Our 13-year-old daughter tests well for reading (consistently the 90+ percentile for her grade level), writes beautifully, and draws/paints exceptionally well. She also has a lovely singing voice and had some success for three years as a Suzuki piano student. (The emphasis with this method is on hearing, rather than reading the music.)
On the other hand, math has been consistently difficult and despite repeated lessons, she has great difficulty interpreting—or even remembering the names of certain musical symbols. (I have assumed that the math and music problems are related.)
In addition, she is very disorganized, and though she will sometimes remember to write assignments in a planner, does not have the presence of mind to check it later. As a result, books stay in the locker or wherever she left them.
She also has serious problems memorizing lines of poetry, songs, or scripts and though she would like to participate in drama clubs, she does not trust that she will find the words at the right moment.
My sense is that this isn’t simply a problem of confidence. He is a bright kid but is having serious problems in school. She was tested in second grade when the math problems began to surface. Results were ‘inconclusive.’ Should she be tested again, and what for?
Thank you,
Mary
The only way to clarify where your daughter’s areas of learning strengths and learning weaknesses are is through formal testing. These studies are called psycho-educational evaluations.
If such studies were done at age seven, they would not be valid at age 13. She will need to be retested. These studies will help to clarify her areas of learning abilities and, if present, her areas of learning disabilities.