Massachusetts Department of Special Education Appeals

33. The DEC team however did not feel that Student had a language-based learning disability
because previous and current speech/language testing showed strengths in single word vocabulary, use
of inference, rote memory and decoding, and he was able to use nonliteral language and enjoy humor
and sarcasm. Student however did show language deficits because his impulsivity, disorganization,
lack of self-reflection and concrete thinking for social situations were found to negatively affect his
ability to find the words he wants, to think critically, make appropriate inferences, sequence his
thoughts and get the “big picture” (S11, Warner).
34. The DEC team also concluded that Student may not meet the criteria for NLD. The DEC team
noted that:
his [Student’s] visual-spatial skills were not weak and he did not have
difficulty with mathematics. The other NLD criteria with which student
does struggle include: poor pragmatic language skills, impaired reasoning
and concept formation; a tendency to get lost in the details to the detriment
of the “big picture”; and social–emotional difficulties which may include
anxiety or depression. These issues could also suggest Asperger’s
Syndrome. Some research has suggested that people with Asperger’s
Syndrome typically have the neuropsychological characteristics of NLD,
such that the two disorders may be interrelated. Again [Student] meets
enough of the criteria for Asperger’s that his score on the Asperger’s
Syndrome Diagnostic Scale is elevated, but he also manifests additional
symptoms that are not generally indicative of Asperger’s.
35. The DEC Team also concluded that student had average to above average cognitive ability and
attributed lower testing scores to Student’s oppositionality (Warner). 12 Student showed no signs of
mania, delusions or thought disorder during the psychiatric interview, however, the DEC team felt that
their observations and the clinical interviews showed that Student met the criteria for a clinically
significant emotional disturbance (S11, Warner). During speech/language testing Student repeatedly
asked to play “Chutes and Ladders”, a game typically enjoyed by younger children (S11). 13 The child
psychiatrist noted that Student looked and acted like a younger child even though his conversation
demonstrated relative strengths in language and abstraction (S11). The DEC Team also agreed that:
“Student had a rigid and very fragile sense of self....He is suspicious of
others and hypervigilent and overly sensitive to the tiniest of slights.
Sometimes his guardedness and suspicions may reach nearly paranoid
levels... He has only the barest of controls on his behavior”.
The DEC team also noted that:
12 Achievement testing done by Commonwealth in July 2002 revealed average to above average skills in math and
language arts (S9).
13 Chutes and Ladders is geared for children ages 3-6 years.
12