Finally did evaluation

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Got results from testing yesterday for DS2. He's 10 and in 4th grade. Diagnoses are autism (level 1) and dysgraphia. He is not dyslexic and not ADHD. Processing speed is low. Visual spatial is very high. So IQ is considered invalid at low average. On the Woodcock-Johnson, he scored around 4th-5th grade in reading related items, 2nd grade in writing related items, and 6th-7th grade in math related items. Pretty much what I've seen in his school work. He can zoom ahead in math and doesn't have any problem with math facts or word problems,but he can't write a legible sentence to save his life, and spelling is purely memorization even though he has good phonogical awareness. He wasn't able to apply phonics for spelling. He can decode new words with phonics.

 

Right now he's doing Easy Peasy grade 4 except math (step 2, which is grade 6) and Writing Skills Book A. I switched him to EP (despite hating the name) because he wanted "fun school" like his brothers. By that he means virtual school. His brothers are doing virtual public school this semester because I have a clingy and loud 2 year old and just couldn't teach 3 kids during afternoon nap time. :p Virtual school is going well. Elementary uses Connections Academy. Middle school uses Edgenuity and Plato. DS2 wanted to do virtual school also, but special ed said he needed his evals done first. So I'm going to talk to them now that I have results in hand. My hope is that he can do a year of virtual school (Connections for everything but math, probably edgenuity for math since the school only purchased K-5 Connections, but Plato is also an option for math) and get services such as OT and social skills class (virtual school person wanted to set that up for the county and she was making it happen... Procured a central location which happens to be the elementary near my house). I think this would work ok. I don't think he'd do well with edgenuity in 6th grade and up, but at that point toddler would be older preschooler and hopefully more sane to homeschool around. :)

 

Does this sound like a reasonable plan? I think getting services through the school would be ideal because if I go private I have to drive 45 minutes away, and then I go insane with all the driving back and forth and get stressed out having to deal with 4 kids and being away from home all the time. Services through school would be 5 minutes away.

 

Are there any programs I need to know about for Dysgraphia? We have Windows computers and an Android tablet. The school issued laptops are Macs, but we can't install anything on those by ourselves (but if there is a program he should have listed in his IEP, I could make that happen). DS does not type well yet, so I'll make that a priority. He's done some Typing Instructor, but he just keeps going even though he needs to practice something more. He's using OneNote for his EP assignment lists, and that is going very well. He has checkboxes by each subject and just follows the instructions. If he needs to give output, he makes a new page and types in there.

Ok, that's a disorganized novel. 😂 I appreciate any input.

[OneStepAtATime]

Focus on the typing but plan on it taking a loooooonnnnngggg time to master.  Like maybe years.  Don't expect output in typing for quite a while.  He needs to be extremely consistent in finger placement, body posture, and proper height for the keyboard.  

 

You might look at Touch Type Read and Spell.  It is super customizable so the student or teacher can choose the voice accent, color of the keyboard, whether you see virtual hands, etc. etc.  There are a zillion things that can be customized.  DS loved that and changes up his typing environment quite often.  Keeps him engaged.  DD couldn't care less so it stays exactly as installed.  :)  Each student can customize their own settings.  You as the parent can check the history.  The student can move up and down through teh program, too.  They aren't tied to a particular level until it is passed.  Therefore if he is doing well and moving up a few levels seems like a good way to go, he can.  Also, there is no emphasis on speed, although speed is tracked.  Many programs penalize for lack of speed.  You don't want that with a dysgraphic child.  You want something that focuses on accuracy.  It is going to take time to develop muscle and procedural memory.  Accurate finger placement and posture every.single.time. he types will help him learn to type sooner and it will improve his speed sooner.  It is usually for sale through Homeschool Buyer's Co-op.  

 

There are also programs that allow a student to type their math.  I can't recall the names off the top of my head but someone will probably be able to help with that.

 

Work on hand writing separately from output for content subjects.  Scribe for him with content subjects or do things orally when possible while hopefully improving his typing.

 

There are also great text to speech and speech to text software platforms out there.  Dragonspeak is one.  

 

Ginger software and Livescribe pens can be helpful.

 

With processing speed incredibly low make sure that there are not tons of distractions and try to find resources that are self-paced when possible.  It may help for him to get used to pre-reading before a lesson and watch a video at least twice to give everything time to sink in and to pause between discussions to think it all through and let it gel.

 

Let him percolate through his thoughts.  Don't talk much while he is thinking.  I realized with DD that when she was just sitting there and I got nervous and started trying to reexplain things I was actually preventing her from thinking.  She was using up her limited processing speed and working memory to try to hold the new words I was throwing at her in her head while still trying to process through the last thing I said.  It would get jumbled.  If I would just shut up for a bit and let her think things through, she had a better chance of learning material.  She had to come to trust that I would actually stay quiet though.  At first she was tense and afraid I was still going to jump in which translated in her mind that she was too slow and needed to just toss out an answer or give up.  Once she realized I was willing to patiently wait while she thought through things it helped.

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All of that is very helpful! Thank you!

 

For math, so far he has been able to do the writing required in math. It's big, but mostly lined up - enough to not get confused in multiplication or long division. He can do the algebra sentences required at his level, etc.

 

The time to think and process is what I've seen with him, so that's a great point. He really gets annoyed when I try to explain something again, and now I know why! 😂

 

I'll look at that typing program. Sounds like a good choice for him.

[OneStepAtATime]

All of that is very helpful! Thank you!

 

For math, so far he has been able to do the writing required in math. It's big, but mostly lined up - enough to not get confused in multiplication or long division. He can do the algebra sentences required at his level, etc.

 

The time to think and process is what I've seen with him, so that's a great point. He really gets annoyed when I try to explain something again, and now I know why! 😂

 

I'll look at that typing program. Sounds like a good choice for him.

:laugh:   Yeah, it took me a while to figure it out.  And DD didn't say anything.  She was embarrassed to admit I was confusing her more.  

 

Now DD is perfectly comfortable telling me to shut up. She's polite though.  She raises her index finger and politely gives me the "please shut up Mom" look.   :lol:

 

I remember working on our enormous dry erase board once and it really hit home how much she needed quiet, unlike her brother.  I had written a series of problems on the board for us to work out together.  With her brother we had discussed them all the way through then he knocked out his CLE assignment pages on his own.  He was fine and he thrived doing discussion.  

 

DD?  She was so upset at my wordy explanations.  She was nearly in tears.  She asked me to just point to the various parts, say as few words as possible and only do that with a couple of problems.  Then she wanted me to walk away.  It felt wrong but I did as she asked.  She studied the problems carefully and answers them.  It took a long time.  Then she asked me to circle any that were wrong and if I was certain she was so far off she couldn't figure out why it was wrong then give a brief explanation and possibly another example.  Otherwise just circle the problem and let her figure it out on her own.  She did much better.  Even though she is dyscalculic and math is a HARD subject for her, my wordy explanations were making it even harder.  She couldn't think through all those words.  Too much to juggle in her head at once and too many things to try and process at once.

[Arcadia]

The time to think and process is what I've seen with him, so that's a great point. He really gets annoyed when I try to explain something again, and now I know why! 😂

My younger boy who has the "average" processing speed will tell me in an annoyed tone "I'm thinking!!!"

 

He does tend to really daydream though :lol:

[boscopup]

The funny thing is that he'll ask me a question and then not give me enough time to process it and give an answer back before getting upset that I'm not answering his question, and I don't think I have any processing speed issues. :p

[kbutton]

I have a kiddo with ASD level 1, diagnosed at a similar age, and I have a few thoughts. They may or may not apply, lol! These kids can be so different while being similar.

 

First, I think that you seem open to trying and changing if things don't work, and you are being realistic about your own preferences and limitations regarding driving and things like that. Stay that way, and be willing to change if change needs to happen. So, if they school services are not that helpful, see what else is available. But sure, try the school services! It's awesome they are so close. I think it's okay to try things with supports and then re-evaluate later on. See what the various online options will do for him IEP-wise.

 

On the writing--there are multiple issues with overlapping names. Dysgraphia and disorder of written expression overlap, but one is more about handwriting, and one is about expressing thoughts. It's not unusual for ASD kiddos to have issues with both. My son's handwriting became more automatic, but it's still like he's drawing. However, it's legible, and he doesn't HAVE to type everything--for instance, he can do math by hand just fine. He can do worksheets just fine. He does use the computer for longer things. If you are seeing more problems with written (or verbal) expression, you should try to identify and help that out--it won't get better on its own. Let me repeat, it won't get better on its own. This is my son's biggest weakness, and typing doesn't fix it. He has quirky expressive language deficits that aren't really things you can easily test for. His vocabulary and sentence structure are amazing, but he lacks content for his ideas. Or he has a lot to say of not a lot of substance (academically that is--he is a person of great depths, but things are "stuck"). Looking at his testing, his language abilities should be sky high, but they are holding him back with composition, literature, anything expressive at all. It's all a big mess, and you would not guess it until you start to dig. He has so many single skills that just totally fall apart when you start combining them. 

 

Typing--if he can get to a level of knowing the positions and being willing to type correctly vs. typing fast and furious with lots of errors, I HIGHLY recommend Sequential Spelling and typing the lists. (If typing isn't there yet, I still recommend the program, and you can do it orally instead). My kids are visual spellers in spite of excellent phonics skills, decoding abilities, and high reading levels. Sequential Spelling harnesses patterns (though you might not see it as easily in Level 1, which I think is actually the hardest level but has the most "ordinary" words). Anyway, because of the pattern basis, the kids type those same patterns while they spell, so the curriculum can do double-duty if the typing is good enough to handle that. As soon as my kids are typing decently, we do SS with typed lists. Their typing speed and accuracy has multiplied quickly this way. If motor skills are an issue, it might not work for typing, but kids who spell by memorizing do really well with it as a spelling program regardless.

[PeterPan]

Our ABA is in home. You might keep looking for providers.

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Our ABA is in home. You might keep looking for providers.

Insurance doesn't cover ABA in Alabama... Yet. They're working on a law to require it, and it's done well so far, but I don't think it's completely passed yet.

 

So since insurance doesn't cover it, there are very few providers here, even though we have a fairly large autistic population (engineering town). So I highly doubt in home ABA is an option here at all, even out of pocket.

 

I also don't know if there will be age limitations when insurance does cover it. I know speech therapy is covered for autistic kids up though age 9. My son is 10, so he used the 30 visit regular speech therapy allotment (autistic kids 9 and under have no limitation). He has all his sounds now. We just have to practice at home getting him to think about the sounds when he's talking. He skips words or changes wording to avoid the more difficult sounds.

[boscopup]

I have a kiddo with ASD level 1, diagnosed at a similar age, and I have a few thoughts. They may or may not apply, lol! These kids can be so different while being similar.

Your advice is VERY helpful! Thank you!

 

I have a meeting scheduled for next week to talk to the virtual school folks and special ed. I've pulled out Apples and Pears to try with DS (I sold Sequential Spelling years ago), and I will probably get a subscription to that Touch Type, Read, and Spell site. It sounds like it would be good for him. We could probably focus on those two things over the summer​.

[PeterPan]

That sounds like apraxia. Then it should be covered under speech instead of autism.