustration or confusion;
• Allowing the child to abstain from participating in activities when she demonstrates any signs of overload;
• Eliminating all nightly homework assignments;
• Implementing a modified schedule or other creative programming strategy.

May experience heightened sensory experiences
• Preparing the environment for the child (eliminating known sensory stressors);
• Reducing distractions and situations contributing to sensory overload;
• Focusing on one sensory modality at a time (avoiding multi-sensory approaches to instruction);
• Allowing modifications as needed to deal with sensitivity issues (protecting the child from sounds that hurt his ears or avoiding the use of fluorescent lights in the classroom);
• Talking in a low whisper to a child with extreme auditory sensitivity;
• Ensuring that this child is placed in a classroom location with the least amount of distraction (usually up at the front of the room, away from visual and auditory sources of “clutter”).

May develop secondary issues with stress and anxiety
• Previewing and preparing for all novel situations and transitions in advance;
• Providing a consistent and predictable daily routine;
• Gradually exposing this child to new activities, teachers, classes, schools, etc.;
• Ensuring that this child is safe from physical and emotional abuse; · Avoiding sudden and unexpected surprises;
• Thoroughly preparing the child in advance for field trips, modified schedules, or other changes, regardless of how minimal;
• Talking the child through stressful situations or (non-punitively) removing her from the stressful situation;
• Providing personal space in the resource room or other designated area for regrouping and relaxation.

Imparts the “illusion of competency”
• Providing a highly individualized educational program;
• Applying age and grade-level expectations with flexibility;
• Emphasizing the strong academic skills and gifts of the child with NLD by creating cooperative learning situations in which his proficient verbal, reading, oral spelling, vocabulary, and memory skills will be showcased to advantage (and his difficulties with writing can be de-emphasized);
• Never assuming this child understands something just because he can parrot back what you have just said;
• Never assuming this child understands what he has read, just because he is a “proficient” reader (has excellent word recognition);
• Offering added verbal explanations when the child seems “lost” or registers obvious confusion.

The Flexible Thinking Workbook has been working quite well with children with autism.