I told my son that we needed something in writing so that he could get testing accommodations for his mild fine motor issues because I knew it affected his speed on timed tests. We homeschool and I told him I wanted to make sure his disabilities didn't cause him to get a lower score on the ACT or SAT. He knows that he will need a high score so he can get into a good college because he won't have grades from a traditional school.
When he told me he wasn't sure he wanted to ask for accommodations, I told him testing would still be a good idea just in case something happened to me and he had to go back to school so he would be allowed to type his assignments.
I also wanted to know if it was really motor dyspraxia like the developmental pediatrician said it was when he was 7. The doctor didn't put a diagnosis on paper so he couldn't get therapy because he couldn't get therapy for just hypotonia. I thought we both needed to find out if it could have been his difficult birth that caused his difficulties or if it was possibly something else. I really thought we would get more answers than we did.
My son didn't want labels. His was a hidden disability and I think now that he wanted to keep it that way and I took that away from him. He did get the feeling that there was something wrong with him. I think it was unavoidable in our case. He really liked neuroscience and had read a lot about it so we talked about the results of the test and how it confirmed the verbal giftedness but also that he dysgraphia caused by the motor dyspraxia and that it is considered a learning disability. All of his life people have told him they think he must have a really high IQ and now he has been labeled with a "learning disability" when he knows he didn't have any trouble learning, it was just trouble getting his body to do what he wanted it to. I don't know if I made the right decision to have him tested.
Ever since my son was tested, I have been finding articles about twice exceptional people who were very successful in life. I often point out how much better his writing is than his friends who are in college. We see their posts on Facebook. I keep telling him that his difficulty is not going to cause him that much trouble if he just lets people know he does have a disability when he needs to.
I also wanted another opinion about Aspergers because I have had people tell me they thought he must have it because of the early reading and his ability to talk like a professor when he was really young, but this doctor also said my son does not have it.
