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A DPT and an OTR/L did a PDMS-2 and a Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration. Here are the highlights: �X was an impulsive boy with a short attention span for activities that he perceived as difficult or challenging. He enjoyed the motor activities and therefore frequently left the table to dive into the ball pit. �

PDMS Gross Motor Quotient = 74 (below average)
Fine Motor Quotient = 94 (average)

Neuromuscular Status: �Low end of Normal�inability to jump forward or down from heights without falling over. Balance and equilibrium appear immature.�

Functional mobility: �Able to ascend stair reciprocally with support of a railing and descend stairs step-to-step.�

Gross Motor Skills: �X�s ball skills appeared weak. Ran instead of galloping.�

Fine Motor/Perceptual Motor/Visual Motor: �Demonstrated bilateral motor coordination (opened and closed jar lids, buttoned and unbuttoned one-inch buttons). X readily completed tasks as means of measuring motor planning abilities.�
�Utilizing his right hand with a pronated fisted grip�difficulty with the directional changes required to produce the square, and rushed when asked to trace along straight and irregular pathways. Was capable of tracing along the pathways when working at a slower pace. Required assistance to grasp and operate the (preschool) scissors. X�s fine motor skills fell within the average range for his chronological age; however, he could use additional practice with drawing shapes and simple pictures, tracing along pathways and mazes, and manipulation of scissors with both arms in a thumbs-up position.�

Beery-Buktenica:
Raw VMI 12
Standard Score 95
Scaled Score 9

"Summary: Active, impulsive boy who needed frequent redirection to task�difficulty with higher level skills that require more balance and coordination. During some of the activities, it was difficult to assess whether or not some of his struggles were vision-related (? depth perception issues). X would benefit from participation in structured gross motor activities that focus on improving his strength, balance, coordination and ball skills. Although X�s fine motor skills are not at the same level as his cognitive abilities, he demonstrated age-appropriate fine motor, perceptual-motor, and visual-motor skills. The skills requiring additional practice and experience can be presented and monitored at school and at home. Since X recognizes that these activities are challenging and less desirable, present them in small does, with emphasis on slowing his pace and accurate production."

Ok, so this whole testing escapade began because X noticed that other kids his age (and his younger sister 2+) could do stuff like hop on one foot, write, draw, and not fall down consistently. From our perspective, X loves physical activity and participates in it regularly, so the suggestions that he just needs exposure to these things is a little silly, because we have been emphasizing the physical. We have been conscious for some time now that he is in need of extra practice with physical tasks. X is quite self-aware; at age 3, he self-reported his wandering eye as �I need a monocle.� He has been very consistent about wearing his glasses and his eye has corrected itself by about a third of the way so far. We plan to get athletic prescription goggles for the summer, but for now, his little band holds his regular glasses on fine while he is active.

The OTR/L gave us a big stack of take-home material and recommended some products to purchase. Our problem is that X doesn�t have a big enough gap in his abilities for the town to devote any resources to addressing it any further; however, it is significant enough to cause X some measure of stress. We are very glad that he does not have a technical disability. To the PPT, this has to become a slightly bigger problem for them to be permitted to care in a professional capacity, although they were quite friendly and supportive, and even recommended private OT centers in the area (off the record, of course). But seriously, how could they give X a written math test??? Quoting the Psychoeducational Evaluation: �X�s visual tracking and graphomotor coordination on timed pencil/paper tasks were significantly below his other cognitive abilities�X used a right-handed palm grasp on his pencil and had weak control when asked to fill in specific marks along lines of shapes. X was accurate in the marks he did complete, but did very few of them within the two-minute time limit.� No kidding that he did very few. To the best of our knowledge, that�s the most writing he�s ever done. Our point is: this might not seem like a disability, but relative to his other functions, it is, and it is really upsetting for him. We have already had several years of his inability to write things down for himself. So we will try to get our insurance to cover some OT stuff this year, but we are still interested in finding out about a math test that could capture his abilities in a non-written, perhaps even untimed (if physical tasks are involved) format. That way, we would feel more confident about Kindergarten meeting his math needs, and then maybe next year we could apply to the Davidson YSP or other programs.