Consultancy for Parents
Are you concerned about your son or daughter’s performance at school? Are you worried that they aren’t getting the support they need? I can offer a psychological assessment of your child’s working memory and how this will impact their learning. Read what other parents have said.
Josh is a 4 year old boy from California. Here is his story, told by his mom.
“I am looking for someone that has worked on the tie between learning and working memory. It is the difference in my child’s life. My son has Autism and he was dropped from funding because they said he does not have a delay in learning. They are NOT looking at the tie between learning and working memory, they are only basing their decision on his IQ. He tested in the 2% range for working memory. If we can prove that he has an issue in the area of learning, it will change his life.
I have done so much research to find someone in CA (or the US) that has done extensive research on working memory and learning. When I read your publications…it all makes so much sense. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for corresponding with me. It really means so much to my family.
After the Consultancy
I have great news! Our case settled (part of it did). They received our exhibits and decided to qualify him. I believe it has everything do to with your report and information your supplied us and the fact that you were willing to testify for us. Thank you so much. You have helped in making a difference in Josh’s life.”
I represented Jack, 11 years old at the Local Educational Authority in the UK to request for additional support for his learning needs. Jack has a diagnosis of dyslexia, dyspraxia, asperger‘s syndrome, as well as has specific learning difficulties. Here is what his parents wrote after the tribunal.
“It [the Tribunal] was a bit traumatic for us but you were a very calming influence on us. It was good to bounce a few ideas off you and get your views on a few of the issues. We would like to thank you for attending, you presented your facts very well and we feel that your involvement added a lot of weight to our arguments.”
I am pleased to say they won their case.
Here is Ruben’s story, as his mom tells it.
“I am hoping that you can help me. My son is 10 years old and registered blind due to Leber’s Congenital Amourosis. He has an attention deficit disorder, marked impairment of the working memory and high functioning autistic spectrum disorder. Neither the school nor his qualified Teacher of the Visually Impaired (he is at a mainstream primary school) had identified any specific difficulties and seemed to feel that his low attainment was due to his ability and developmental delay and was to be expected. He has average verbal abilities.
At the moment he says he hates Braille, speed accuracy and fluency are all well below average. He is making extremely slow progress with numeracy. He follows the national curriculum.
I just don’t know what to do, will he ever finish the course? Should we go back to basics? I really don’t know.”
After contacting me: “I really appreciate you getting back to me. I am very interested in any help you could give. What I don’t have is anything that really illustrates the impact on learning of an impaired working memory. It is essential that this is understood.”
They won their case for further support for their son. They received funding for their son to attend a school that could support his needs.
“It is great news isn’t it. We are very pleased. I will pass all the advice re the working memory impairment to the school. Thanks for your help.”
Here is Charlie’s story, as told by his mom, UK
“I did want to talk to you / email you about my 7:3 year old son, who has unspecified learning difficulties. He is receipt of School Action, and receives some differentiated work, but is not progressing. Unfortunately, he is not needy enough to receive additional support, I have been told that due to the need to prioritize services, he will not get to see an Ed Psych nor a Paediatrician (he saw both when he was 3, so that’s his lot). As a Speech & Language Therapist, I am concerned that he has great trouble recalling / following simple commands and usually asks for help or repetition. He has some word-finding difficulties, and language delay. I would really value an assessment of his verbal, visual and spatial memory…what’s the best way of going about it?
After the Consultancy “Thank so much, this is a very, very accurate reflection of my son’s needs. Sadly he is not eligible to recieve an Educational Psychology assessment at school, I am so grateful that now I can provide useful information, description (and aetiology) of my son’s difficulties. Hopefully he will, as a result, recieve more individualised, tartgeted support.”
