So the Woodcock-Johnson test doesn't require any writing? Our doctor was planning to use the WIAT again. We had a writing subtest separate from math and reading, but I think in the versions for older children, the writing is mixed in. For example, my guess is that children are timed when writing math problems. I could be wrong though. Can anyone chime in on this?
I think WJ-III requires some writing, but most of it is not timed. DD9 is doing better and better with writing, but there is still a profound mismatch between her ability to answer questions verbally and her ability to answer them in writing. The tester did comment that it was great that she tried to write down some of her work as she was solving some of the harder problems, instead of holding it all in her memory and just writing down a final answer.
My understanding is that academic testing is used to diagnose dysgraphia, so if a child scores high in writing, then he/she clearly doesn't have dysgraphia. My son was diagnosed because most scores were very high except when writing was required. Various motor tests and his developmental history back up the diagnosis. Was your child diagnosed the same way? Does she have an IEP?
She does not have an IEP, because her achievement level is too high. She does have a 504 plan for SPD and "emotional volatility." She was diagnosed mostly on the mismatch between the timed written sections of the WISC-III and the untimed sections, I think.
I would have to go back and dig out the report to check on that.
Has Davidson's been helpful for you?
We haven't done a lot with Davidson yet - she only joined in September. But I'm really glad that she did, because it has put us in contact with some wonderful peers for her. You would think that she would have been able to find friends in the highly-gifted public school program that she's in, but in fact, she was more comfortable with the Davidson girls after ten minutes than she is with classmates she's known for eighteen months. (And we felt the same way about their parents!) DH and I have had one very useful phone call with the Davidson folks about her 504 plan, which is still really a work in progress. They're not a panacea, but they're definitely helpful.
