I had some more questions, if anyone's willing/able to answer.
I can start a new thread if necessary but I'm hoping to keep at least some things in one place
If we were to get OT treatments, would that negate the ability to diagnose dysgraphia? Is the SLP able to give diagnoses before treatment (if anything is present), or do they just recommend specific treatments without a diagnosis, just treating symptoms present?
No, although if therapy were intense and over a long period before testing, it might muddy the Dx a little bit. Yes, and also yes. SLPs can Dx communication disorders, and they can also recommend therapies without a Dx.
I'm not even sure how dysgraphia and dyslexia are diagnosed. Is it based on the scores from the testing he already had (as in, if it were present it would be numerically shown or otherwise diagnosed?)? If so, are the numbers relative to IQ or other testing results or absolute cutoffs (less than 70 on a subtest for example means a LD is found, etc)?
Yes. And some more. Yes, they are relative to cognition, but yes, some school systems use absolute cutoffs instead.
Is it diagnosed on how he is working during the testing (observations)? Or is it more comprehensive, taking into account multiple subsets during testing, multiple observations, etc?
Yes, and yes, ideally, but again, some practitioners stick strictly to test scores, although that is not best practice.
I don't want to delay treatments that will help him. But if we don't have an official diagnosis before starting treatment, and his symptoms improve and he never gets a diagnosis, then we still have an issue as far as accommodations. Does that make sense?
I don't want to delay accommodations if necessary, but if it's months before testing is accomplished I don't want to ignore treatments this whole time if I can start them sooner.
I don't think his profile will shift so much that the deficits become unclear, if you remediate for a couple of months before testing. If you have the therapist (or yourself, if you are doing home remediation) take repeated measures, documenting his baseline and weekly progress over the period of remediation prior to testing, you will have collected some good response to intervention data that should be included in the formal testing results.
