I found an article that describes a lot of the difficulties my son had the only year he was in public school. I wish I could make all the elementary school teachers at our public school read it. I wish I could make them understand that children with dysgraphia need patience and understanding and occupational therapy while they are still young enough for it to do some good and it should not be denied just because they are too smart to be at a point where they are failing. People should not have to homeschool their twice exceptional children in order for their child to get an appropriate education. The primary care physicians who are responsible for referring kids to specialists should also read it. I wanted help for my son and could not get it and now he is 12.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/378729/8_signs_your_child_has_dysgraphia_pg3.html?cat=2

At least my son can compensate for the handwriting disability by typing or answering questions orally because we are able to homeschool. He recently started writing his own blog. He sometimes answers questions on answers.yahoo.com and his answers are often rated best answer.

I just don't understand why teachers are not required to learn about disabilities. I want so badly to say something or do something that will help fix this problem in our school. My son is in a musical theater group with the daughter of the special ed director who years ago said it would be too difficult to accommodate my son's learning differences--the reading at 5th grade level in kindergarten, preferring to do mental math without manipulatives or having to write, and absolute hatred of coloring in the lines. I would like to talk to the special ed director's wife who teaches pre-K at the school and definitely the Kindergarten teacher who wanted him to go to a transitional first grade so he would have lots of time to practice coloring in the lines. She thought it would be okay for him to wait another year before going on to first grade because he didn't really need to learn anything since he already read well and could do math. While the teacher was recommending holding him back, I had him tested to see if he could test out of first grade. He almost tested out of first grade but didn't quite make the 90% required to skip the grade. I believe the disability kept my son from making the 90% on the test to skip first grade. They asked him to do some writing and he told them he couldn't write very well. The tester recommended homeschooling, just like the principal and the first grade teacher and mom of gifted sons who I asked for advice. I did talk to the state gifted coordinator and the state special ed department and they told me there was nothing they could do for my son because of the way the laws were written.

At the same time all this was going on, my husband was being treated for cancer and my mother had suddenly become disabled and my dad needed me to help watch her sometimes. I was overwhelmed and just needed a little help and it wasn't there. The only help I got was from people on message boards. Just hearing stories that made me feel like I wasn't the only one going through the problems with the schools helped a lot.

I would feel really bad if I found out another child like my son went into that school and had the same experience and I didn't say anything or do anything to try to change it. I just wish I knew what to do.

I am thankful that my son was finally referred to a neurologist for his migraine headaches. I am thankful that the neurologist actually listened to us and he also finds it strange that my son has dyspraxia but he does not look uncoordinated when he dances in musical theater until the hypotonia and low endurance kick in or when he has a headache. I am going to ask him about the visual differences my son has--the difficulty with seeing size differences--like clock hands, angles, size differences in nickles and quarters that require that he look closely to identify them, yet also the ability to count change easily by the time he started kindergarten because he found ways to compensate. Gifted learners can be gifted at compensating. I hope the neurologist is gifted enough to help us.