By: Steven Wilson, Ed.D., Communications Director
Lucy was in second grade and, despite the best efforts of her parents and some very dedicated teachers in her school; she simply was not learning to read.
No one knew why.
Lucy’s parents contacted The Olympus Center at Best Point Education & Behavioral Health for help and were soon scheduled for a comprehensive evaluation from the agency.
The results were life-changing.
Lucy’s parents and her teachers learned, through the diagnostic testing by The Olympus Center, that the little girl had excellent phonemic awareness –the ability to hear, identify and interpret sounds, or phonemes, in written words. The heart of the matter was that Lucy had difficulty in expressive language, or the production of language, and receptive language, or the understanding and interpreting the meaning of language.
Lucy had what professionals call expressive and receptive language disorder.
This disorder affects between 2% – 4% of young children and hampers a child’s ability to do multiple cognitive tasks at once, like reading, understanding, and producing language. This is especially apparent when the child is under time constraints or pressure, such as an academic or testing environment and can even include social interactions.
The evaluation gave Lucy’s parents and her teachers what they needed to help this young child with her struggles. Her Individual Education Plan was modified to include a much needed speech-language pathologist to help her along her academic journey.
“Lucy is a case where parents and educators struggled to find answers,” said Kathy Boggs, Olympus Center Coordinator. “That’s where we can help. Our evaluation and testing got to the root cause of why and how to best help this young girl and we accomplished it in a relaxed environment that didn’t stress the child. She’s now positioned to get the help she needs and to chart a path going forward in school.”
To learn more about The Olympus Center at Best Point Education and Behavioral Health, please visit our website at www.bestpoint.org.
