Are there other tests I should request?
On the WISC-V, he had 39 point spread between VCI and PSI (so 2.5 sd), but PSI is still average. Noted as very uncommon profile (5% of children). He also had a very unusual profile on Beery VMI - low average for integration, but very high for visual perception. He has 99% on all standardized tests (cogat and nwea) but Wiat-III showed average on all reading and writing. Oral and math were above average. Wiat had 2.5 sd spread between listening comprehension and essay composition and 1.5 sd spread between reading comprehension and essay composition.
He does not have issues with fine-motor skills, and draws all the time (which school suggested meant that it couldn't be dsygraphia).
This is completely incorrect. Dysgraphia does *not* mean a person can't draw - many dysgraphics, including my ds, are actually quite talented at drawing. Dysgraphia is related to the development of automaticity of skills, which means a child who is dysgraphic doesn't develop the automaticity associated with forming letters and numbers. Drawing is a very different skill - your pencil doesn't leave the paper often; when you draw you are usually creating as you go rather than having to regurgitate a letter or number that is supposed to look like something specific and be made a specific way. From what I've seen of artists working, a person can draw without the same type of pencil grip used for writing, and holding their hand differently too. I would suggest reading through an online listing of dysgraphia symptoms and seeing which apply to your ds (awkard pencil grip, holding wrist because it hurts, appearance of letters, spacing on paper etc - I won't try to list everything hear because you can find the lists easily online).
But he talks very fast and there is agreement that his mind moves even faster - so explaining the ideas and getting them on paper are clearly challenging. In classwork and homework, it is rare for him to write more than 1 sentence, unless he is strongly supported by teacher or myself.
This could be dysgraphia, or it could be an expressive language disorder. My ds has both, and it wasn't clear that he had the added layer of expressive language disorder until we'd gone through the process of giving him accommodations for his dysgraphia - scribing, keyboarding etc. It sounds like the school is on the right track with recommending accommodations for handwriting (I think that's what you are referring to above?). One thing you could do at home to get a bit of an understanding re is it dysgraphia or is it an expressive language disorder is to ask him to "write" while you scribe. Pick something that is similar to the type of writing assignments he struggles with at school. If his words flow at a much faster rate when he uses you as a scribe, then chances are it's just dysgraphia. If he still struggles with knowing what to say/"write" then it might be an expressive language disorder, and it might be helpful to have a speech language evaluation that covers expressive language and written expression (if he hasn't had one already)
Is TOWL a good supplement to WIAT to assess writing level more specifically?
I'm not familiar with the WIAT so I can't give you a comparison of TOWL vs WIAT, but the TOWL was very useful for us in showing issues related to ds' expressive language disorder as it relates to written expression. The TOWL has also been useful in demonstrating how dysgraphia impacts ds' handwriting, including the speed and issues with punctuation, grammar etc.
I'm sorry I can't help with the WISC-V scores, as I'm not familiar with it.
On the Beery VMI
Visual Motor Integration - 87 standard score, 7 scaled, 19%
Visual perception - 120, 14, 91%
Motor coordination - 99, 10, 47%[quote]
I don't have my ds' Beery VMI results in front of me at the moment, but that's a fairly wide spread. My ds had a large spread too, I just can't remember if his motor coordination was around average (as your ds' is) or if it was really low. I *think* the key was the spread, not the absolute value of the score on motor integration. DS's neuropsych administered another that helped tease out that ds' dysgraphia was motor-skills related: a finger-tapping test that was a subset of the NEPSY.
[quote]wiat-III. (Side note: I can't figure out how his reading can be lower than his writing
I'm not familiar with specific WIAT subtests, but keep in mind that these types of achievement tests test a very specific - and limited - skill set in each subtest. Chances re the variations between reading and writing are extremely skill-related, and it's possible that a subtest score might be impacted more by a skill that is a challenge for your ds than the actual skill being tested. For instance, if your ds is struggling with handwriting, and has to either write an answer or draw a circle etc you might find that subtest took him much longer than it would have a neurotypical student, and your ds' overall score will be depressed because of it.
Am I off-base to think dsygraphia?
I don't think you're off base to think dysgraphia, but I also don't think you should over-worry about whether or not the school uses the term "dysgraphia" - our school district doesn't use either of the terms "dysgraphia" or "dyslexia". The important thing is to keep watching closely as the school adds accommodations and pay close attention to whether or not the accommodations are helping or if there is something more that he needs. Even when you have a specific diagnosis, putting accommodations into place and seeing how they work is a journey, not a one-step process. I definitely think it's worth doing a bit of your own research into what is dysgraphia and thinking through whether or not it fits your ds, and if it does, make a game plan for accommodations etc (yourself) based on that.
I hope some of what I had to say makes sense - I kept getting interrupted while I tried to reply!
Best wishes,
polarbear
