I'd only read your OP when I responded, and just now saw this too. So here are a few more rambling thoughts from me
He never really tells stories. He can recount things that happen very well verbally.
This sounds very much like my ds. My ds also didn't do the type of creative/imaginary play my dds did when they were young - he spent most of his time building things or reading or observing.
Look at your ds' writing assignments at school - chances are that he's being asked to write things he hasn't directly experienced - which is much different than recounting things that have happened.
OTOH, a large difference in what a student will be able to descrive verbally vs on paper is also an indication of potential dysgraphia - in that instance, you can see a difference with the same *type* of writing request. But comparing a writing assignment on paper that is something like "write a story about an apple" vs telling verbally "what did you see happen in the science experiment" are two different types of expressive language skills, so the difference isn't necessarily pen-to-paper vs verbal, it's more likely in knowing how to deal with the open-ended assignment, which is where my ds' challenge is.
His teacher last year commented on how it was frustrating for her because he was so eloquent when she talked to him, yet you would never know it by reading his papers.
I just have to add a snide comment here (directed at the teachers remark, and and please know, I'm not a snide rude person, this just hits a very tender spot in my heart!) - yes, I'm sure it was frustrating for his teacher - but imagine how much more frustrating it was for *him*!
He does build and do art with original content sometimes, he especially loves coming up with intricately drawn paper and pencil games, although he does go for long periods where he doesn't because he can't think of anything.
Again, this sounds very *very* similar to my ds. It's probably worth mentioning here that drawing is a very different skill than handwriting, fwiw.
I've never thought of him as a perfectionist, because he doesn't necessarily care if something he's doing or making turns out perfectly or not.
Difficulty putting thoughts onto paper can *look* like perfectionism, and it's easy to think that there is perfectionism present due to gifted abilities - perfectionism is listed as a trait of highly gifted kids so often it's an easy thing to reason is going on. We thought perfectionism was the difficulty our ds was having when he first started struggling in school, and how I wish we could go back and realize sooner that it wasn't that at all!
However, he has always been very hesitant or just refused to try new things he wasn't sure he could do well.
This is a typical thing (imo) for children who have some type of challenge. H'es experienced situations where he just *can't* do something, and it feels either frustrating or discouraging or whatever, so in turn he's hesitant to try other things that are new. We saw this in our ds a lot when he was in elementary school and we were working through getting accommodations in place and helping him with his challenges and trying to understand everything that was going on. Once we understood his challenges, had his accommodtions in place, and he'd had the experience of both understanding why things were hard for him and also experienced some successes with his writing - the hesitancy to try other new things disappeared. That took quite a few years though!
He also hates putting a lot of effort into things when they don't come easily. He does have a very hard time with decisions.
He's still very young. Quite a few of us adults don't enjoy doing things that don't come easily. Re the difficult time with decisions, my ds experiences this too. I think part of it is just being human, part of it is related to his challenges with expressive language, and part of it is a tiny bit of worries due to having experienced challenges in his life - ie, he has lack of confidence that he'll be able to do whatever it is successfully so can't make up his mind. Or predicts that whatever decision he makes will lead to something not working out - which had been his experience in school when he was younger. This too has gotten much better as he's matured and we've been able to understand and accommodate for his challenges.
Even when he has a topic to write about, he has such a hard time coming up with anything. He went for many writing periods last year (grade 3) not getting a single sentence down on paper.
TOTALLY completely sounds like my ds.
polarbear
