Who can diagnose dysgraphia?

[Misty]

I think all of my girls have dysgraphia!!

 

The oldest (11yo) probably has motor dysgraphia, but she also has mind to paper issues.. Her handwriting is still dreadfully sloppy despite me working with her for years on this. Her reading and spelling skills are excellent and her IQ is in the gifted range.

 

The 2nd daughter can't spell to save her life and cannot express her thoughts on paper. Her handwriting is better developed than the older daughter (at times), but I still see some issues with reversals, spelling, and written expression. She's 8 and reads on a 4th grade level. However, her IQ is 140 and the psych said her academic achievement does not match her IQ, indicating a learning disability... But I have no idea which learning disability!

 

And the 3rd daughter so far just has fine motor deficits and is slow learning to read. She goes to OT once a week for the fine motor.

 

All three girls have Asperger's and OCD and the oldest also has Tourette's and executive dysfunction. The youngest has ADHD as well. I've read that dysgraphia often goes along with these things.

 

Who can evaluate these issues for me and give me feedback or a diagnosis? The psychologists who diagnosed them did not pick up on this, but they did mention the fine motor issues.

 

Thanks!

[Dobela]

There are specific evaluations for dysgraphia as well. Jordan Scales is one I remember although I have not seen it since I stopped teaching in ps.

[angieathome]

An occupational therapist should be able to help with all 3 daughters' issues. Both of my daughter's have had varying degrees of all the items you mentioned and were helped by OT. My experience is that all OTs are not equal, however. Do you have access to a large children's hospital? They were able to get OT's and other specialists in the same room to do an integrated assessment that was not possible going from one specialty to another in the outpatient medical world. I also have some suggestions that you may already be doing. First, for the poor handwriting and spelling, I allowed my girls to use the computer and spell-check from a very young age. I used teaching-typing software that also taught spelling without them knowing it. In the "real world", they will be able to use word processing as part of thier daily lives. Any written work we did was done on a white board with colorful markers, even in the upper elementary and junior high years. We did all our work using "hoppy balls" as chairs so they got constant "therapy". Both daughters took up musical instruments that I think helped them, but they were motivated and wanted to do that. I am not sure if it would help for everyone. There are behavioral therapy programs at children's hospitals that can teach appropriate emotional behaviors to compensate for the Asperger's. I have other tips and tricks if this is helpful---I don't want to bore or overwhelm you. Please let me know if you would like to hear more. I hope this helps. Angie (BTW, they are both now in public high school and are functioning pretty normally with few accommodations.)

[starwarsmomma]

Scottish Rite Hospital can and does test/diagnose for Dysgraphia, and all learning disabilities for free. I HIGHLY recommend going there-- it's the best expereience we have ever had, and knowing really makes a difference.

 

Once you know what is wrong, it's much easier to find a program/style that works with the child.

[Misty]

I just looked into the Scottish Rite Hospital and it appears that the child has to be a Texas resident in order to be a patient there. We are in OK so that wouldn't work for us. I wonder if the public schools can help me with this? I'm also going to see if our ped will put in a referral for OT for the older two girls.

 

Angie, I would love to hear more of your tips.. Sounds like you've got some experience under your belt. I LOVE the hoppy ball idea!!

 

Thanks!

[starwarsmomma]

Scottish Rite accepts patients from all over the US. Contact them, I know that my cousin in Oklahoma was seen and had no problems getting in.

[angieathome]

Hi, Misty. It's Angie again. Relating to my oldest daughter, the mind to paper issue has been an ongoing struggle for her. The thing that worked best for us is that she dictates her thoughts to me and I type them for her even though she is able to type. She can't write (or type) and think at the same time. We used Shurley Grammar (Shurley English) writing lessons which help the student organize thoughts into very straightforward, almost mathematical formats, which she likes. Like your other daughter, my other daughter has difficulty with written expression, poor spelling, letter reversals, etc. One problem for her was Visual Processing difficulties that were sorted out by a behavioral (developmental) optometrist. We were given home therapies and did not have to do vision therapy. Her skills did get better over time but she is still a poor speller and writer (sentence structure and handwriting). She is now 15 and is in public high school and is an average student. Like your daughter she is very bright and excels in other areas like violin. The beauty of homeschooling is the freedom to allow your children to excel in their areas of giftedness instead of focusing all your energy on remediating the things they are not so good at. I will continue to post other tips as I think of them and hope that it is helpful. Good luck! Angie P.S. I have noticed a thread from Lori in TX about her 12 yr old son with dysgraphia that has a lot of good info.

[angieathome]

Misty--I woke up thinking about you this morning and want to add to my post. I am getting the impression that you are working with a lot of professionals in the psych specialty and psych testing. The conclusion I came as I was initially getting diagnoses and helps for my daughters was that that the psych specialists were not very up-to-date with the mild autism impacts on learning disabilities. The OT's were much more helpful in pointing me to solutions that worked. We have dealt with everything you are talking about: Aspergers, ADHD, dysgraphia, word-finding difficulty, poor written communication, dyslexia. What I did was call the children's hospital in our state and asked to talk to an OT. After describing all the difficulties, the OT arranged an appointment where all the different medical specialists could be in the same room and set up and observe each other's testing. It was AMAZINGLY helpful. They even recorded the session on video. This was not convenient because I had quite a drive but it was the single best thing I did. I found that my small town professionals just did not have the hands-on experience with critters like mine. I could tell from their questions and comments that they were not on the right track in their probing, whereas the OT's immediately impressed me that they knew kids like mine. Our pediatrician was willing to give referrals that I asked for. The OT's even had more helps for the Asperger's than the psych. The one recommendation from psych was the emotional behavior training that is available for Asperger's. We did not ultimately take advantage of that because I thought that my daughter was doing OK in that area. I thought we worked on that a lot at home. She comes off as a bit odd, but she doesn't get socially ostracized. OK--I guess this is all for now. I feel your pain. Please reply if you have specific questions. I am thinking of you.

[Misty]

Angie,

Thank you so much for coming back and giving more info.. I just now saw that you posted again (missed it before) and wanted to say thank you so much. I was not aware that the OT's usually have more experience with kids like mine than the psychologists do. I am going to be asking our pediatrician for a referral to OT for my oldest daughter to see if I can get her evaluated. I would like to have all of her learning disabilities documented just in case we ever need accomodations for any testing, college, etc.

 

Our daughters sound very much alike so I really appreciate your input. Thanks so much for your help.