Low Working Memory and Dysgraphia

[1shortmomto4]

I finally received the results for my ds' testing.  I knew what was going on and basically I was spot on but I wasn't prepared to actually hear the dx of Autism - Level 2.  That threw me.  There were some issues with his hearing and since older ds has major issues I've already got that scheduled but probably not linked - just more of very crossed wires in the brain.  I'm still reading through the report on my own and reading the recommendations as to how to proceed.  He has severe dysgraphia - which even effects his ability to type so I'm going to have to try speech apps to see if that is a tool he can use with any success.  College is a big question.  He can barely put thoughts in any order on paper - not sure if he can do with a text app - so this may be a problem.  Under ADA the accommodation of requiring professors to use a multiple choice test versus short answer/essay - may or may not be accepted. 

Definitely struggling with EF and low working memory.  I thought there were some options to try to improve that??

Physical therapy to help with the motor coordination regarding the dysgraphia.

I'm still thrown by the Level 2. 

But he has good self-esteem and is comfortable in his own skin.  Stable emotionally.

He does great with computation in math, albeit very slow, but word problems and setting them up - big problems there.

He can read a passage of material, very slowly, and answer the questions but can not read silly made up words. 

And then there is that Level 2.

[PeterPan]

I'm sorry, it's hard. And maybe the fact that you were surprised shows how well you've done with him, because you HAVE given him one on one and poured into him. Some things just aren't fixable.

Are you considering an SLP eval for the language stuff? I can tell you that they finally bumped my ds to support level 2 this summer and that language is a distinguishing characteristic. We've even done spurts of 2-3 hours a day of language stuff. You would not hurt anything to go to Linguisystems and get anything you think would be challenging for him and just use it. I hear you on the writing and narrative language issues. For my ds, a lot of the Linguisystems stuff was good but the SPARC books were especially brilliant. They are deceptively simple, and each unit applies the new concepts with narrative building work. It was very challenging for my ds. It would improve your ds' working memory as well, yes. There was a definite working memory component to it. 

I guess see what happens when you try the tech. Definitely do tech, because it's so easy now. For my ds, when we got him AAC software this spring, what we found was that even with that he couldn't get stuff out. So there's dictation software (Siri, on the kindle, Dragon, etc.) and then there's AAC. There are some really good AAC type apps for teens and adults too, things where they can just whip it out and start typing like they're texting, and it will use word prediction to help them get it out faster. Adults will use that when they get tired and their speech drops.

What the tech doesn't solve is the underlying language problem, which is why I brought that up. Like for my ds, even with LAMP ($300 regular price, bought on sale), he STILL wasn't getting out complete sentences!!! So it's not just can they get it out but is the language development there. That's the level 2 thing, and if he had hearing issues that probably compounded it. But it may be both, unfortunately.

I gave my ds the RISE recently, because there's some threshold data to tell you whether working on decoding more would help his reading comprehension. It only costs $7 and it takes about an hour to administer. Takes a day to get the account set up, but after that easy peasy. https://rise.serpmedia.org/

Yeah, there's something called the praxis theory of autism, and for my ds with his apraxia it's like oh well if we could improve the motor planning, it would all come out. It's this assumption that the language is there, bubbling inside, waiting to burst out. Well we worked on motor planning for 8 years and realized the language wasn't there waiting to come out, that we were also going to have to build the language. It was sort of a low moment. 

It's good that you got the evals and are getting some answers. Who knows where his potential is and what his ceiling is. Did the psychs have any comment on that? Did they feel like they got an accurate IQ? My ds has a pretty bright IQ, so he has this seemingly higher ceiling. I'll tell you though that to me college is out for my ds. It would be too stressful and it wouldn't result in employability. So gifted IQ, the 3 SLDs, ASD2, and right now I'm thinking appliance repair for my ds. He takes to it, it would be varied, it appeals to his enjoyment of complexity, it's a little social without being constantly social. I think he could actual do it and be employable. If he can work maybe 20 hours a week at that and pay for a housekeeper in a house we provide, hopefully he can have a good life. I don't see him able to work 40 hours a week. That would be stressful. For my ds, stress shuts everything down. Even where he can handle something, he just gets maxed out. And your ASD is not actually severity level but support level. So whatever support he's getting or seems to need more of may just be how it is. I don't know how much support level changes with time. The Social Thinking Communication Profiles can help with that, but the ASD2 is showing that too. More support, less stress. Probably that's not going away. I try very hard to envision it as good, that it's going to turn out well and that he'll be happy in it. You'll get there too, with time, after the grieving and shock is done, sigh. 

It's a Friday for shocks, wow. 

Have you contacted your county board of developmental disabilities? He may qualify. My ds does. They have a whole bunch of areas of living they look at, and SLDs are included. Unfortunately, that combo of ASD + SLDs + anything that affects his actual independent living skills is just really hard. So for my ds, he just requalified and he'll stay qualified till 16. If that's about where your ds is, you could have that conversation. They do transition services, offer help with job placement and training, all sorts of things. Also then if he qualifies under that he can get on the list for the medicaid waiver, which can help fund services and take care of his insurance needs. At the county level though, there's usually some additional funding. It varies, but it will probably be something. Ours is $800 a year and a discount at the Y. So if there are services you wanted to make happen, it can help. It can also pay for respite care, camps, etc.

You asked about EF. Any specific areas? The general principle with autism is GO VISUAL. You can never be too visual. He may have issues with sequencing, problem solving, knowing the steps. So you want language for the steps, but making them explicit and going visual can be good. I dno't know him to know where he's at. With my ds, we've done a lot with taking pictures of the steps. You can use lists or charts. That's going to be an ongoing process where you identify the task/problem, break it into steps, and figure out what support he'll need. And he may need to be walked through doing it and then have faded support.

The language and working memory you can probably improve. There's a lot of data on the value of working intensely, so if your insurance is only offering 1 hour of SLP a week, consider doing more at home. The other thing you can do is try to get him access to services and keep him in the system longer. DON'T just graduate him, mercy. Once he's graduated, he loses access to so much. Our state has disability scholarships and autism schools, so I can keep my ds in the system till 21 and keep getting him service. We have a lot of charter/cyber schools, so people will sometimes go through them, get their IEPs, and use that route to get funding for therapies. 

It sounds like he has very low processing speed. Is that the case? Is he a candidate for ADHD meds (which would bump processing speed), or he doesn't need them? 

Well it's hard and a shock. Did you tell him? How did he respond?

[J-rap]

What I say might not be relevant at all, because our situation is different.  But, I come to this forum from time to time and have found help for my dh, and I sometimes share what has worked for him as well.  He had a massive stroke 8 years ago and was diagnosed with severe global aphasia, apraxia, and dysgraphia.  Well, pretty much everything language-related across the board.  He has low working memory too, but some things have helped...

He will probably always have low working memory, because so much of his brain is damaged.  But, early on -- in the years immediately after his stroke -- his working memory could barely keep up with anything because there was so much to think about at any given moment.  As he slowly improves in different aspects of language, however, this frees up the working memory space, enabling him to get so much better at working through things in the moment.  It is not a quick process of course, but years of constant work, often doing the same things over and over and over again until it's finally "set" in the brain.  But it really, really is improving and we're continuing on this path!  Anyway, just to give you hope!

Another thing we discovered a year or two ago is that his visual memory is very poor.  This affects so many things.  We're slowly working our way through Visualizing and Verbalizing by Nanci Bell, which works at building visual images in your brain.  He really has felt improvement with this as well.  Enhanced visual imagery seems to support the working memory -- at least that's the way I think of it.

[PeterPan]

V/V is really popular around here for autism, but I think it can happen, or at least the way it's seeming to work out with my ds, was that he was visualizing but didn't have the language to express it. So like when they go through all the prompt words (movement, size, shape, perspective, mood, etc.), what they're basically doing is FFC (feature, function, class) from your basic ABA work. SLPs will use other terms, but it's all the same stuff. So like the free pdf (which I think is now gone because wikispaces is gone) of the 100% Vocab Rothstein book was going through that stuff, helping them put words to attributes, functions, etc. 

So they have to have the language, and working on that is valuable. But whether or not he visualizes could be a separate question. My ds does not have any developmental vision problems, does not need VT, and he actually visualizes fine. Now for him, he's finally able to explain to me that when the books are easier he's visualizing and when the books are harder that shuts off. So it's not like they can just process endlessly. If they're struggling to understand the story or whatever, then that uses up their brain power to visualize. But it could happen that he can visualize but doesn't have the language to explain it. And yes it's a strong comprehension and learning strategy. 

[1shortmomto4]

I ran some errands today and with the week of rain and more rain to come I'm just plain blue and gloomy today.

Basically, the DX included the Level 2 which makes him eligible for SSI.  ADHD, Slow processing, EF, dysgraphia and Impairment in Written Expression.  Couldn't rule out Dyslexia.

Developmental ophthalmologist was recommended but I'm not sure that it this point I couldn't be doing things to help him without another big medical expense.  Visual abilities were in the average range but they fell in the low range.  Would an evaluation rule in or out the presence of a visual processing disorder? Is this fixable?  When he hears information he mostly retains although can not put facts in order but his visual memory is below average.Verbal comprehension was average with perceptual reasoning was low average. Working memory is borderline.

I feel like I was given this 20+ page report, discussed some key points and now I'm out there on an island trying to figure out what to do next.  Ugh!  The county finally sent me the approval I needed to keep him homeschooling for 1 more year and during this year I'm going to have get things lined up and see what I can do to build up weaknesses and see where we go from there.  I just wish someone would tell me - do x y and z and if it is going to help and make improvements then it will and if not, go to plan b.  My dh still sees this young man going to college and working a full-time job.  I think we should look at something vocational and I'm not convinced he'd make it 8 hours a day 5 days a week.  Not sure if this is something that can be built up over time or it is just what it is.  She provided a few places to call for assistance and I'll attack that starting next week after the audiologist.  I'll check the Linguisystems but again, just wish I knew better on what to pick - I'll try anything. I know I was asking about math earlier this week and I'll probably get the college book on basics, plan on lots of visuals and maybe a workbook or two on word problems - but those need to be elementary level that we can work through step by step, repetitive practice.

Provider did assure me that the homeschooling was a good choice and he has done better than he would have in the school setting/system.

[PeterPan]

The reason you can't tell the order is because these providers are so pigeon-holed and don't tell you.

Retained reflexes---> visual reflexes---> visual processing---> visual memory

So first check to see if he has retained reflexes. Those can affect the auditory processing issues and the visual processing. You integrate those, then you get testing and do VT, yes. Usually you want a developmental optometrist. Once in a while you'll find an opthamologist who does VT, yes. I've heard of one. But usually it's dev. optometrists. And yes, they'll check his convergence, focusing, depth perception, etc. (all the physical stuff) and then his visual processing (visual memory, figure/ground, etc.). My dd, at around age 11/12 when we had her tested, had the visual memory of a 2 yo. No wonder she was having such a hard time with spelling!!! Also, she had always been kind of weird on sounding out words, not willing to, and during her VT all of a sudden, BOOM, she started asking me what letters said. I'm like hello we did SWR for HOW many years and you don't know this stuff??

Ok, on the weird not quite reading disorder thing, here's something to consider. If a dc with ASD goes from whole to part instead of part to whole like typically developing kids, then they aren't actually processing at the word level or the bit level. So like my ds did extensive scripting, where he would memorize and recite from things. He had memorized paragraphs out of audiobooks, paragraphs from life, but his brain couldn't break that down to the word level and the bits of word level!! Most kids go parts to whole.

So when you say he has language issues (or recognize the language issues), then you go ok it's possible the spelling is not clicking because that's not the level of language he's processing right now. Now yes he could be dyslexic, but it could be more nuanced. So when we started doing language materials with my ds (and I've got a whole thread on this), he started processing at the word level and then the bits of word level!! And I could tell, because he started making up rhymes (something you expect a 5 yo to do but he never did) and making word jokes!! It was incredible. Now spelling actually makes sense for him, because it's like he has some cognizance that words are made up of parts. They have meaning for him and he functions at that level.

http://www.linguisystems.com/products/product/search?topic=3  See if this link works. Go to Linguisystems then click Products then click topics then click Vocabulary/Semantics. Then just look through there and see if anything seems right. http://www.linguisystems.com/products/product/display?itemid=10178 This is one of the SPARC books we used. I don't know really where your ds is at and what is appropriate. I'm just saying dig in and see. Just use the samples and go with your gut. If you think something would be challenging, it will be. You're very attuned to him as a homeschooler, so you can just go through the site and place him into materials, boom.

There's a grieving process with this, and it's common I think to have parents not at the same place. You're seeing him more, so you maybe have more reality check. Whoever is making more "demands" is going to see things sooner probably. Obviously our goal is to give our kids good advice. I can tell you that at the Social Thinking workshops I've gone to they BEG people not to believe that college will be protective of the child. They tell story after story of kids whose parents push so hard to get them through only to realize the kids are unemployable. And maybe that's ok in certain circumstances, where maybe the goal was personal growth and they don't need income. But if they need to be employable, then getting the skills for that (social, etc.) might be pretty high priority.

And really, some things get harder. Qualifying for SSI, at least around here, means you would need assistance to live independently. It's a serious thing. It's a really hard thing to grapple with and be honest about.

You know what I try to think about? I try to think about what makes a good life for him, how this looks like as a whole picture, where he has some work, some leisure, some relationships, kwim? And I'm trying to nurture all those aspects, so he can have ALL of them. What does it mean for him to have a good life? What would be his vision of a good life? How can we work toward that? Does he know his diagnosis or sense his differences or have opinions on these things yet? My ds is very opinionated and he thinks a lot.

When I suggested appliance repair to him (after seeing him engaged with changing the fan motor on the freezer), he really lit up! Then when I suggested other types of repair, like airplane repair (which theoretically should be an interest, because it's chained to his other interests), no bite, go figure. But his reasoning was that he wouldn't want to commute! So I love that he's thinking and that we can talk about these things and plant seeds. My ds has been worried for a long time about what he would do when he grows up. He actually would bring it up. I think he had this sense that he wasn't like the others and that not just anything would do. 

So they need to be able to work and contribute in some way. There are places near us starting businesses and doing placements just for kids with autism. I think ds straddles and could work some kind of repair or other work if he had decreased hours. Our behaviorist says it must be low stress. There are things that I look at now and that we work around now, and it's really hard to just get honest and go you know, that's probably not going away, that's probably who he is and how he is. And even if he gets more strength and skill in that area, it's still such a propensity that it's not gonna handle major onslaught. So no, he can't handle a lot of stress or a super whiz bang pace or lots of fatiguing hours. He'll mature relative to himself, but he is who he is.

Glad the weather is mourning with you. It will get better. It will just take time. He's the same joy he was before. It's wonderful that you've made him confident in his own skin and comfortable. That's HUGE. 

And yes, your one-on-one has probably been huge for him. 

[Storygirl]

It is a lot to process. When DS14 got his NP report, it was also 20+ pages long, and we got a diagnosis that I had never even heard of before (NVLD, though I was expecting ASD), plus a big list of other issues and diagnoses to address -- including ADHD, SLD written expression (dysgraphia), math disability, very low processing, dyspraxia (so a similar list to yours). And more.

So overwhelming. I remember going into the meeting to discuss the results, feeling like, "Now, after so long, we will finally get answers," and walking out feeling like, "Now we have so many more questions."

We just couldn't figure out how to address everything all at once, so we just picked a place to start, found a place that could help us with some therapy (speech and OT), and began working on parts of it. Then we moved on to the next thing and the next, and here we are, five years later, still moving on to the next thing.

I wish I could say that we found a clear and certain path, but we just continually try to step forward and step forward again.

((hugs))

[1shortmomto4]

I so very much appreciate the encouragement and kindness and support over the past days -- I don't have anyone in real life that I can talk with regarding options, solutions, ideas to try, etc.  Yes, I can share the dx and my concerns but they have no experience in moving forward and taking this challenge on.  I've been down this grieving process before - almost 10 years ago when my oldest ds was dx with a severe hearing impairment - which is when I learned there is a grieving process but then I found my feet and marched on and now that young man is finishing his college degree and moving forward.  It has, in no way shape or form, been easy.  I knew this child would be challenge but I didn't know how much of a challenge.  I guess my next step is to find someone to evaluate the visual weaknesses and we'll rule in/out the auditory on Monday. I'll also reach out to the local autism group that has a wealth of information and contacts to move forward.

I've looked at the linguisystems but the strange thing is that his vocabulary is average - on the upper side.  His biggest issues are putting the thoughts together in his head and then on paper and have them in some logical order.  Spelling skills are very low - yet, each week when I do a dictation from Spelling you See he does pretty well.  I do prompt, remind a rule and we work through it slow and steady versus the timed instruction. He also can not put things - like numbers - in order in his head and then repeat them aloud. So I guess sequencing skills need work.  But when playing a video game with very involved strategies/war tactics he's an ace and can think well ahead of the possible outcomes. 

What can I do to work on memory?  Are there games? activities? stuff that wouldn't overwhelm him and cause him to shut down?

There is a suggestion of stimulant meds - not sure what to do there.  Haven't looked up the effects.  This is going to be an issue with my dh because for 25 years his career was drug interdiction.  He has concerns with meds - took awhile for him to see the benefits of anxiety meds for oldest ds - we got there but it was a long road. 

[PeterPan]

7 minutes ago, 1shortmomto4 said:

the strange thing is that his vocabulary is average - on the upper side. 

My ds' vocab for years and years was at the 99th percentile. Seriously. And when we started with the SPARC books they were killer hard for him. They have samples. If you click the digital version it will take you to the digital purchase site where you can see the first several units. Maybe just look through them. It's a definite fallacy to assume vocabulary means the language is there. If they didn't run the deeper language testing (SPELT, TNL, etc.), you don't know. I was HORRIFIED when I got our language testing back. He had done so many tests like the CASL and CELF where he was FINE because they were multiple choice!!! When you have a high IQ, high vocab kid, they can spin through these things. So you give them open-ended language tests and the deficits start to show.

Oh, and I used to come on here and slam the CELF and people were like no no, it's sainted. Nope, other SLPs (I'm not) who are into research and know the data slam them too. Life is not multiple choice. Fast food testing cannot show you what's really going on.

10 minutes ago, 1shortmomto4 said:

He also can not put things - like numbers - in order in his head and then repeat them aloud. So I guess sequencing skills need work.  But when playing a video game with very involved strategies/war tactics he's an ace and can think well ahead of the possible outcomes. 

Well obviously you've got a bunch of things there. He's clearly highly visual and responding well to visual inputs. What was his processing speed on the IQ testing? I'll bet it's very low. That's making things much harder.

11 minutes ago, 1shortmomto4 said:

What can I do to work on memory?  Are there games? activities? stuff that wouldn't overwhelm him and cause him to shut down?

It's not an evidence-based practice to work only on memory. If you want functional gains, you want to do it in the context of something useful. So like those SPARC books I was referring you to have the person repeat sentences with picture support. He may find even this hard!!! You may have to back up to where he has support like that. The key to stopping meltdowns is to get enough supports in place and to use materials that have teeny tiny steps. The Linguisystems stuff was brilliant for us. Frankly, I haven't found any SLP (and I've been to so many your head would spin) who had the time and brain power and readiness to do the level of what really needed to be done. They're used to getting 45 minutes once a week, and it just won't get you there.

14 minutes ago, 1shortmomto4 said:

There is a suggestion of stimulant meds

Stimulant meds paired with behavioral interventions can be very good. You want him UNDERSTANDING what his body is doing AND having the help to be able to get there. 

[kbutton]

Stimulant meds have been ONLY positive for my kiddo with ASD plus ADHD. Huge plus. 

Hugs as you process all of this.

[1shortmomto4]

Thank you so much for the encouragement and feedback.  I'm still trying to get school underway for the year and muddle through this big ball of information.  I'm still finding some things a little hard to make sense of - like the adhd and the recommendation of the meds.  I understand this has helped many people - young and old - but I'm not one to make this jump quickly because frankly, I'm not seeing that part of the equation.  Two olders have anxiety issues - at times, yes, I see that.  What I see is the EF issues - memory, physical act of writing, thoughts produced in an orderly way (he has some great creativity but getting it out is a big issue) and some personal interaction issues (I'm thinking this is where the ASD is playing in to the equation).  I wake up everyday thinking life has changed but I haven't caught up yet but then I look around and nothing is really different than it was yesterday or last week.  Relationships with each other are close and supportive and, at times, typical brother/sister but enjoyable. 

 

 

[Lecka]

Some kids make improvement in their EF issues, with ADHD medication.  

I have an older son who has EF issues but I am told ADHD medication would not help him.

I have seen it help kids.

I have also seen it not make much difference.

I have also had times where I could see a positive difference but parents said they didn’t see a difference at home.  I have also had times where I couldn’t see a difference but parents said it was amazing at home.

Anyway if you can ask I would ask if they have an informed opinion (based on testing) or a hope of the EF issues improving with medication.

For my older son, seeing him informally people have had hope medication would help, but then when looking at testing it looks like it would not help him. 

I think I have a mental image of the kind of effects ADHD medication and I think it could help issues you are mentioning, in a really positive way.  

I think — whatever your mental image is of the effect of ADHD medication, if you haven’t been around many kids, you might not have a good mental image.  

I don’t have personal experience with my kids but I have known quite a few kids/parents and I have seen EF issues improve with some kids, and it can really take a weight off of kids.  It can be good that way, like everything is easier and everything is less-frustrating.  One boy used to have an attitude like everyone was out to get him, asking him to do something was like picking on him.  He wasn’t like that at all (when I was around him) after he was taking ADHD medication.  I have seen other kids who weren’t as bad as him before, just be less reactive. 

I don’t think it always works out that well, but sometimes it does for sure.  

I think sometimes when kids take ADHD medication then it shows what was ADHD and what was ASD.  Sometimes more changes, sometimes less changes.  So you could be right about the personal interaction being mostly ASD, or maybe it’s more ADHD than it would seem.  

I have an impression from other parents, that they are either told “we’re pretty sure it will help” or they’re told “maybe it will help.”  I think sometimes they can be pretty sure, and other times it’s more of a “try and see what happens.”  

From what you are saying, it comes across like they seem confident it  would be helpful.  

I think you can ask about that.

But I think it’s not a blanket recommendation, they aren’t saying this to just everybody.  

I have talked to several people *shocked* that my older son would have seen the same person, and knowing my older son, and *shocked* I was told medication wouldn’t work.  They have assumed that everyone is told to try medication.  It’s not the case.

Its too bad for me in a way, because I have had a lot of conversations where the parent starts out insulted or angry they would have it recommended, and then it works out well for them, and they wonder why it wouldn’t work for my son.  And it’s just because my son isn’t diagnosed with ADHD, and they don’t think it would help him.  Neither of my sons are, but they can be similar in some ways so this comes up for me here and there.  

 

[PeterPan]

18 hours ago, kbutton said:

Stimulant meds have been ONLY positive for my kiddo with ASD plus ADHD. Huge plus. 

Hugs as you process all of this.

Labels don't matter if the genetics differ

[PeterPan]

1 hour ago, 1shortmomto4 said:

Thank you so much for the encouragement and feedback.  I'm still trying to get school underway for the year and muddle through this big ball of information.  I'm still finding some things a little hard to make sense of - like the adhd and the recommendation of the meds.  I understand this has helped many people - young and old - but I'm not one to make this jump quickly because frankly, I'm not seeing that part of the equation.  Two olders have anxiety issues - at times, yes, I see that.  What I see is the EF issues - memory, physical act of writing, thoughts produced in an orderly way (he has some great creativity but getting it out is a big issue) and some personal interaction issues (I'm thinking this is where the ASD is playing in to the equation).  I wake up everyday thinking life has changed but I haven't caught up yet but then I look around and nothing is really different than it was yesterday or last week.  Relationships with each other are close and supportive and, at times, typical brother/sister but enjoyable. 

 

 

What was your psych seeing to recommend meds? Sometimes we're too close to the situation and are missing things. Sometimes we don't realize how he COULD be with more supports. You wouldn't know till you tried. He person must have seen SOMETHING, some potential for improvement.

[kbutton]

On 9/20/2018 at 10:11 AM, PeterPan said:

Labels don't matter if the genetics differ

Well, I haven't had genetic testing for this sort of thing for my kids, but it seemed reasonable to me to add a positive comment about an intervention for labels my kid and the OP's kid share and that the OP has listed as a potential intervention. We do this all the time on the forums without bringing up genetics.

I think if you are going to say this, it would be helpful to offer some broader context for the OP. While it's becoming more mainstream to test which ADHD meds might be the best fit, I think you are talking about other genetics, which are really still not a common thing to explore in these situations. 

[exercise_guru]

My son is 11 and has dysgraphia issues. He also has a hard time getting work onto paper. I am working to create a writing curriculum where he does one writing assignment but the rest of the time he does computer activities and textile activities to work on forming and moving sentences around. 

I would love ideas on how to put thoughts on paper. I have worked to cut out sentences and have my son arrange them on a cookie sheet. I have also worked on MADLIBS helping him to form the thoughts and write in funny endings. I would very much like to create some fill in the blank paragraphs?I also like the games where they have to arrange sentences in a paragraph in order and move them around until the paragraph makes sense. This is also on my cookie sheet station work. 

Unfortunately my son is in public school and I just only get from 7am to 8:30 to work with him. Write now we are doing Fast Forword reading and it hits many of these elements. 

Edited September 21, 2018 by exercise_guru

[1shortmomto4]

Still sorting through things and will be making an appointment to work on the visual aspect of his struggles.  After scanning through the paperwork again, what stood out to me today is "cognitive abilities are unevenly developed."  I took him and his brother out for breakfast and we had a great discussion - one topic we discussed is how do you handle listening/supporting a conversation with a friend that is on a subject that you either know nothing about or care about.  My fellow said he would find it hard to continue on (indicative of his issues) while the younger one said something along the lines of listening and perhaps asking some questions to get more information about subject.  I guess my next call will be to find a social group that might help grow some of those types of skills.

[PeterPan]

On 9/21/2018 at 11:30 AM, exercise_guru said:

 My son is 11 and has dysgraphia issues. He also has a hard time getting work onto paper. I am working to create a writing curriculum where he does one writing assignment but the rest of the time he does computer activities and textile activities to work on forming and moving sentences around. 

I would love ideas on how to put thoughts on paper. I have worked to cut out sentences and have my son arrange them on a cookie sheet. I have also worked on MADLIBS helping him to form the thoughts and write in funny endings. I would very much like to create some fill in the blank paragraphs?I also like the games where they have to arrange sentences in a paragraph in order and move them around until the paragraph makes sense. This is also on my cookie sheet station work. 

Unfortunately my son is in public school and I just only get from 7am to 8:30 to work with him. Write now we are doing Fast Forword reading and it hits many of these elements. 

Yes yes!! https://m.superduperinc.com/productitem_sdm.aspx?pid=WCA6006&s=super-sentence-game. Also I've seen Montessori inspired sentence stuff on TPT. Super Duper has Grammar Tickle Stories. 

When you do your paragraph strips include a sentence that DOESNT belong.

[PeterPan]

On 9/21/2018 at 12:01 PM, 1shortmomto4 said:

Still sorting through things and will be making an appointment to work on the visual aspect of his struggles.  After scanning through the paperwork again, what stood out to me today is "cognitive abilities are unevenly developed."  I took him and his brother out for breakfast and we had a great discussion - one topic we discussed is how do you handle listening/supporting a conversation with a friend that is on a subject that you either know nothing about or care about.  My fellow said he would find it hard to continue on (indicative of his issues) while the younger one said something along the lines of listening and perhaps asking some questions to get more information about subject.  I guess my next call will be to find a social group that might help grow some of those types of skills.

Groups were good for us but ds needed private speech therapy for expressive language to go farther. You might look for both.