OT Evaluation for dysgraphia

[Tidbits of Learning]

My ds9 has always struggled with reading and writing. After a long uphill battle, he is reading on grade level. His writing is not. He can not take his thoughts (which are really intelligent and great sentences) and put them on paper. He has a great vocabulary and can dictate great sentences to me and copy them. He can not spell to save his life.

We are doing K12 and he had an evaluation today and dysgraphia was mentioned as being a possible reason for all of his struggles and strife through the years. We have private insurance that will cover an evaluation and about 10-12 sessions a year if the evaluation deems he is dysgraphic.

I honestly was prepared for them to say dyslexia today. I had to ask what dysgraphia means. After the evaluation was over, I have gotten a referral from the pediatrician to the OT and we go on Monday afternoon.

I just want to help him succeed and make school not so hard for him. I am a bit nervous about the evaluation and what it will mean to actually know for sure what is causing all the difficulty.

I guess I am just nervous and scared at this point but relieved and excited at the same time. I need to find him an alternate spelling program than K12's spelling. His homeroom teacher is very nice and the Mark 12 teacher gave some web site suggestions but did not have any actual spelling program suggestions.

Spelling is his main hindrance from writing his thoughts. He has done HWOT for almost 3 years. We use a slant board, ready-write paper, and grips already. I really need something to help him learn to spell.

Thanks for your help.

[fiddle]

Welcome to our corner!:)

Honestly, dysgraphia and dyslexia often are both present. They are in my child. Her dyslexia did NOT impact her reading much at all, it is all in the written output (writing) and things like memorizing, sequencing, etc. I think it's great if your insurance will cover an OT eval. That sounds like a good place for you to start. You may also want to get a developmental vision exam (this is different than the regular eye exam) - we are going to have that done at the end of this month, because even though we know our daughter is dyslexic we want to rule out any vision/processing/tracking type issues or deal with them in vision therapy.

You also may want to follow up to actually have him tested for dyslexia. It would be helpful to have a full picture before launching in to figure out a spelling program or writing.

 

Best to you!

Paula

[Tidbits of Learning]

I forgot to mention that he had eye surgery before he was a year old. He had dacryostenosis and dacryocystitis in both eyes. He has kept up with the pediatric eye doctor since his surgery. He does seem to do better sometimes with the yellow highlighter bookmarks that you put over the words and he likes for me to write only in green on the dry erase board.

I just assumed that on Monday they would test for all the dys-family learning issues. I guess I will make sure they are testing for dyslexia and dysgraphia.

[FairProspects]

I just assumed that on Monday they would test for all the dys-family learning issues. I guess I will make sure they are testing for dyslexia and dysgraphia.

 

OTs aren't qualified to test for dyslexia, you will need a neuropsychologist or educational psychologist for that. OTs will look at the vestibular system and other coordination/muscle issues, but not LDs. I don't even know if OTs technically diagnose dysgraphia, ours did not but just referred us to the neuropsych.

[laundrycrisis]

For our son, I had him learn to type, first using Dancemat and then Type to Learn (Agents of Information). After he could type with proper keystrokes, I had him do Click'n Spell. It didn't help him at all before he could type, but after he learned to type, he learned very well with Click'n Spell. I also had him do Wordy Qwerty. The two programs went together well, because Click'n Spell is based on commonly used words, and Wordy Qwerty is a progression of phonics and spelling rules.

 

Our son gets OT coverage for the parts that are medical - hypotonia and poor fine motor strength and coordination. It is helping. His upper body core strength and general body awareness were really poor. The OT is very good for him.

[FairProspects]

I also had him do Wordy Qwerty. The two programs went together well, because Click'n Spell is based on commonly used words, and Wordy Qwerty is a progression of phonics and spelling rules.

 

Word Qwerty was a disaster in our house! I would NOT recommend it for a suspected dyslexic or someone who struggles with spelling. We loved Read, Write, Type, but Word Qwerty had ds trying to pick the correct spelling of words and homophones just by sight with no phonics rules and he was in tears (this was level 1). I had no idea it would be such a bad fit because the samples were good and phonetic.

[Tidbits of Learning]

OTs aren't qualified to test for dyslexia, you will need a neuropsychologist or educational psychologist for that. OTs will look at the vestibular system and other coordination/muscle issues, but not LDs. I don't even know if OTs technically diagnose dysgraphia, ours did not but just referred us to the neuropsych.

 

The place he is going is a full therapy clinic that offers those type services. They test for dysgraphia and dyslexia or at least that is what they told me on the phone and it is who the pediatrician wrote a script referral. I know that our insurance does not cover psychologists for dependents. So if that is the case, I am out of luck. I guess I will just have to hope that what we are doing Monday will be enough to get him some help. The insurance part of all of this is complex b/c certain services are covered but have a yearly max and some are not covered at all. I felt like I was taking a crash course in insurance today when making all the phone calls.

[Tidbits of Learning]

For our son, I had him learn to type, first using Dancemat and then Type to Learn (Agents of Information). After he could type with proper keystrokes, I had him do Click'n Spell. It didn't help him at all before he could type, but after he learned to type, he learned very well with Click'n Spell. I also had him do Wordy Qwerty. The two programs went together well, because Click'n Spell is based on commonly used words, and Wordy Qwerty is a progression of phonics and spelling rules.

 

Our son gets OT coverage for the parts that are medical - hypotonia and poor fine motor strength and coordination. It is helping. His upper body core strength and general body awareness were really poor. The OT is very good for him.

 

He did a typing program last year. I am going to check out click n spell.

[eoffg]

You wrote that: 'He does seem to do better sometimes with the yellow highlighter bookmarks that you put over the words and he likes for me to write only in green on the dry erase board.'

Where this raises the question about whether he is hyper-sensitive to blue light in the colour spectrum?

 

Perhaps you could print some text out on yellow paper, and see whether he can read it much easier?

Or alternatively, some text on a computer screen. Where you can compare his reading with a white background, and with a yellow background?

Though if you have some yellow paper, you could also see if it makes writing easier for him?

Or even some off-white paper?

[laundrycrisis]

Word Qwerty was a disaster in our house! I would NOT recommend it for a suspected dyslexic or someone who struggles with spelling. We loved Read, Write, Type, but Word Qwerty had ds trying to pick the correct spelling of words and homophones just by sight with no phonics rules and he was in tears (this was level 1). I had no idea it would be such a bad fit because the samples were good and phonetic.

 

Different strokes - WQ is what made the spelling rules finally make sense to our son. He never understood them or remembered them until he used that program.

 

Also, our son's issues were with building visual fluency (dyseidetic), not phonics (dysphonetic). I'm sure that was part of the whole combination of what went on for this program to help him.

Edited August 16, 2012 by laundrycrisis

[FairProspects]

Different strokes - WQ is what made the spelling rules finally make sense to our son. He never understood them or remembered them until he used that program.

 

I'm curious though, is he dyslexic? I remember that he had eye problems and you had great success with vision therapy, but I can't remember if you mentioned whether he is technically dyslexic. WQ may be a great spelling program on its own to help struggling spellers, but I really felt like it hit dyslexics at their weak point, and I just want prevent others from wasting the money if they suspect dyslexia. I wish someone had told me not to use it. I thought that it would reinforce O-G rules, but it went way too fast and was not nearly enough remediation for a dyslexic IMHO.

[Tiramisu]

The place he is going is a full therapy clinic that offers those type services. They test for dysgraphia and dyslexia or at least that is what they told me on the phone and it is who the pediatrician wrote a script referral. I know that our insurance does not cover psychologists for dependents. So if that is the case, I am out of luck. I guess I will just have to hope that what we are doing Monday will be enough to get him some help. The insurance part of all of this is complex b/c certain services are covered but have a yearly max and some are not covered at all. I felt like I was taking a crash course in insurance today when making all the phone calls.

 

Even understanding the insurance headache, I would highly recommend making sure a an educational psychologist or neuropsychologist is involved in testing for both dyslexia and dysgraphia. I don't think an OT is qualified to evaluate for dyslexia and, personally, we had the worst experience with an OT when we needed a dysgraphia evaluation. I wouldn't do that again without another professional as a double-check. The OT did a poor evaluation and missed dd's most obvious long-term documented problem, and instead went with what was the usual reason for the writing problems. If it hadn't been for other professionals willing to help me sort it out because they saw red flags, we would have wasted a lot of time with unnecessary therapies.

 

I would go for the evaluation that's scheduled if it's free, and then assess the situation. :001_smile:

[laundrycrisis]

I'm curious though, is he dyslexic? I remember that he had eye problems and you had great success with vision therapy, but I can't remember if you mentioned whether he is technically dyslexic. WQ may be a great spelling program on its own to help struggling spellers, but I really felt like it hit dyslexics at their weak point, and I just want prevent others from wasting the money if they suspect dyslexia. I wish someone had told me not to use it. I thought that it would reinforce O-G rules, but it went way too fast and was not nearly enough remediation for a dyslexic IMHO.

 

 

It may very well depend on the type of dyslexia.

 

I never pursued a dyslexia evaluation. But he would have qualified on any checklist that considered dyseidetic issues, not just dysphonetic issues. Learning to read took him two years of VT to sort out his visual processing problems, and a reading tutor. He is still dysgraphic (working on that). He has had a terrible time learning math facts, and anything sequential, including simple things like address and phone number that took years to learn and are still shaky. He has pretty low visual sequential memory scores, even after all the therapy, and that is still being worked on in OT. Every checklist and book I have read that considers dyslexia to go beyond the dysphonetic type would easily qualify him as dyslexic. He is a pretty good speller now, as long as he is typing, not writing by hand. There are a lot of spelling mistakes when he writes by hand. It is not the spell checker because I turned it off. I believe he has learned to spell with his fingers - he has stored the sequences of letters through the kinesthetic exercise of typing them.

 

I have no reason at this point to pursue that evaluation - he learned to read. Dysgraphia is still on the table but we are working it hard with appropriate therapy. Math is finally coming along with a remediation program that is finally working. He has all of the "brain characteristics" of dyseidetic dyslexia. His problem was not being able to build any fluency, or ever recognize a word without sounding it out, even the same word, on the same page of a Bob book, because he had no library of visual imagery for words or any other type of sequential information. He had to be taught how to store and retrieve visual information, and keep it straight in his head. His progress has been slow. I cannot explain how WQ helped him except perhaps through the combination of touch typing, seeing the words in a logical group, and hearing the spelling rules, over and over again as he repeated the lessons.

Edited August 16, 2012 by laundrycrisis

[FairProspects]

I never pursued a dyslexia evaluation. But he would have qualified on any checklist that considered dyseidetic issues, not just dysphonetic issues. Learning to read took him two years of VT to sort out his visual processing problems, and a reading tutor. He is still dysgraphic (working on that). He has had a terrible time learning math facts, and anything sequential, including simple things like address and phone number that took years to learn and are still shaky. He has pretty low visual sequential memory scores, even after all the therapy, and that is still being worked on in OT. Every checklist and book I have read that considers dyslexia to go beyond the dysphonetic type would easily qualify him as dyslexic. But I have no reason at this point to pursue that evaluation - he learned to read. Dysgraphia is still on the table but we are working it hard with appropriate therapy. Math is finally coming along with a remediation program that is finally working. He has all of the "brain characteristics" of dyseidetic dyslexia.

 

Interesting. I'm pretty sure my ds is a dysphonetic dyslexic which may explain the different responses to WQ. Well, I'm glad it worked for you!

[laundrycrisis]

Interesting. I'm pretty sure my ds is a dysphonetic dyslexic which may explain the different responses to WQ. Well, I'm glad it worked for you!

 

They are completely different. When he started with his tutor, she was approaching the problem as needing to pound phonics to death, which he did not need at all. I had to bring the notes and test scores from VT to her, explain visual processing, and convince her to work with him on building visual fluency instead. He could sound out words all day long, even ones with several syllables - but could not remember "cat" if it appeared four times in four short sentences, in big dark print. He would sound it out every single time. I think WQ helped him make sense of the visual patterns. It helped with reading and it helped with typed spelling. Not much seems to help him with handwritten spelling. The act of hand writing messes it all up for him.

[peacefully]

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[laundrycrisis]

Saying this gently, but a couple of a years ago, I would have sworn that my child was dyslexic too. He also looked like the dyslexic poster child based on online checklists and descriptions in books. We also have a strong family history of psychologist-documented dyslexia (father, two uncles, two male cousins) and several other folks who are suspected of having dyslexia (one female cousin, and several other members of the father's extended family). I mean, if it looks like a duck (and we knew our ducks)... right?

 

Anyway, when our ds did not meet the criteria for a dyslexia diagnosis, I was floored. I mean, this kid had all the symptoms. But because our NP took the time to help us understand that he really was not dyslexic, we started pursuing the therapies that addressed his actual underlying problems, various processing glitches that looked like dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia. This kid has had a massive amount of therapy, and while he is still a little glitchy, he is grade-level or above in academic areas.

 

OP, I agree with those folks who are encouraging you to seek an evaluation if you can at all swing it. If there is an LD, you will want to start documenting that to have the paperwork in place in case there is a need for testing or classroom accommodations in the future. But if the sub-tests show a pattern of strengths and weaknesses that aren't consistent with an LD diagnosis, you can use that information to pinpoint particular areas of processing that you can treat. We started with an NP evaluation and proceeded to get additional evaluations for SPD from our OT; visual processing from a developmental optometrist; speech and language disorders (auditory working memory processing issues were discovered here) from a SLP; more evaluations for coordination disorders from our PT.

 

laundrycrisis, my ds also had abysmally low visual sequential memory scores, which seemed to really impact his spelling in particular. We use AAS here, which was working well until the program started introducing words that contained sounds that were produced by multiple phonograms (all the different ways to make the /er/ sound, for example). To spell those types of words, you really need to have a visual memory for those words. We started incorporating visual spelling techniques (described by Freed, Craft, Silverman, Lindamood-Bell, etc.), and it was the perfect answer. The techniques dovetail smoothly with our AAS lessons, and I honestly suspect that ds's visual sequential memory might be improving as a result. Just something I'm throwing out there.

 

Mine definitely would not meet the criteria now, because after two years of intensive therapy and tutoring, he is reading at grade level, and only has low stamina now. For spelling, he seems to be able to remember the correct letter sequences when he is typing. There is something about the kinesthetic memory of the word on a keyboard working for him.

 

I question what "really" dyslexic even means, because the so-called experts definitely don't agree on it ! I read at least a dozen books by dyslexia experts, and they all had a different explanation of what it is. IMO, everyone who is able should pursue the therapies that have potential to help the underlying problems, and not just accept a label and the idea that lifelong difficulty goes along with it. I read a few books that basically said that - and offered only strategies for a lifetime of coping with being illiterate. After all that reading, I decided the label wasn't what I wanted, because I don't care for where it leads - I just wanted to address the underlying problems one by one. That is what we are doing.

Edited August 16, 2012 by laundrycrisis

[FairProspects]

We use AAS here, which was working well until the program started introducing words that contained sounds that were produced by multiple phonograms (all the different ways to make the /er/ sound, for example). To spell those types of words, you really need to have a visual memory for those words.

 

And ironically, these are the exact techniques that are the most helpful for my dyslexic.

[PeterPan]

Like the others, I'm going to suggest you plunk out the money, painful as it is, and get the full evals. And because you know he has had some physical eye problems, I would take him to a developmental optometrist to get his developmental vision checked. An optham. doesn't look at exactly the same things. There could be some additional stuff the developmental optometrist will catch.

 

And yes, neuropsych for the rest. Our OT was sort of a jack of all trades. She knew a lot and could *screen* for a lot, but reality was she wasn't qualified to DIAGNOSE. You still needed the neuropsych eval for the full eval and diagnosis. There's a lot of info you're *not* getting with an OT.

[peacefully]

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[laundrycrisis]

My dh reads well above the level of the general population, and he still qualifies for a diagnosis of reading disorder. He continues to get documentation for his LD because he needs extended time on medical board recertification exams (and when he receives those accommodations, his score is something like the 98th or 99th percentile of all the physicians taking that exam).

 

I'm just saying, there may be more to the diagnostic criteria for a LD than what you may be reading in your books. I have a feeling that we've read many of the same books, and I agree with you—the experts all seem to have wildly different interpretations of what is behind dyslexia—but those same experts are supposed to follow the same guidelines for determining a diagnosis.

 

I know ours has a really low processing speed. It's terribly obvious. At some point we will have to go through the testing to document that and anything else that is still a problem. I am not looking forward to spending that money as we have no insurance coverage for that type of testing. I'm watching to see how much the OT helps before that coverage runs out. Unless he makes some kind of major breakthrough, he will have to be tested next year.

[FairProspects]

IMO, everyone who is able should pursue the therapies that have potential to help the underlying problems, and not just accept a label and the idea that lifelong difficulty goes along with it. I read a few books that basically said that - and offered only strategies for a lifetime of coping with being illiterate. After all that reading, I decided the label wasn't what I wanted, because I don't care for where it leads - I just wanted to address the underlying problems one by one. That is what we are doing.

 

Well, from our experience, I agree with the sentiment but disagree with this conclusion. Absolutely remediate the issues, but there is a limit to how far remediation can take you, and then you accept the issue (or the "label" - which has a lot of negative connotations btw, I prefer "processing style") and accommodate.

 

I can't continue to believe that these issues will just go away if I find the right therapy. It's just not our reality. We did 3 years of OT for dysgraphia, and at the end even the OT was at a loss. None of the standard treatments worked. I've seen lots of moms of older dyslexics on this board talk about how you reach a point where even the most effective remediation hits a wall. There is only so much you can do with an actual neurological difference.

 

Ds WILL have a life-long difficulty with words and processing. That doesn't mean he has to be illiterate by any stretch of the imagination. Heck, the neuropsychologist who evaluated ds has the same diagnosis and while it does affect him as an adult, it definitely hasn't held him back from achieving anything professionally! I'm going to give ds the best tools, language, strategies and accommodations I can to help, but it is naive to think that he will ever process neurotypically (and quite honestly, I don't think I'd want him to).

[peacefully]

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[Tidbits of Learning]

My ds9 reads on grade level or advanced. He was tested on reading yesterday and flew through the 3 tests with flying colors. He used the yellow highlighter strip last year consistently to get to this point in reading. He was way below grade level last year. Think just finishing phonics. I had bought both blue and yellow and he hates the blue. He likes for me to write in green or red on the dry erase board. Not blue or black. He sometimes uses the yellow if his eyes are tired when reading. I am going to go to school aids and get the full page yellow thing and see how it helps with tiring of his eyes and tracking.

He goes to the state eye center. He hasn't been lately, but I can get a referral and get him in again. He doesn't get just an eye exam. It is the whole shebang. His right eye is still blocked 19%.

His main issue is taking his thoughts from his head to paper. He can not spell at all. He can verbally say the spelling 4 or 5 times in a row and then when he goes to write it...it has seeped from his brain. There is some sort of short circuit between his thoughts in his head and getting his hand to write them.

I have left a message for the pediatrician to call me and to discuss ds's issues. He has a great vocabulary and is very well spoken and well read. He tested great on vocabulary. The teacher who tested him yesterday went on and on about his fluency and inflection. It seems to be a writing issue. He recognizes when he writes letters/numbers backwards. He just can't seem to stop writing them that way in the first place. He will correct them without prompting. Spelling is what is holding up his school work. He just can't write anything on paper that he is thinking. He knows the alphabet, he knows how to spell the words, there is no crossover from his reading/vocabulary skills to spelling and writing. I don't get it and I don't know what to do past this evaluation on Monday.

His handwriting is awful. We have used HWOT from the start and are just now to the cursive. He has no concept of the lines and placement with writing.

He is technically in public school through K12 and does have to test this year. I am hoping that with some work things will get better. I plan to have him do HWOT Cursive, Keyboarding, and some remedial spelling program. I don't know which yet.

He is really smart if you are talking to him. He speaks and understands on a high level for his age. He just can't convey communication in print.

[peacefully]

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[rafiki]

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[laundrycrisis]

Having a label is important for many as it provides an understanding for them and others. I didn't want my kids at 40 to be seeking answers as to why they are different and frequently misunderstood. The real world is not compassionate when it comes to differences. If they don't have professional labels, they self-talk and label themselves in a negative way. One's mental health is just as important as one's physical health.

 

I agree with that - but I have a problem with labels that are assigned prematurely, and that may lead someone to not try to address underlying issues. Sadly, I know people who have done this.

 

I will pursue more thorough testing for our son, probably next year, but only after we have finished addressing the current problems on the table that therapy definitely helps - is helping every week - these are problems that would probably affect the results of any testing we do. So I have been advised to wait. Meanwhile, we forge ahead.

[eoffg]

OM, you wrote that you bought both yellow and blue highlighter strips, where he didn't just find the blue one unhelpful but 'hated' it.

Where the yellow strip specifically filters out blue, from the white light spectrum.

So that this is a strong signifier of a hypersensitivity to blue light, given that he hated it.

Where white light is actually a combination of red, yellow and blue light.

 

Perhaps I could explain about this hypersensitivity?

Where our eyes never actually stay still, but are constantly involved in what are called Saccadic movements.

So that they keep moving the focal point around what we are looking at.

With about a dozen movements every second.

But a critical element of these dozen movements each second, is that the last image needs to be completely removed. So that it can be replaced by the next one. Which happens in 'milli-seconds'.

Where the retina at the back of the eye has separate cones for red, yellow and blue.

 

But degrees of hypersensitivity can exist with one or more colour cones.

Where to understand it, you could simply look at a lit light globe for a second and look away?

Where after looking away, you will still see a trace image of the light globe, for perhaps a second?

 

So that when someone has a hypersensitivity to one colour?

While the cones for the other colours, removes the image after 15 milli-seconds and replaces it with a new image.

One set of colour cones, retains the last image longer than the others?

 

So that the brain is being provided with out of sync images from the different colour cones, at the same time?

Yet this saccadic movement of the eyes, occurs so fast, that we aren't even aware of their movement, as we look at something?

So that when someone has a hypersensitivity to any colour?

They are all most always unaware that other people see differently than them?

Where they only notice some difference when they read something through a filter that blocks out the problem colour.

 

But for someone that doesn't have this difficulty? Then reading through a red, yellow or blue highlighter strip?

Wouldn't make any difference.

[laundrycrisis]

I have a friend whose son wears yellow tinted glasses due to hypersensitivity to certain colors of light. There was no Irlen tester in the area, but the developmental optometrist did the testing and set him up with the glasses. He is much happier.

[Tidbits of Learning]

Well, we got his evaluation results today in the mail. At the actual evaluation, she was able to tell us that he has visible tracking issues. Today, the novel we received elaborated. He has dysgraphia and vision tracking issues which effect his motor skills. It went lots more in-depth, but that was the gist of it. He is very behind developmentally in motor skills areas. He is a candidate for the HWOT print and reversals program and we have a list of short term goals and long term goals. he will have a dyslexia screener within a month of starting OT. So he will do weekly OT this entire school year. At the end of the OT, they will decide whether he needs to be referred to s psychologist for dyslexia.

[PeterPan]

Since he has vision symptoms, you ought to get a developmental vision exam as well. You go to COVD to find the doc for that.

[Tiramisu]

Since he has vision symptoms, you ought to get a developmental vision exam as well. You go to COVD to find the doc for that.

 

If an OT is telling you your ds has tracking issues, I think this means now's the time to go for the developmental vision exam. I hope other mom's chime in who know more about this than I do, but if a visual processing issue is part of the root of the writing problem, don't you need to address it before you work on the writing?

 

Do you agree that he is that behind developmentally in motor skills? I know in your earlier post you were concerned with writing and spelling and that's why you went for the evaluation. I'm just really skeptical about this type of thing because of my dd's experience with the OT dysgraphia evaluation report that was highly focused on muscle weakness and that did not jive with our reality at all. I think, in our case, the OT made mountains out of mole hills so insurance would cover it because they'll cover for motor issues but not for more specific learning related issues.

Edited September 3, 2012 by NJKelli

[laundrycrisis]

Eye teaming issues like tracking and visual processing issues are specifically addressed by a developmental optometrist. I would let a COVD doc to that part and the OT work on the motor issues.

[eoffg1]

I would ask what his 'sense of balance' is like? As the Vestibular system that we use for balance, is also the primary guidance system for the eyes.

[Heathermomster]

To spell those types of words, you really need to have a visual memory for those words. We started incorporating visual spelling techniques (described by Freed, Craft, Silverman, Lindamood-Bell, etc.), and it was the perfect answer.

 

Are any of these methods available online and for free? Which has been your best resource? This interests me...Also, what are you using for math?

[PeterPan]

Are any of these methods available online and for free? Which has been your best resource? This interests me...Also, what are you using for math?

 

Freed has a book "Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World". Some of the stuff he stretches, and it doesn't correlate fully to us because his experience was tutoring kids he got later, rather than starting from scratch with youngun's the way many of us are. Nevertheless, he has some helpful ideas and a *thought process* that can get you somewhere. Your library should have it, or it's inexpensive on amazon.

[peacefully]

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Edited November 20, 2012 by yllek

[Tidbits of Learning]

Ok. We are in month 2 of OT. The OT evaluation which says ds has the gross/fine motor skills of a preschooler is bogus. We went for a dysgraphia evaluation and came out with this crap and they put the diagnosis as lack of coordination. Such bs. He plays sports and is actually probably one of the top 3 kids in his PE class. So now insurance will not pay for this b/c they only cleared OT eval for dysgraphia and OT for dysgraphia.

I didn't find out that they weren't treating him for dysgraphia or that they probably can't treat him for dysgraphia until we were already over a month in with $100's of money into the OT for an issue he doesn't have. The idiot therapist came out of his visit last week so excited he went across the monkey bars and conquered his fear of heights. Umm... lady he has done that since he was 2 and he went down a 75 ft. zip line last week. Do you want to see the video?

I flat out asked the therapist where those numbers came from for ds's motor skills and she told me that he was really hyper and chatty the day of the testing so if he didn't do something b/c he was chatty or if he didn't get what she was asking they marked he couldn't do it and it was good for us b/c then the insurance will pay. I am so mad right now. Mainly because the amount they told me the evaluation was is now $370 higher. Our insurance only pays $1000/yr to OT and the first month of OT for lack of coordination (which I don't think he has and we didn't take him there for anyway-we took him for dysgraphia-he has trouble writing nimrods!)

If the insurance pays, we have used all our benefits for this year on useless OT sessions. I am just so grumpy with the pure out fraud of all this. I called and specifically asked for a specific type of evaluation and they said they could do it. This has been such a waste of time and money. I am livid.

I don't even know where to go from here.

[laundrycrisis]

Ok. We are in month 2 of OT. The OT evaluation which says ds has the gross/fine motor skills of a preschooler is bogus. We went for a dysgraphia evaluation and came out with this crap and they put the diagnosis as lack of coordination. Such bs. He plays sports and is actually probably one of the top 3 kids in his PE class. So now insurance will not pay for this b/c they only cleared OT eval for dysgraphia and OT for dysgraphia.

I didn't find out that they weren't treating him for dysgraphia or that they probably can't treat him for dysgraphia until we were already over a month in with $100's of money into the OT for an issue he doesn't have. The idiot therapist came out of his visit last week so excited he went across the monkey bars and conquered his fear of heights. Umm... lady he has done that since he was 2 and he went down a 75 ft. zip line last week. Do you want to see the video?

I flat out asked the therapist where those numbers came from for ds's motor skills and she told me that he was really hyper and chatty the day of the testing so if he didn't do something b/c he was chatty or if he didn't get what she was asking they marked he couldn't do it and it was good for us b/c then the insurance will pay. I am so mad right now. Mainly because the amount they told me the evaluation was is now $370 higher. Our insurance only pays $1000/yr to OT and the first month of OT for lack of coordination (which I don't think he has and we didn't take him there for anyway-we took him for dysgraphia-he has trouble writing nimrods!)

If the insurance pays, we have used all our benefits for this year on useless OT sessions. I am just so grumpy with the pure out fraud of all this. I called and specifically asked for a specific type of evaluation and they said they could do it. This has been such a waste of time and money. I am livid.

I don't even know where to go from here.

 

I think they were trying to help you get coverage, not mess it up for you. Our insurance will not cover OT for anything they consider a learning or education related problem, but they will cover physical problems - so a dx of motor, motor planning, strength or coordination issues (which are a legitimate part of the cause of our son's dysgraphia) is what gets us coverage. This is probably the situation they are used to. Most insurance that provides for OT would provide coverage for gross or fine motor and coordination issues. IMO you should resubmit to your insurance and try to get those covered. Also those are related to dysgraphia, for which you say you did have coverage for the evaluation. It is not at all unusual for a dysgraphia evaluation to come up with motor and coordination issues. In your shoes, I would have issues with the insurance company denying coverage, not the OT.

 

What I would take up with an OT (a different one if you are not happy with this one), is discussing specifics before the evaluation, and before any sessions. A good practice will give you that opportunity. Both of our sons are in OT. For each of them, I had a full description of what the evaluations would cover and how, and I have a chance to speak with their therapist at the beginning and end of every session, and I am told what will be worked on in the next session. There are no surprises, and there should not be.

Edited October 15, 2012 by laundrycrisis

[Tiramisu]

Ok. We are in month 2 of OT. The OT evaluation which says ds has the gross/fine motor skills of a preschooler is bogus. We went for a dysgraphia evaluation and came out with this crap and they put the diagnosis as lack of coordination. Such bs. He plays sports and is actually probably one of the top 3 kids in his PE class. So now insurance will not pay for this b/c they only cleared OT eval for dysgraphia and OT for dysgraphia.

I didn't find out that they weren't treating him for dysgraphia or that they probably can't treat him for dysgraphia until we were already over a month in with $100's of money into the OT for an issue he doesn't have. The idiot therapist came out of his visit last week so excited he went across the monkey bars and conquered his fear of heights. Umm... lady he has done that since he was 2 and he went down a 75 ft. zip line last week. Do you want to see the video?

I flat out asked the therapist where those numbers came from for ds's motor skills and she told me that he was really hyper and chatty the day of the testing so if he didn't do something b/c he was chatty or if he didn't get what she was asking they marked he couldn't do it and it was good for us b/c then the insurance will pay. I am so mad right now. Mainly because the amount they told me the evaluation was is now $370 higher. Our insurance only pays $1000/yr to OT and the first month of OT for lack of coordination (which I don't think he has and we didn't take him there for anyway-we took him for dysgraphia-he has trouble writing nimrods!)

If the insurance pays, we have used all our benefits for this year on useless OT sessions. I am just so grumpy with the pure out fraud of all this. I called and specifically asked for a specific type of evaluation and they said they could do it. This has been such a waste of time and money. I am livid.

I don't even know where to go from here.

 

:grouphug: Your experience sounds so much like mine. Really. Crap, crap, crap!

I think our dx was lack of normal physiological development. The report was all about muscle weakness, hands but also upper body. Well, dd has done kung fu three times a week for at least seven years, and now holds her own in an adult kung fu class. She plays soccer, too. I was devastated reading the report because I thought I'd gotten it all wrong and dd was weaker than I thought. It took consulting with her orthopedist and a physical therapist to confirm for me that the report was junk and dd is stronger than the average kid. I tried to give the OT the benefit of the doubt and thought she did it for insurance coverage, but when I tried to confirm with her what the therapy would be and she said it would be for strengthening, I gave up. I didn't want a confrontation. Sadly, I wasn't too impressed with the occupational therapy we had before--I thought we could do it on our own after a few sessions--but after this dysgraphia evaluation, I became really skeptical of OT's in general. Again, sadly, because I know they can be effective. There must be good ones out there.

 

Trust your mommy instinct and try to ask around so you can really get the help you need.

 

I'm so sorry for your loss of time and money, but also for the emotional stress you have to endure because you're trying to help your kid. It really stinks. You should be grumpy. I'm grumpy, too! Can you tell? LOL.

 

:grouphug: Hopefully, some of the ladies here will be able to help direct you more than I can. I'm only good for commiserating. We gave up. I have dd type. I scribe often for math, and for Latin sometimes. I did see some things dd wrote for fun--in cursive--so I know she can do it if there isn't anything else occupying her mental space (working memory?), making writing like pushing a medicine ball uphill. I'm hoping for the best for the future. If she can't write five hundered miles an hour for the SAT essay, we'll just have to deal with it. :001_smile:

[Tidbits of Learning]

Nope, the OT place called to find out our coverage. They knew what was covered. They want me to pay the $$$ now. DS doesn't have the issues they have been treating him for at OT. We did go over the specifics before evaluation and before treatment. We are only covered for specific things. The OT place lied. They told me they doctored his eval so the insurance would cover it for their diagnosis. Their diagnosis is not covered by our plan and it is basically not worth the paper they typed it on since they just put he couldn't do anything.

He plays baseball, soccer, and basketball in leagues. He doesn't have balance or coordination issues. He hits off machine pitch. He played first base. Does that sound like a kid with the coordination of a 3 year old? He has never had any issues but with writing. I am just so mad that a place would basically lie from the get go about what services they offer and what evaluations they are performing. His script from his Dr. for the referral was specific to a dysgraphia evaluation. We never asked for him to be evaluated for anything but dysgraphia. I could spit nails. They told me the eval was $75 and I paid up front. They are charging my insurance $445 for that eval.

If he had issues it would be one thing, but the child doesn't and I am mad that he has a bogus report in his medical records. I even told them when I was checking if they evaluated for dysgraphia that I would need to go somewhere else if they didn't. When I questioned their report after the OT eval with his abilities in sports and such, they told me they put his motor skills so low to make sure that the insurance would cover it. That is insurance fraud. They flat out told me that they lied on the report so my insurance would cover for more services than he needed.

We have lost hours of school, time, and money going to a place where they put him in a gym and had him run obstacle courses that were easy for him. Not once have they worked on his writing issues. It is insurance fraud and a racket to boot b/c I am going to have to fight tooth and nail not to owe $1,000's for treatment that was not needed. They led me to believe that they tested him for dysgraphia and were treating for dygraphia right up until my insurance started denying claims for their bogus treatments for "lack of coordination".

We are local union insurance and these ladies in the insurance office have seen my kid play ball since he was 4 with their grandsons. At 4, he had better motor skills than what that report says he has at 9. I thought we were doing the right thing going to get him tested, but this has been a nightmare. No wonder insurance is so high if professionals lie to get paid.

[Tidbits of Learning]

:grouphug: Your experience sounds so much like mine. Really. Crap, crap, crap!

I think our dx was lack of normal physiological development. The report was all about muscle weakness, hands but also upper body. Well, dd has done kung fu three times a week for at least seven years, and now holds her own in an adult kung fu class. She plays soccer, too. I was devastated reading the report because I thought I'd gotten it all wrong and dd was weaker than I thought. It took consulting with her orthopedist and a physical therapist to confirm for me that the report was junk and dd is stronger than the average kid. I tried to give the OT the benefit of the doubt and thought she did it for insurance coverage, but when I tried to confirm with her what the therapy would be and she said it would be for strengthening, I gave up. I didn't want a confrontation. Sadly, I wasn't too impressed with the occupational therapy we had before--I thought we could do it on our own after a few sessions--but after this dysgraphia evaluation, I became really skeptical of OT's in general. Again, sadly, because I know they can be effective. There must be good ones out there.

 

Trust your mommy instinct and try to ask around so you can really get the help you need.

 

I'm so sorry for your loss of time and money, but also for the emotional stress you have to endure because you're trying to help your kid. It really stinks. You should be grumpy. I'm grumpy, too! Can you tell? LOL.

 

:grouphug: Hopefully, some of the ladies here will be able to help direct you more than I can. I'm only good for commiserating. We gave up. I have dd type. I scribe often for math, and for Latin sometimes. I did see some things dd wrote for fun--in cursive--so I know she can do it if there isn't anything else occupying her mental space (working memory?), making writing like pushing a medicine ball uphill. I'm hoping for the best for the future. If she can't write five hundered miles an hour for the SAT essay, we'll just have to deal with it. :001_smile:

 

:grouphug: I am hoping it all gets settled and our insurance will pay for what we have already done. I just can't believe how a professional can lie like that for money.

 

I am looking into getting Dianne Craft's book and starting at the house myself. He already does HWOT, click n spell, and keyboarding. So we are just going to get the Dianne Craft book and go from there.

 

We have a medical diagnosis from her pediatrician for dysgraphia so we are going to get 504 accommodations which will include ds getting to use a laptop for the writing portions of standardized tests. He just has to learn to type now.

 

ETA-I just found out that the military cut ties with this therapy place for insurance fraud. They were telling parents they were treating for one thing and costs and billing for another with much higher costs.

Edited October 15, 2012 by OpenMinded

[FairProspects]

We have a medical diagnosis from her pediatrician for dysgraphia so we are going to get 504 accommodations which will include ds getting to use a laptop for the writing portions of standardized tests. He just has to learn to type now.

 

ETA-I just found out that the military cut ties with this therapy place for insurance fraud. They were telling parents they were treating for one thing and costs and billing for another with much higher costs.

 

Yikes, that situation sounds bad all around. This will probably work for now, but just be aware that for national and College Board testing (AP, SAT, etc.) to get extra time or a laptop or scribe, you will need a neuropsych eval & diagnosis, not just a pediatrician.

[laundrycrisis]

Nope, the OT place called to find out our coverage. They knew what was covered. They want me to pay the $$$ now. DS doesn't have the issues they have been treating him for at OT....

 

That sounds awful then. I'm sorry you had this experience. :grouphug:

 

Our dysgraphic DS is doing similar therapy, but he does have a fine motor delay, and has for years, and does have low core tone, and some motor planning issues. When it is the therapy that is needed, it is helpful. But to treat it in a kid who doesn't need it sounds like fraud. :(

[Tidbits of Learning]

Today was our last day at the OT. The therapist came out to talk to me when ds told her it was his last day. I told her our insurance was up for the year. She started in about his weak core and blah, blah, blah...and how tired he was today. So I told her he spent the weekend at cub scout camp shooting arrows, bb guns, and climbing a rock wall. I told her he probably was tired and showed her the pic on my phone of him halfway up the wall. They gave me his HWOT pages and he had done a whopping 2 letters in cursive. Then the office manager came to give me his patient ledger and seemed to think I was going to write a check for $960 on the spot and kept telling me that my insurance denied it twice. I told her my insurance was covering it b/c I had a letter from the doctor and walked out. I told her I knew they had cut a check.

It was draining. I called my insurance and they assured me it would be paid. I told them how we went specifically for dysgraphia evaluation and were told that was what they were doing. I told them it has been a nightmare since we realized that they were treating him for lack of coordination. The insurance basically told me that the therapy place wasn't accredited to diagnose for dysgraphia and that is why it kept getting denied. They could never put it down as a diagnosis and that was all my insurance had approved for ds to have OT.

We will still owe about $150 after insurance is through paying. It is depressing. We have paid about $200 already in co-pays. It makes me mad and angry at the wasted time that we could have been working on his actual writing issues.

We got our Dianne Craft Brain Integration Therapy book today. We are going to start it next Monday. It seems to be the answer we were looking for to help ds.

I honestly don't think the therapy place realizes that they were treating ds for a non-issue and I don't think they realize that they lied to us when we called for a dysgraphia evaluation. It was less drama to just walk out than to try and get them to realize that ds does not have the issues that they are accredited to treat and they aren't accredited to treat the issue he does have.

[brownie]

Our OT told us she wasn't allowed to diagnose dysgraphia. She said that HAD to be done by a neuropsych. Brownie

[Tidbits of Learning]

Our OT told us she wasn't allowed to diagnose dysgraphia. She said that HAD to be done by a neuropsych. Brownie

 

Your OT place was nice and honest. Ours was not. The main reason I am updating this thread with our experience is so someone else isn't naive and knows that the OT therapist can't diagnose for dysgraphia. They told us they could give him an OT evaluation for dysgraphia, but could not diagnose dyslexia. We believed them. We thought they were working on his writing issues (the reason we had him evaluated). We have lost time and money with this therapy for "lack of coordination". The only reason we even found out that they weren't treating him for dysgraphia was b/c our insurance denied the therapy. He is behind in progress with school now due to going to the therapy for 2 months. Now, our insurance is maxed for the year b/c they did pay for the OT in the end. So we didn't get the help we needed for our son and now we can't even go somewhere else b/c they maxed out our insurance for the year.

I am just updating this thread so that maybe someone else can avoid wasting time and money.

[Tiramisu]

:grouphug: What happened stinks, but tomorrow is a new day, even if your insurance benefits are maxed out. We can pray that new doors open to help your ds.