We recently got our son's Iowa test results. His composite score was in the 97th percentile, and he did really well on almost everything. However, one score was really, really low -- "organization of ideas" in the verbal section of the test.
Has anyone else noticed this in their ADHD child?
For years we've noticed that our son expresses himself in a sort of disjointed way. For example, when he tells stories, he's more likely to start in the middle, give excruciating detail and not provide any context. It's very disorienting for the listener, who has to ask lots of questions just to figure out what he's talking about. Also, when he has to do a book report, he seems unable to see the forest for the trees, finding it very difficult to summarize what he read in general terms. If I ask him what the story was about, he has to start telling me about particular scenes from the book in minute detail, some of which don't really relate to the main thrust of the story. It's as if he doesn't "get" the main points of the story.
my daughter is like this, but she nonverbal learning disorder (well NLD tendancies) and that is one piece of their disbaility is to get caught up in the details and not "see the big picture"Yes, notice it all the time, have no idea what DD is talking about half the time.My son's like that too. It makes sense, considering he cannot organize anything else, either.
Organization of thought was one of the first things I noticed after my son started on meds. On his second day on meds he came home from a hike with his grandparents and cousin and told me about his day! In sequential order, no less! I cried. He had never been able to do that before.
And I agree about the book reports, or any report for that matter. It always starts out with him jumping right into the middle of the report, then realizing he has to do x, y and z first, throwing a fit cause he can't do it "his way." The good thing is that, after he calms down, he's begun asking me to help him make a list of what to do first.
My dd is like this too. It is hard for her to formulate an answer to a question in class. She has a note in her 504 that says she should be given more time to answer but I am not sure if that happens (6th grade).
My son is definitely like that... it is hard to have a conversation with him
[QUOTE=Diane V]my daughter is like this, but she nonverbal learning disorder (well NLD tendancies) and that is one piece of their disbaility is to get caught up in the details and not "see the big picture"[/QUOTE]
Wow, this is opening up a new possibility for me. I've been looking at NLD information on the web, and I think my son shows some (but not all) of these symptoms. In particular, he had exceptional verbal skills from a very early age, was talking like an adult at 2, was reading fluently at 4, is in 3rd grade now but reading on a 7th grade level, etc. He's also clumsy and his handwriting is terrible.
Thanks Diane for pointing this out. We just recently had a neuropsych evaluation done that didn't flag this as a possibility. I'm wondering now whether they were even looking at this, although they probably should have been given his unusual verbal abilities. I will be taking the Iowa test results to the next psychiatrist visit and asking about NLD as a possible dual diagnosis.
One thing that worries me is that I'm not sure my son's disorganized thinking (for lack of a better term) gets better when he's on his meds. For example, he was on his meds when he took the Iowa test, and his score on the "organization of ideas" portion of the test was abysmal (like bottom 20%), while the rest of his scores were very good. I'm going to pay closer attention to whether his ability to tell a coherent (beginning, middle and end) story gets better when he's medicated.the neuropsych would pick it up I would think. Thats the person to diagnose, more so than the psychiatrist. My daughter does not exhibit all the traits either. I believe she is higher functioning than most NLD kids. But she does learn better verbally and has great difficulty learning off papers. This was harder for her in elementary school with LOTS of worksheets, with too much data on them and having to learn from an overhead projector, she couldnt hanlde that at all, she had to have a written copy also. She unfortunatley does not have the advanced speaking or reading skills, but knowing her disability has GREATLY helped us in her work modifications.