Okay, I guess I need to start my own thread rather than hi-jacking perplexed 's thread...
If any of you remember a year ago I was fretting over my then DD17 and her writing issues (she desperately wanted to go to a certain college, but despite articulating beautifully all of the things that she would say in her application essay, months went by with no essay forthcoming. At that point I finally realized there had been a pattern in her previous school failures that involved failure to produce written work. Until that point, I had believed that my DD's issues at school were related to a combination of lack of challenge and an unwillingness to do busywork). That revelation led me to this forum, which led me to get a Psycho-educational evaluation which resulted in a diagnosis of ADD inattentive, PDD-NOS and situational depression.
Fast forward, my DD pulled the application essays together in one siting last December, was accepted to her dream college in January, was diagnosed in February and put on ADD meds (which she said really helped with her thinking), and now here we are 2 weeks til the end of her first semester and...TWO MISSING writing assignments which, if not produced by the last day, will prevent her from returning for the spring! AAAAHHAHAHHHHHHHHHRRRRGGGGGGG!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo!
Okay, so now I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this has nothing to do with lack of interest or desire. She LOVES the school, has real friends and true peers for the first time ever, the sparkle of life and joy has returned to her eyes and she is really, really happy for the first time in years....
So what is going on? And more importantly how do I stop this slow motion train wreck? She has 2 weeks to write two papers...I see a 50% chance of her pulling it out of the bag on her own like she did last year with the application essays, but it seems like the only way she can write is if her entire essay is so fixed in her head that she can produce it on paper without having to think about the substance while working on the form. I thought the ADD meds were supposed to make that happen more easily but... not so much :-(
I know the school is already working with her by giving her til the end of the semester to turn in the missing work, but I think they see it as purely a matter of will and the maturity to ask for help (and by help, they are looking at it purely as writer's block and the help offered is geared to just that).
I have been reading about dislexia and disgraphia and so many of these traits resonate: Even at 18, my DD still can not tell left from right, she has huge trouble tying her shoes, can not hold her pencil without a queer death grip, has no sense of spacing letters and words on a handwritten page, types reasonably quickly - but with so many errors and correcting every other word as she goes so she might as well type very slowly, she can articulate beautifully but seems to have extreme difficulty getting those ideas onto paper. She will not ask for or accept help and it seems she would rather fail and lose everything than turn something in that she feels is inferior or not up to par with what she has in her head.
After reading all of this, I contacted the diagnostician and asked if she felt that disgraphia and dislexia had been ruled out and she said she did not see anything that would have led her to think of dislexia/disgraphia. I specifically reminded her of the fact that my dd froze up and started shaking when it came to the writing portion of the test and she said it was just anxiety. I asked about the pencil grip and she seemed to think that was irrelevant.
I guess, I don't care so much about an official diagnosis at this point as finding the correct root of and the best solution to the problem. Although maybe it would help (if God forbid the need arises) with petitioning the school to let her finish the missing essays over the break and return for spring, if she were to get a new diagnosis that would show that it this is not a matter of poor work ethic or lack of will and more importantly would show that we are working on a workable solution going forward.
so far I have purchased a little recorder so my DD could catch her thoughts on the fly and save them, and I bought Dragon II naturally speaking (which I think should be the solution, but she got so frustrated trying to set it up last summer that it never went anywhere. I will work with her to try getting it set up again when she gets home). I also offered to pay someone to be her personal scribe - interview her and type up her ideas and then let her polish them off, I think this would be reasonable accommodation, but I am not there to find this scribe and I don't see her having the guts or humility to approach someone for the job.
Any ideas? Help, prayers and sympathy are most welcome!!! Anyone on her live in MD and want to be a scribe :-)?
