I am looking for assistance for an 8 year old in Trinidad who has repeated 2nd year twice. He works when he wants to, but prefers to play. His parents are worried but cannot afford specialists. Can anyone give me some advice on ways of diagnosing the problem? Or a contact for someone who can? It is desperate situation… thanks.
Hi citizen, I have a 7 years old with special needs who I am homeschooling at the moment (I am also in Trinidad). I read a lot about the subject, could you please tell me if your son has some type of learning disability? (Diagnosed by a doctor) In this way, I may be able to guide you to some options. Also please describe some of his behavior, in this way I may be able to tell you what to look for. Look forward to your post. Hang in there.
Finally, I found the tread. Ok, I am really excited now. I will speak to the parents to gather information about their son. I figure they may need to speak more closely with his teacher, but unfortunately that would have to await the re-opening of school. I know he has not been diagnosed by any doctor, but I was wondering which doctor he would have to go to to assess the problem? I know for a fact he is very sensitive to music. How is you son? How long has he been home schooled? Have you seen much improvement from this method?
Thanks again....
Thanks for your reply. Sorry for assuming it was your son. I think is great that as a teacher you are taking so much interest in this kid.
This little boy needs to see a doctor right away. The longer they take, the harder will be for him to get the proper treatment he needs. I do not know his location but if they are in the East-West corridor they can go to Mt. Hope Child Guidance Clinic, they have a group of Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Social Workers and also a Child Psychiatrist (The only one for the whole Caribbean). They should call and make an appointment with the psychologist right away in order to get him assessed.
Psychologists are usually the ones assessing for learning disabilities or other problems.
My son have been homeschooled for over a year, we do not have a definitive diagnose as yet but seems to have a Pervasive Development Disorder (Very mild autism). He also has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) His intellectual capacity seem to be good but his verbal skills and anything that involves language (Understanding and communication) is very poor.
He is great with computers (Again a non-verbal skill) but communication is poor.
Please keep me update to how things are with this boy. Thank you.
Thank you for your timely response and your keen interest in this situation. It is interesting that I have been teaching in this country since 1993, and not aware of the options available for assessing these problems. I taught in the primary school system for the earlier part of my career and saw many children who appeared to have learning difficulties, but I felt it was mainly linked to emotional problems. I taught mainly infants and really enjoyed my job, because I liked experimenting with methods out of the box and tried to make it as fun as possible. It is a pity that our teachers receive such limited training before entering the classroom. I felt I made many mistakes then, but I was on the right track. I hate the idea of forcing children to learn concepts before they are 'ready' . Parents, on the other hand, should also be educated (As far as possible) about helping their kids to learn at home. I think parents depend too much on teachers and thus negate their responsibility for their child's development. I know that there are many social, emotional and economic factors which may affect these parents' ability to do more, but at least they should be made aware of their role. Anyway, that is my beef… sorry for the long winded perspective. I will pass on this information to the parents as well as to other teachers who may not be aware of these resources.
Do have a good night and I will definitely keep you posted.
God Bless.... .
Thank You Amzz. It is amazing how little we know of these services until we are in need of them. These learning problems do not seem to be widely recognized or diagnosed in our education system
LDS forever also mentioned to me the Child Guidance Unit at the Mt. Hope Medical. The parents were able to get an appointment there, but that will not be until November. In the mean time, I will check on the organisation you mentioned.
I have another friend who was able to get assistance from The Dyslexia Association, after years of misunderstanding her son's poor academic progress. Unfortunately, these programmes as too costly for the family I am assisting.
Thank you and I will let you know what I find out.
Name: Vera
Country:
Title: Special School
Comments: Good morning I am looking for a learning centre for my granddaughter who has a learning disability she likes music she wants to learn,was doing academic subjects in another school but travelling was a problem.