This topic is hitting home for my third grade son and I need help in getting him the right tests to figure out what's going on.
He's bright (though his fifth grade brother is extremely gifted) and strong at math. This year his handwriting and spelling has regressed. The descriptions of dysgraphia and/or stealth dyslexia seem to fit what I have observed.
He was in speech therapy through first grade -- but 'graduated' at minimal aided levels when the school district had cut backs. His current teacher just had him observed by the school speech therapist but because he is bright, won't be considered for further speech testing.
In today's parent teacher conference the teacher and I started putting together a lot of the issues that have come up this year, including regression in handwriting to almost illegible, with basic spelling mistakes and very short answers. Even his math has hasty mistakes and illegible numbers. Rewriting assignments doesn't make it better. The other concern is missing assignments or not handing in his work, which I first thought was an issue of taking responsibility.
Then we started combining these issues with his toe walking (he still walks on his toes but not as pronounced), bites on his collar and doesn't realize he is, speech issues, and his wanting Mommy to read more at bedtime rather than him reading. While he does well at reading, he has always been reluctant to read and prefers books with lots of pictures. He is also not recording/taking the classroom tests for the books he is reading. When little he did have problems with backwards letters/numbers. Because he is bright I think he has been able to cover up any issues.
Something is going on and I would love any advice on how to handle this with the school district or getting our own testing done. Thank you in advance for any insight.
