I have been told that she has to be doing below grade level work to qualify for an IEP, and at this point she makes straight As and works above grade level. Even the writing doesn't look below grade level. The issue is the refusal to write and draw.
As Blackcat mentioned, a student does *not* have to be working below grade level to qualify for an IEP, but the purpose of an IEP is to provide individualized instruction that is different from what she is receiving in her classroom - so you have to prove she needs "something different". I'm not sure from what you've posted that she actually would qualify for (or need) an IEP. It sounds like she needs *something* - a proper diagnosis, for one thing (as in, understanding what her challenge with handwriting is based in and how it impacts her academics), and she most likely will need either remediation or accommodations in the classroom and for homework - which should be based on the diagnosis. So... while she may not qualify for an IEP, I'm curious - has she been through an actual IEP eligibility process? (this would include ability vs achievement testing as well as potentially OT and SLP evals etc). OR have you simply been told that she wouldn't qualify and there was no actual evaluation?
At this point her issues have been seen as behavioral (lack of trying/effort).
This can happen so easily to children with some type of LD or challenge that impacts their school performance - when the teachers don't understand, when parents don't really know what's going on, and when the child of course has no idea why they can't write/etc like the other students in class. This is why it is *so* important to do two things - the two things a parent *can* control - first, do everything you can to figure out what the actual diagnosis is. It's incredibly helpful to a child to have an actual name for what's up and to understand what that diagnosis means, to realize it's not simply that they aren't good enough of that the people who are saying they are lazy are really and truly wrong, even though they are adults. The second very important thing to do as a parent is to advocate and let your child *see* that you are standing up for them, supporting them, advocating for them. Even if you get absolutely nowhere, your child sees that you are in their corner, standing up for them - which in turn gives them self-confidence that they can depend on you while at the same time showing them how to speak up and fight for themselves (which they will need to do later when they are older).
But, honestly, the school counselor is very supportive of both my kid and a 504 and will get her the accommodations that she needs under that. I just don't see a need to fight any other battles.
If it's dysgraphia and the only challenge is the physical act of handwriting, it's possible that a 504 plan can include everything your dd will need in terms of accommodations and remediation (learning to type, access to keyboarding, etc). OTOH, I still think it's really important to know for sure - is it dysgraphia? Is it something else? before you can have a good solid plan to proceed with knowing how to accommodate/etc properly. For example, if it's dysgraphia, the chances are good that handwriting will never become automatic and your dd will need to keyboard or use other means of communicating when "writing". In that scenario, you'd want to get her keyboarding asap, and only do very basic handwriting instruction. But what if it isn't dysgraphia, and she *does* have the ability to develop automaticity in her handwriting? Then you'd might want to pursue a one-time high-intensity handwriting program to get her writing neatly. What if the issue is posture or pencil grip etc and that's all it is? Then a few sessions of OT might be what's needed. It's really tough to know *what* to do if you don't fully understand *why* you are doing it (i.e., what's causing the symptoms).
The other reason a full eval might be useful at this point in time is - it's possible there's more to it than dysgraphia or a handwriting challenge. It sounds like there is an outside chance she's having difficulty with word retrieval or written expression (getting her thoughts out or organization of thoughts or something).
She's just starting second grade, and there's just not that much spontaneous writing yet.
Exactly. We ran into this with our ds - he has an expressive language disorder but it was not obvious enough for us to realize it until he was in 4th grade. Partly because the work he was given in school didn't call for open-ended spontaneous writing, partly because he had dysgraphia so we thought the unwillingness to complete writing assignments etc was always due to dysgraphia.
Last night I did the same type of math problems with her that I described above--only instead of having her write, I scribed for her. There was no hesitation. She answered all of the questions quickly, including the blank page question.
Save the examples like this that you do at home - they will be useful in advocating at school.
Ugh. We've been struggling with this for years. In the past the DCD has created social, emotional, and physical problems but we are only now seeing an academic effect. I knew this was coming, but I was hoping it wasn't.
I have to apologize - I tend to forget the details for each person's child when I reply to posts, so I'd forgotten your dd has a DCD diagnosis. Since she's got that diagnosis (so does my ds), I'd consider that's most likely the primary reason she has handwriting challenges, and I'm guessing she'll have difficulty developing automaticity of handwriting due to the DCD. You should absolutely be able to get a 504 that includes accommodations such as scribing and keyboarding based on the DCD diagnosis, as well as observations at school and at home.
How much writing do you guys require your kids to do? Just generally?
My DCD ds does *not* use handwriting at all other than answers at school that require a few words or 1-2 sentences. When he was first diagnosed at the end of 2nd grade we were told to spend the summer teaching him handwriting as one last try at helping him achieve "what he was able to" and to then drop it - forever. We were also told he should start keyboarding right away, practice as much as he could, and in school we should scribe until he was able to keep up with keyboarding. There is one gotcha here - keyboarding is not fast for our ds (due to his DCD, whereas for many children who have dysgraphia but not a DCD diagnosis, keyboarding can become lightning fast). In spite of that, he is still faster keyboarding than with handwriting, and keyboarding results in much better grammar/ punctuation/etc.
I know she needs to start typing, but I don't want her to totally give up on writing while she is so young. She does need to know how and get some practice at it, right?
I have never seen not using handwriting as "giving up". We live in a world where very few people actually use handwriting in their daily lives, so a kid who grows up keyboarding... isn't going to stand out at all as an adult, or even really all that much as a high school student. OTOH, a student who is forced to repeat something over and over that they aren't neurologically equipped to actually accomplish is at risk of developing low self-confidence as well as potentially wasting time that they could be spending developing their areas of strength or just learning something that is interesting and fun.
This all depends on the individual, of course, but fwiw - my ds was not excused from learning cursive writing in school - his whole class practiced for at least 10 minutes per day every single school day for the entire 4th and 5th grades. DS actually had relatively neat-looking cursive writing. Then he had summer vacation after 5th grade. When 6th grade started and an assignment was given out and the class was asked to write in cursive, ds could not remember how to make *any* letter in cursive other than writing his name. He remembered what the letters look like and he can easily read cursive, but he couldn't remember how to "draw" a letter - and that's the key. Neurotypical folks don't have to remember "how" to draw letters every time they make them. Imagine having to figure that out every time you write a letter. Would *you* want to focus on learning something that will never become automatic, or focus your study time on something more productive?
Hope that didn't sound preachy - wasn't intended that way at all!
polarbear
