Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Vision therapist testing

Thank you all for sharing. I am going to go ahead and have her evaluated by the beh. Opt. I read that kids with dyslexia or dysgraphia often can't write the alphabet in order. So I checked. She did write all the letters. She wrote two of them backwards. I also had her write her numbers in order 1to 20 and she didn't skip any. Most numbers were backwards though. She wad concentrating hard on this and demanded silence. She does multiplication and double digit adding in her head and is reading at a 3rd grade level. She is 6 and 5 months and in first grade. She rode a bike at 4. Just learned to tie her shoes but isn't great at it. Picked a dominant hand at five. Writes with her right hand but does sports with her left. She is really good at art but has a bad pencil grip. She doesn't seem to notice the difference between from and form but loves stories so much that she often memorized large chunks of chapter books. She has amazing insight and makes great inferences, but reads a chapter book five times before she considers herself done. She has tracking and converging issues and had done vision therapy and wears glasses for reading. She was put in ocupational therapy at school in k for not crossing midline but was kicked out because she was "ahead" in reading. She speeks slowly. She says deep things but she has trouble keeping up with the pace of a song and fall behind while singing. She is good with cutting but was a bit late figuring it out. She always held the scissors upside down. I suspect that I am dyslexic. So, knowing these things, how concerened should I be? I wonder if maybe I am comparing an average child to her very fast, very gifted sister and thinking ld when really, she might just be average. I understand u really can't tell unless they r tested but we are just trying to put food on the table at the moment! Ttia!

Alos she lives legos and building stuff. Almost an obsession. Like she will tune out everything on the room if she notices the cap on the toothpated might fit nicely in the whole in the wine cork, or whatever. And she just can't move on until she tries it. Once she tries it she is fine and can move on. She asked me once when she was three or four how the mall stayed up and didn't fall over. Are these dyslexic traits? She is amazing at gymnastics and has just been asked to join the team.

So sorry about all the typos. Thumb typing. But that doesn't excuse writing whole instead of hole!

Your DD sounds a lot like mine right down to the very fast, very gifted older sister. Don't assume that your DD is average. Testing gave us some real insight and helped us make some sense out of our kid's struggles-- DYS IQ scores, high math/visual spatial ability, average reading skills and abysmal spelling and writing.

We found a more affordable tester by talking to our district's gt department. I told them that we couldn't afford the "gold standard" around here (about $1800) but asked if there was someone who they could recommend who might be less expensive. They steered toward a tester with gt and some 2e experience. We got IQ and achievement testing done for $600. It wasn't perfect but it sure was helpful.

Wow! $600is really good! Maybe I need to look harder. I was told $2400!

Just an update. The first graders have one big project all year. It is to collect 100 of something small and make something our of them. Most kids are picking shells or paper clips. My dd6 is making a book on index cards of 100 ideas. Lol. She did thirteen the first day and then would just sit ans stare at the paper. She is very very excited about this project and I was surprise she wouldn't continue with her ideas. A couple of example of ideas she wore by herself are:

to make an underwater camera.
To shrink grandma and put her on my shoulder.
There should be summerschool for everyone. (she wants to go)
and the best one:
that mommy writes the rest of my ideas.

She said that she has very good ideas but by the time she is done writing the first word she forgets what she was going to write. I thought that she was amaIng at being able to tell me what was going on and wwhy she didn't want to write.

When I took over the writing part, her ideas became these:
whenever you look at roses they bloom.
Electric fences should be visible. That means able to see. Because then you will know it is there and you won't get an electric shock.

There should be cursive numbers.

You should be able to press a button on a piece of paper and the button will disolve into the air. When you are done drawing the picture- it will start moving. For example - a moving marble.

Grandma should have a lawn mower as big as her lawn and it could mow fast. Then it folds up. The handle goes down, the sides go in, it folds again toward the road. A box with a bow ends up there and it is small so you can put it any storage room.

So you get the idea. No wonder she won't write. She has such bug ideas and they seem so small on paper.

My question. She is a little above grade level in school. Top of the class, youngest in the class, but ilsewms to be learning and engaged. She has not ever been tested but frquently gets 100 on assessments. I have no idea if she is gifted.

My major concern right now is that he has a learning disability. If I tell the scool psy this info, about her not being able to remember what she wanted to write and the difference in her work when she doest have to do the writing, will she laugh? I talked to her already about letter and number reversals and she said to come back next year.

I guess wondering what are you oppinions as to whether this is normal six year old development or more of a 2e thing. I really don't want to overlook her needs. She seems so frustrated with writing most time, yet one in a whil produces something great! Maybe her expectations for herself are unreasonably high causing the frustration and there isn't a ld at all.

Still typing with thumbs.

Well, grandma has to get smaller to fit through the phone!

Based on what you have said, I would ask the school to evaluate her for learning disabilities, including dysgraphia and/or a disorder of written expression. That should give you a better idea of whether this is just a matter of asynchrony (developmentally appropriate attention, stamina, and handwriting skills, but such advanced verbal skills that she can't keep up) or whether there is more going on.

I agree with aculady, I'd ask the school to evaluate her for learning disabilities. What you described with the cards and not being able to come up with ideas could be just a 6 year old with a great concept who ran out of ideas and needed a bit of a prompt from someone else... or it could be a child with disorder of written expression - it sounds a lot like my 2e ds. Also kids with dysgraphia can know the alphabet in order at 6 - my ds definitely knew the order of the alphabet. He reversed some letters then, but his teachers said it was developmentally appropriate and that letter reversals continued for some kids until they were almost in 3rd grade. That said... he is dysgraphic... it's just not easy for a parent or teacher to recognize in a young child. It's the same with other challenges too - with our 7 year old 2e dd, we thought she had a reading challenge and instead found out she had a challenge with associative memory - we (parents and teachers) would never have figured that out without the help of an assessment by a professional familiar with LD.

I wouldn't worry about the school psych laughing if you share your concern about a possible LD. I also wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't think it's a concern... and if that happens, what you need to do (and should do anyway) is to document your concerns and request for an evaluation in writing.

Good luck! And fwiw, I think you type very well with your thumbs Loved your dd's 100s day idea too!

polarbear