DD is in third grade and has combined type ADHD. Her fine motor skills and writing fluency aren't the greatest. On the WJ achievement she scored an 89 for writing fluency, 100 for handwriting, 115 or 120 for writing samples, and maybe 112 for spelling. I don't remember the exact numbers. She was a lot higher for reading and math. The psych who assessed her said she doesn't have dysgraphia since none of those numbers are below the average range. I still don't have a report. I don't know if I agree since her IQ is so high and there is a large discrepancy.
Does anyone have experience with WJ achievement scores being average but there still being dysgraphia or "disorder of written expression"? In my state a child can get an IEP for learning disabilities if there is a 1.75 standard deviation between their IQ and achievement scores, but it's really just handwriting and writing fluency where we would see a gap that large. Her overall writing score wouldn't be a big enough gap (although I don't have a Broad Writing Score, I'm just making a guess).
DD now has a long term sub who is going to be there the rest of the year. The sub has been complaining about her and said that for writing in the morning she will write 2 sentences and the other kids write 1-2 pages. The teacher will tell them to write about a certain topic or put a "starter sentence" on the board along with an ending sentence. DD says that she has no idea what to write or how to construct a story that makes any sense with a prescribed starting and ending. She thinks it will be dumb, so simply does not do anything at all. She thinks she would do better typing but is scared to ask the teacher. I have mentioned it a couple times in emails that DD would probably do better typing, and those comments were dismissed.
DD seems to have the hardest time with fictional stories. This doesn't really surprise me since she has never really played "pretend" so why would she be able to write pretend. I think she has a really hard time organizing her thoughts. Is there a graphic organizer of some sort that could help her construct a fictional story that has to start and end with certain sentences? I see graphic organizers but they mostly have to do with essays, research papers, and that sort of thing. Not creative writing. She's creative but it comes out in different ways, like things that she constructs or how she solves problems. She has a somewhat large gap between non-verbal and verbal IQ and is probably a visual-spatial thinker.
Dh talked to the writing teacher she has in the afternoon and he thinks she's pretty average in terms of writing, but her verbal answers to questions are superior to most of the other kids. He sees her as being slow but a deep thinker. I don't think she's as bad in his class (maybe because her meds are kicked in by that time). But he said that she does often struggle to get started on things or figure out what to write about.
