New thread for Americastamps on ASD/ADHD and severe issues with spelling/writing

[PeterPan]

I thought you might like this in a new thread...

This brought up some questions about my son and his spelling. He has great reading skills and has always read above level, so I have always thought that to mean that he couldn't have dyslexia, but then I thought I had read somewhere that there are different types of dyslexia and you can still have it even if you can read well. Is this true, false? His spelling is really awful and he will even copy a correctly written sentence with incorrect spelling. He hates writing and will choose vocabulary that is very simple to avoid having to spell the kind of vocabulary he typically uses, which is quite advanced. Mine used to get good spelling grades on the test but after a week or two he wouldn't be able to spell most of the words that were on the test.

 

He *did* have vision therapy and his doctor expressed that he had improved, but I didn't see huge changes  other than not getting carsick as much(perhaps because his issues were fairly minor to begin with, as in he already was reading,)we stopped going before the year was over as it was very far away (and expensive!) and his issues were not dramatic enough for me to see a clear benefit or connection. I have been reading some folks discussing vision therapy and retained reflexes etc..and I may have to look into it again in the future. (we will likely move this summer)

 

My son is in eighth grade and his writing looks like a second grader. A messy second grader :-). He also has ADHD and Aspergers.

I get the feeling dealing with the public school that it just doesn't matter if he can't spell/write because he is passing his classes etc. He was homeschooled for a few years, but has been in public school for two years now. Just getting them to identify him was a nightmare, but that is another story.

 

Should I just look at the spelling/writing issue as minor in the scheme of things, or could they be a form of dyslexia, auditory processing issue or something else that warrants attention etc... I am so confused. He doe so well most of the time that I wonder if he really does have the correct diagnosis, and then other times when he is being super inflexible and rigid in his thinking I think his diagnosis is 100% accurate. It's just hard as a parent with no expertise to understand what is really going on, especially when the school system blows everything off because they simply don't want to provide help unless a child is clearly drowning. Even then it's hard to get them to throw a lifesaver! He did a bunch of testing four years ago, and again last year, and there are lots of discrepancies in lows/highs so I know there are issues but it is hard for me to understand what is a problem that I should address at home, or let go. 

 

I could pull out his testing and put out some numbers if someone is willing to go over them with me :-)

 

[PeterPan]

I'll bite here.  Since you have recent testing, want to throw out some of the scores?  You said you have lots of highs and lows.  Are they giving him services?  Have you considered fresh vision evals with a different developmental optometrist?  It's true developmental vision problems can affect visual memory.  That would be a really simple explanation, that his ADHD and not noticing things is combining with poor visual memory to bad effect.  The more complicated explanation is that there's something in those highs and lows, like maybe some remaining language problems that are making the school work very hard.  In that scenario you'd say wow, he's working so hard on ALL the aspects that the spelling is just one more mountain.  

 

So they gave him no SLD labels?  Not even SLD writing?  And has he had any speech therapy for language issues?  What happens if he does his writing assignment with dictation software?  Does the quality improve?  That would be very interesting to try.  You can now do dictation with a phone, a kindle, ANYTHING basically.  

[kbutton]

Some people are bad spellers, honestly. It could be an LD issue or not. My ASD kiddo would do fine on spelling tests but not spell in context well. It's a problem with generalizing a learned skill to a new context. 

 

We use typing for some accommodations. He types his spelling words, and we use a pattern-based spelling program (Sequential Spelling). It's been a great fit, and typing out the lists helps the spelling patterns become more integrated with his typing. We didn't start this until he at least knew all the keys and was semi-proficient.

 

We are working with a behaviorist on social skills and on some life skills (some behavioral, but more for his maturation, not because he's super difficult right now). He also has a tutor for composition.