Thank you, seth! I really appreciate your thorough reply!
What is "low efficiency" an indication of? Is it related to processing speed or a measure of how she handles input?
I hadn't quite realized the breadth of difference between her oral comprehension and text comprehension. Thank you for pointing it out. As for IRL observation, I'd say I've been slightly confused by the slowness which which she learned to read for two reasons: 1. Her pre reading skills were always way ahead of standard developmental markers, and 2. She was always interested in books as a toddler - carrying them around, asking to be read to. It seemed like a natural interest that would take off early or at least once she started deciding given her intelligence. Until last summer when she turned six, I was just telling myself that the normal range to learn to read was 4-7 and that she was right in the pocket so no worries. Also that neurologists considered learning to read developmental, like night time toilet training and many posts in these forums talked about gifted kids who were late readers so I figured she was just in that catagory. She did write some letters and numbers backwards which I was told was normal for a 5-6 year old and that it would get better as she learned to read.
Jump ahead a year and she is reading "on grade level" but her 1st grade teacher said she lacked "fluency" at her assessed level. She continues to write the same letters and numbers backwards with regularity even though we've been working on those for two years. She can catch them sometimes afterwards but not always. When reading with her this spring, I noticed that she would read some words backwards like saw for was, or transpose letters like reading left for felt. She would also substitute a word that she knew fit the context of the book or sentence when she got fatigued and hit an unfamiliar word she was too tired to decide. That, in addition to reading some "b"s for "d"s and "n"s for "u"s. This is one of the reasons I requested and evaluation. Unfortunately, in the conclusion of the report, they note that she writes some letters backwards but that this is still developmentally normal at 7 and they don't think it's a learning disability. They also noted that they consider dyslexia a reading disorder not a learning disability. I don't know if she is dyslexic but these seems like they maybe markers of the condition and I'd like a more thorough evaluation of that. I've spoke to five parents in my neighborhood with older children (9/10yrs) who are dyslexic and the DOE missed it when testing them at 7. All of them got private tests done but with a cost of about $6,000 which would be extremely difficult for us to afford.
As for her handwriting, I'm not sure how to judge it but she has difficulty staying consistent with the height of her letters and will often cram words together, not leaving space between although she is very aware that she is supposed to. She was teaching a little friend who just entered kindergarten how to write a sentence today and she very carefully explained how to leave space. She just can't really do it herself. She has also started to display some real anxiety when required to write a sentence and wants to be as brief as possible. Whereas her vocal expressions has always invloved long complex sentences with advanced vocabulary, she tries to formulate the shortest possible sentence to write, sometimes leaving out articles and even nouns to the point that it's not a full sentence. When encouraged to write a full sentence, not even a long one, she can melt down.
Spelling is hard for me to assess because her school follows the Teacher's College at Columbia writers workshop method of letting the kids do phonetic spelling from kindergarten onwards, gradually starting to correct spelling in late second and third grade. The idea seems to be to not inhibit their expression and get them to enjoy writing and creative storytelling without the burden of having to be "right". That said, her words do make sense phonetically, I.e. usually, all of the sounds in the word are represented in what she writes, even if the correct letter isn't there.
I will definitely look more closely at potential ADHD or ADD. Sustained attention is certainly difficult for her. I'm guessing the DOE did not find that since the end of the report said they found no learning disorders. Can I ask them on Friday to do an assessment specifically for that or would the psychoeducational evaluation have covered it?
Thank you for your insights! I appreciate your list of possible actions to take and will address them in our meeting on Friday. You've been very helpful!
