Thank you both for the response. I'm on an iPhone so forgive typos.
The heart of the issue is exactly what was asked .."What are we remediating for?" Is there or is t there a problem? His remediation has been for:
Written Expression and Reading. There were some specific issues observed and those are no longer present. Ill detail at the bottom in case anyone has experience/expertise that helps me.
But to address the suggestion to nail down the LD...that has been my quest this year. We have had everything evaluated that I know to do....speech therapist did all her tests (and laughed at us for even testing his phonic and language skills), OT and PT did theirs (and say he is bordeline for dyspraxia and dysgraphia), reading specialist did hers and neuro psych looked at results and told me I have enough here to diagnose minor case of dysgraphia and possibly dyspraxia...And she'd do it on discrepency model but she'd rather my ed pysch diagnose as neuropsych has never seen Iq scores as high as my sons and she wouldn't know where to tease out LD and compensation. Pediatrician is happy to diagnose just based on what I tell her
I haven't had her write it up as I dont want the labels if they won't be of help...school says no impact on education not even a 504 would be valid. Ed psych doesn't want to diagnose anything yet even though she suggests some LD is present based on his demeanor during achievement...she says he is too young and PG kids are so asynchronous and many a times have slower to develop processing speeds. I hear by middle school things should be real clear if a problem exists or perhaps even third grade. She is baffled how all achievements were around same level and no further tests show a breakdown or glitch in his processing.
So I could and one might argue should wait longer but a skip would be easier socially and emotionally now...and I still have an issue with his lack of exposure to hard work and how that is shaping his work habits.
He loves reading now and enjoys math but prefers to discuss and work on less process oriented tasks and more conceptual ones. This my be a product of how ritualistic and process heavy early grade education is.
We provide enrichment best we can while managing everything parents manage plus two demanding careers. We will continue with tutor and OT until every person agrees it is moot. My son enjoys it.
Detail as to his struggles and progress in case of any insight as to his underachievement:
Reading- last year when faced with an unfamiliar word he guessed based on context and clues. He was good at it but not fluent. He now decodes with fluency of 145 wpm so clearly automatic now. He originally tested with only small phonic gaps (dipthongs, bossy Rs, some short vowel combos). Once he was taught those phonic rules his reading soared. He read Harry Potter this year with barely an error. He is even decoding nes better (though still his weakness). So I can't see a current reading issue. Nor can his teachers. We can just say we all expected a child with VCI of 166 would be doing this at 5 not 7. Was time the answer and something clicked? Was there a gap that the expressed phonic rules closed? Did he just have a more unusual reading progression and decoding slowed him down this he guessed for efficiency? I may never know.
Handwriting- he is a preemie and fine motor skills are weaker. He had issues cutting. He never drew until his fours. He has poor grip, and is a slow writer. His circles still show a shakiness and he breaks lead often as he presses hard to compensate. He did have some spacing challenges a year ago. After using the finger rule enough he doesn't crowd anymore. He has strong grammar and spelling is much stronger now that he has the phonic rules. He was very resistant to writing in part due to the pain it caused his hands but also he hated not knowing how to spell the words. He is much more confident and his writing exercises at school usually are 2 full pages long and neat. His spontaneous writing in unlined boxes where he is working fast are messy. So I know he is compensating and working hard at writing but he is now able to forge ahead and show what he thinks and knows.
