"Because he can write legibly if he does it slowly I am not sure my son still has dysgraphia."
Lori, This has been the issue I have had with my son,11. When he was diagnosed with dysgraphia at 9 I was confused because his handwriting is not messy; he's just slow and "refuses" to write. He says it's hard, but when I ask him why he reverts to "I don't know." At the time of the diagnosis the psychologist said that dysgraphia is not always just handwriting. It is something in the process of getting the words to the paper. Now going back and looking at the report from 2 years ago it makes more sense to me, but I haven't found literature to explain this aspect of dysgraphia. The paragaph my son wrote yesterday about the myth of the contellation Cancer, was what I would consider 2nd grade level (except with good spelling). If I ask him to tell me the story he can go on in great detail, as I'm sure you can imagine. So, it doesn't seem to involve short term memory, he just doesn't write. Does this ring true with you?
BTW - I think if YOU tell your son to try harder, that's different than a teacher telling a parent that the child is not trying hard. How does she know how hard something is for him? I do try to say things like, just keep focusing a little longer, or don't stop trying yet, to acknowledge that there is and has been effort.
