From Black Cat: does she have issues with motor skills?

- No, she is doing well there. Her fine motor skills are fantastic when she is drawing (strong skill). I asked about this since her writing is so bad, and the psych. said this isn't unusual. I just got back all her homework for the whole year, and I found that actually a lot of her handwriting wasn't so bad. It's just her journaling and such that is terrible. It seems situational.

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From Indigo:
When asking her to brush her teeth or feed the fish, have you tried adding an element of body language? Also have you used her name at the beginning of speaking to her, and tried asking her to repeat back to you what she will be doing? Have you tried singing the to-do items? These strategies may help engage other parts of her brain which may help her compensate. This may help her create mental check-lists.

-All good ideas. I have to frame them so they don’t come across as “baby ideas” to her. She seems defensive about some of my ideas. I told her about how in art school we all had ridiculous ways we remembered facts about artists, and she thought that was not helpful at all. We have tried singing spelling words (which really helps me and the other DD!!), and this one doesn’t always like it. I bet if I get a book about it, it will come across more “professional” vs. a mommy idea!!!

Indigo: Writing and illustrating her own book, possibly with thought bubbles.
- Great idea! She’s a huge writer!!!

DeeDee/Zen Scanner/aeh
You can teach sequencing and organization as skills. Our biggest win, honestly, was the meds, plus addressing issues at school.

- I can’t wait for the psych. to start giving us some tools to use with DD. And I will be sending a letter to the school ASAP for the 504. The school is good about jumping on those 504’s and putting them in place. As I said above, we will see about meds. I have seen them do fantastic things for some kids!!
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Polar Bear: was the focus on testing initially due to obvious signs of needing more advanced work, or due to concerns about behaviors or other issues and learning she was gifted was an unexpected surprise?

- Obvious signs for needing advanced work (and grandmum is an AIG teacher so she had been pushing for it too)

Polar Bear: What helped our ds with organizational skills was providing him with a lot of structure, daily oversight, and repeating repeating repeating until he was ready to do it on his own. It took about two years.

- Reading your method is very helpful. My other DD’s middle name is “organization” so I have been very hands off about homework plus other things are going on that have made it rather crazy around her. It sounds like DH and I will need to become more organized ourselves to help DD.

Polar Bear: This makes me wonder if it's all about ADHD. Was the psych that you saw recently a neuropsych or educational psychologist, or a psych who specifically diagnoses ADHD?

- Well, my husband wonders as well. As stated above he’s leery of this label. And I did look at more of her handwriting, and it’s not all horrible as what I had seen at home.
- The psych. gave the teacher, my husband, and I some survey that screens for ADHD issues, and that is how she made her determination. She was not concerned by the lower scores on the WJ Achievement as the previous tester was. My husband is adamant that DD not get any more testing at the moment. DD is adamant that she not do any more testing at the moment!!
- She was just a general psychologist. As I stated above, she saw my daughter once, me once, then gave me, my husband, and the teacher a survey (I wish I remember which one), and then met with my husband and I to discuss her findings.

Polar Bear:develop a sense of resiliency

- I think this will be the major work of the therapist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Polar Bear: Do you have a sense of what specifically she is angry about or angry at? Is it the actual challenges she has or is it the attention being paid to them at the moment? Is it school, is it home, is it academic challenges, is it just being different - is it being different than peers, than siblings, etc.?

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AEH – will be checking out the book!

Last edited by greenlotus; 08/21/14 09:56 PM.