Writing, reading comprehension & handwriting problems (l

My son is almost 9YO. He attended public school through first grade and I removed him when he completed the year without being able to read. I was able to get him reading to a second grade level within months.

He's been home now for almost two years and there isn't much improvement in his writing skills. While he can test well orally, putting pen to paper is extraordinarily difficult. His letters are of many sizes and his method of writing is odd. He starts from the bottom line and adds seriphs sloppily. His speech was incoherent in Kindergarten and has slowly, very slowly, progressed.

Physically, his gross motor skills have been quite delayed and he's clumsy. He just learned to ride his bike and I hope this improves his strength.

He is completing third grade math and there are no difficulties in that area. He has uncanny logic skills and an amazing long term memory. He can remember where we sat in a restaurant a year ago. He enjoys puzzles and doing things with his hands. He always surprises us because his language is very simple but his throughts are complex. He is a very bright, intuitive child who appears much younger than he is because of his small stature, speech and his extremely sunny and pleasant demeanor.

The evaluation from the school gave him a verbal IQ of 78 and a performance IQ of 117. The diagnosis was auditory processing dysfunction but a visit to NAU's auditory health clinic proved that he does not have this disorder.

I am considering enrolling him in a small rural school. His teacher would be a highly trained reading specialist and his class will have no more than 10 kids across K-3rd grade levels. I am beginning to feel that I cannot meet his needs and it is very stressful to me.

So I guess what I want to know is: is this familiar to anyone? Does it model any learning disabilities that you have seen? Is there something that I can use to help him?

Does making him practice writing do him harm? Can he improve these skills? He forgets what he reads as he struggles through the text.

I would have him re-tested by a neuropsychologist across all domains to find out where his issues are. The gap between his verbal and performance show there is definitely some serious LDs going on. Getting things sorted out may help you find the proper therapies to help him succeed.

scifinut mom to: ms 16, bp/adhd/anxiety/complex ld mr. 20, add/dyslexic I hear and I forget I see and I remember I do and I understand. -Anonymous

I answered about improving handwriting, in detail, on the other board.

Keep working on that handwriting (a little bit, daily) - I taught for five years at a college-preparatory school for studnets with learning disabilities, and handwriting was part of everybody's program. With regular, "easy" practice, it improved... appropriate practice will do that ;-)

I would be willing to bet (at least 50 cents :-)) that the verbal IQ score is depressed by auditory processing issues (I'm thinking there are language processing issues that aren't really 'hearing' related, but are deeper int he brain); that if the test were given in a way other than orally, he'd be stronger in his abilities to manipulate ideas in language and would score at least in the 90's. It sounds like he's *very* capable of working in abstract areas... but doesn't have the language to communicate. HOWEVER, if he doesn't get the language, the ideas will be stifled. Engage him in lots of language - some parents do things like make their kids write notes about stuff, and even when you know what he means, encourage him to express it clearly so *anybody* would understand.

I worked with a couple of students with this kind of profile. It helped me to think of words as sort of a second language and visual information as the absolute best way to communicate (which is the opposite of how I think), so I would *always* try to have a visual to go with what I was doing. ( If you go to http://www.resourceroom.net/vocabulary2005 you'll find some of what I'm talking about - and feel free to use any or all of it if you'd like).

"Reasoning and Reading" by Joanne Carlisle is an excellent resource for teaching language and comprehension. She has exercises either as a whole book or workbooks; what we did was have the workbook and then make up a **ton** of practice modeled after them because our guys just needed more practice than that. (There are some other examples in the reading comrehension section of my site - the link's in my signature at the bottom of the message).

He's very fortunate to have a mom who understands how some hard work (for both of you) can make a big difference ;-)

Sue J, webmastress www.resourceroom.net

Your medical insurance would probably cover an occupational therapy evaluation and a speech/language evaluation by a speech pathologist. Find the best ones in your area, then call their clinics to ask about insurance coverage. They handle insurance companies all the time and will probably be able to tell you exactly how a referral needs to be worded or coded. Once you know this, you can go to your GP or pediatrician to request the referral. (If, for some reason, you don't get the referrals I would change doctors.)

Nancy