Okay, I'm just a little lost nad wanting to make sure I hit all the right points. I've heard suggestions of getting her vision screened from several posters. To clarify for the response below, she does NOT have trouble with focus when reading. She can sit and read for an hour or so. Should I still pursue an exam with a developmental optometrist? If so, I've looked for one in our town and not found one specifically labeled "Developmental" but I've found a pediatric one. Would that work? Do I need to specficially ask for the convergence and tracking tests?

Can someone tell me more about WRTR? I'm looking on Amazon and seeing a book on why it's a good approach, but not any actual curriculum for sale. Do I just need to read the book and go from there? If there is curriculum, should I start from the beginning with her?

Thanks, guys. In fairness, she's never gone to public school and attends a Montessori School that heavily stresses phonics. She worked with the movable alphabet for years. However, she started there at almost four and had already taught herself how to read a lot of words just by memorization, and I think that even though she learned phonics, when learning new words, she didn't use them, opting instead for the memorization route. I appreciate all the advice.

She learned to read at the age of 4 but it was complete memorization of common words. She has a good memory and would see a word she didn't know, ask what it was, and then commit it to memory. I believe that is how she learned most words. She had poor phonics skills, which I felt led to the problem with spelling. Is that a symptom of anything?

She CAN read and pay attention to her reading for up to an hour at a time, generally. She's a good reader and shows good comprehension. She's in fourth grade and reading all the John Green novels now. I was reading another thread and am now interested in the possibility of stealth dyslexia. Wow. I'm a little frustrated that in her school, they have a reading specialist that comes in and works with the kids struggling in that area, but nothing for my daughter, who struggles with the writing so much.

Wow, thank you for so many enlightening responses. First, let me explain that my intentions behind getting a diagnosis is to simply help her be successful. We would like for her to attend a university after high school and to be successful in whatever career path she chooses. She is the type of kid that will get a 100% on almost every multiple choice assignment that she is given, but has trouble producing on her own. She DOES rush through her assignments because she wants to be done quickly. She CAN write, at least legibly, when she takes her time. The trouble is that it takes her longer than the average kid to write legibly, and she probably has an attention span that is smaller than the average kid, and that's a bad combination. Her attention span does allow her to read for a lengthy period of time, though, but the writing or answering questions is difficult for her. She can do wonderfully when answering the questions orally. I've taken to sitting down with her to do her homework and making her answer the questions orally before writing them down. If she doesn't do that, she can leave entire words or thoughts out of her answer. I want to work with her this summer, but I'm not sure which avenue to pursue. We will certainly work with the typing, but I don't know what to do about the handwriting. I have no problem making her write, write, write all summer long. But in reading about dysgraphia, it seems that may not be productive at all. I don't necessarily want modifications for her at school, but her report cards are all saying the same thing. She rushes through her work and her handwriting is not improving. They don't do grades at her school, but she'll transition out of that school in 7th grade and grades will be important at that point, certainly.

My ten year old daughter has had trouble writing and spelling her whole life. As she's gotten older, the difference in her work and the work of others has become more pronounced. She is a good student elsewhere, and a great reader, but the trouble with writing and spelling has really started to affect her across the board. She goes to a private school, but last year I worked with out local school district to have her tested for dysgraphia, specifically. The diagnostician gave her a battery of tests. She scored well on her generalized intellectual ability (129) and scored an 88 on the writing subsection. I was told that because her writing was in the normal range of 85-115, she was not diagnosed with dysgraphia and was ineligible for any services. I would think that the large difference between her ability and performance on the writing would be indicative of some kind of trouble or possible LD? Can performing in the low average range really rule out an LD? How is that possible with so much talking about the twice exceptional child, etc.? I'm not necessarily looking for services, but I'm looking for HELP. Her teachers are understanding, to a point, but have subscribed to the theory of just making her redo the assignments if they are not up to their standards. I don't mind that, but it's not making the slightest difference in her actual writing ability, which I'm trying to improve. She is on a low dose of Ritalin now, because of her teacher's feelings that she is rushing through the work and happy with mediocrity. She does tend to rush through her work and the Ritalin has helped a bit. I have an appointment with her to have an OT evaluation to see if they can help. I think her school would probably be open to doing any kind of exercises that the OT might recommend. Is there anything else we can be doing to help her? My understanding is that if it is dysgraphia, practice doesn't help. If that's the case, I'd like to invest our time and efforts in to a good typing program. The problem is that, based on her test results, it's not dysgraphia. She has almost every symptom of the disorder that I can find.