Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment best way to tackle dyslexia

Hi Sue,

I'm not a professional, so can only speak from my personal experience parenting one dysgraphic child and one dyslexic child, but here are a few thought for you that might help -


Dysgraphia is not just about fine motor ability, it's a neurological issue related to connections the brain which make the act of developing automaticity of handwriting a challenge. Many dysgraphic people are great artists - my ds is able to draw *amazingly* well - he was drawing pictures that made adults gasp when he was only 3-5 years old. There are, however, fundamental differences between the act of drawing and the act of handwriting. When you draw, you leave your pencil on the paper most of the time and lines connect/etc; when you use handwriting you are constantly having to pick up your pencil and put it down in another location. More significantly, when you draw you are creating as you go, but when you use handwriting you are putting a specific symbol on paper that - in order to be fluent - you have to have developed an automaticity of muscle/brain memory that allows your fingers to "know" what they are drawing without having to think about it. My dysgraphic ds will tell you - he has to think about how he forms his letters, even now, at almost 15 years old.



I think you'll find a lot of us 2e parents will have a lot of empathy with you here! And just my experience, but with some kids it's a lot tougher detangling the puzzle than it is with others - for instance, even though he is severely challenged, my dysgraphic ds' challenges are, for the most part, fairly straightforward. My dyslexic dd, otoh, soooo totally not straightforward or easy to know which direction to go re remediation etc. This may not sound helpful… but fwiw, *understanding* is just one part of the challenge - the other part (for parents) is advocating and making decisions re which way to go re accommodations etc. What I've found is that it's a journey - you won't have all the answers up front, but you do your best to understand what you do know from testing, observing your child, looking closely at academic work and classroom experiences, and even your gut feelings. Then you make a plan, accommodate/remediate/etc, and then somewhere along the way you'll make progress and that may yield yet another clue which yields another adjustment in the remediation/accommodation/etc plan. It can all seem incredibly confusing at first, but you'll see your understanding and clarity grow as you move forward.


What I've found after receiving those final reports was that I then had more questions - so for me, I found it really helpful to schedule both a follow-up interview with the person who did the testing (for us, this was included in our "package", and then schedule another extra follow-up for a month or so later, after I'd had time to take ds/dd home, get back into our routine, try a few things out, and really have time to think through what was in the report. Once I'd done that, I always had 100+ more questions to ask, and by making an appointment and actually going in to see the tester and ask the questions in person led to a much more thorough and helpful discussion than trying to ask them via email would have accomplished.


How much longer do you have to wait for the report? Have you asked for informal accommodations at school while you are waiting? What kinds of things are going badly at school at the moment - if you list a few, we can try to brainstorm to help you come up with strategies you can use until you get your report.

Best wishes,

polarbear