Special Education

At an early age, Jonathan’s parents and teachers recognized that he had special needs. He had delayed speech and language development and noticeable problems with fine motor skills. He was not formally diagnosed with Fetal Alchohol Syndrome (FAS) until he was eight years old.

Jonathan attended a special needs preschool where, with therapy, he made good progress. After Jonathan entered elementary school, speech therapy continued through Grade 3. Jonathan still has some problems with articulation that make his speech difficult to understand at times. He usually says, “never mind,” if people ask him to repeat what he has just said.

Results of previous assessments were available when Jonathan entered elementary school and were updated in kindergarten and at the end of Grade 3. Jonathan is now beginning Grade 4. Results of ability testing indicate a large discrepancy between Verbal Reasoning (low average range) and Abstract/Visual Reasoning (slow learner range). Short-term memory is low (slow learner range) for both auditory and visual memory. He has greater difficulty remembering sequences than remembering a whole configuration.

Results of language testing pinpoint problems with processing complex language, difficulty in word-finding and weakness in language syntax. Jonathan’s teacher has noticed that in classroom discussions his comments are often off-target or unrelated to the topic. He often does not understand what to do after receiving oral instructions, even though he appears to be paying attention. Jonathan loses track of what he is doing in the middle of an activity and frequently fails to finish things. However, he thinks he is finished and argues with his teacher about it.

In Grade 4, he is struggling with studying novels. Jonathan has strong word-decoding ability, but his comprehension scores are two years delayed for his grade placement. When answering comprehension questions, his responses often reflect his own experience, or what he wishes would happen, rather than what has been stated or implied in the story. By the time he gets to the end of a chapter, he cannot remember what has happened at the beginning and he cannot remember from one day to the next what is happening in the story.