14 Chapter 1
“You get hose.” To the aide, it appears that Mikey wants him to put the hose in the water trough,
but knowing Mikey’s language, he realizes that the request is for Mikey to get the hose. The aide
models the correct language construct and Mikey correctly says, “Mikey get the hose now?” When
the water trough is full, the two men return to the ranch house.
After the ranchers have completed their morning chores, they participate in individual and
group occupational, physical, and speech therapies. Highly structured recreational activities are
provided; the favorites are swimming and water games. After lunch, the ranchers have “quiet
time” in their rooms or other parts of the ranch. Several ranchers play with the animals. There
are rabbits, cats, dogs, chickens, horses, a pygmy goat, and Thomas, the huge turkey, who cap-
tivates the ranchers with his long neck and gobble. After the ranchers complete their eve ning
chores, they have dinner and watch tele vi sion or a video before bedtime. “Lights out” is at 9:00
p.m., but it usually takes longer for the ranchers to fall asleep, ending another day at Mikey’s
Moonshadow Ranch.
Case Study 1-4: Dysgraphia, Dyslexia, and an IEP Conference
Andrew’s parents eagerly anticipate and also fear the approaching IEP conference about their
only son. They eagerly wait to see what the public school professionals will do about his learning
disability. They also fear that the tests will show that Andrew is intellectually disabled and that
there is little hope of his ever learning to write. Andrew has been struggling with writing for sev-
eral years, and even now, in the fifth grade, he writes like a first grader. The IEP conference has
been scheduled for 2 weeks, and as it approaches, their anxiety grows.
They enter the conference room, where the teachers and specialists are already sitting at a
long wooden table. The conference coordinator is the director of special education, and she intro-
duces them to the school psychologist, speech- language pathologist, and resource room teacher.
Andrew’s parents have already met his teacher, and they sit down at the conference table as the
meeting begins. The coordinator explains the reason for the conference and reviews Andrew’s
prob lems with writing. Then she turns the meeting over to the school psychologist, who has done
extensive intelligence and scholastic testing of Andrew.
The psychologist reviews the results of the intelligence test, one specifically designed for
children, and reports that Andrew has a composite intelligence quotient of 136. Andrew’s parents
are relieved to find that the score is not only above average, it is high. The psychologist says that
136 is two standard deviations above the average for all persons, showing that Andrew is gifted.
Then, seeing that the parents are not familiar with psychometrics and standard deviations, she
explains that if persons who take intelligence tests are placed in similar groups, Andrew more
closely resembles the small group of people who are above average in intelligence rather than those
in the average group. The psychologist goes on to describe Andrew’s strengths and weaknesses on
the intelligence and scholastic tests. She concludes her report by saying that Andrew is a gifted
student with learning disabilities.
The speech- language pathologist has also tested Andrew and reports that not only does he have
prob lems expressing himself in writing, he also has difficulties with reading. He notes that reading
and writing prob lems often go hand in hand. Andrew’s reading prob lem, dyslexia, is not nearly