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It looks like the test was called "Test of Auditory Processing Skills - Third Edition" It included Number Memory Foward, Number Memory Reversed, Word Memory, Sentence Memory, Auditory Comprehension, Auditory reasoning, Memory and Cohesion. Not sure if that is for CAPD or not..

Wow you DD really sounds amazing! Sheer determination indeed! My son didn't push up until after 6 months (like right after). I was so relieved I took like 30 pictures. I didn't know then he had hypotonia (and of course didn't want there to be anyting wrong!) But he really worked hard on crawling, which he did at 7 months... However, he only crawled for three months.. he started walking at the end of 10 months. I really think some damage was caused when he stoppped breathing for a just a short time after birth.. I am not sure how long it was - it felt like forever but I don't knwo in terms of seconds/minutes...The doctors rushed him away... However, I am almost positive his father has dysgraphia so perhaps some genetics too.....

No I mean actual push ups, between toes and palms of hands, body like a plank... In fact it was really more like "planking" that you do for your abs at the gym than pushups. She had a back like a body builder at 9 months old, so I was completely surprised when I was told she was hypermobile and had low tone, the two things are not mutually exclusive but it seems like they should be to a lay person. I knew my eldest had hypermobility and low tone, but I thought this one was ok, she's actually worse, just stronger...

Hi all. Just an update. I'll try to make it brief! So, I met with the school psych. really liked her! Basically, in a nutshell, she agrees with me... Something is there in the testing and in his executive functioning it presents like attention BUT he really doesn't seem to have attention issues per se - it seems more of a problem with memory and mental manipulation - the way he attempts to remember is inefficient, his working memory seems stressed, faulty, etc. His long term memory his great... visual clues help his working memory immensely. It's not with the encoding; it's with the retrieval, etc... Her gut feeling *at this point* is also that it is not necessarily adhd/adhd inattentive. BUT something is getting in the way... She said she sees his giftedness, too. She was really impressed with some of his testing, the connections he makes, etc. There was one question that involved inference that she said no other first grader she has tested has gotten. But again, something is in the way in terms of working memory and processing/fluency. She really seemed to see what I see! She also sees that big gaps so that even though in handwriting spelling ect - he is scoring "average" she realizes that there is dysgraphia there and she is going to get him as much help for both his working memory and dysgraphia at the school as possible through his iep (she mentioned something to the effect of this "may make her unpopular but she's not at the school to win popularity contests with the teachers, she's there to help students" I am not sure what that statement meant really ???). She said teacher placement is extremely important and they will be very careful about that because DS needs a teacher who can understand both his high intellect and his struggles/disabilities. We talked about LearningRx/Cogmed type programs and what I could do to help privately in terms of that stuff and she recommended that I stop taking him to where I am getting private OT and take him to this place http://www.atotalapproach.com/ for therapy... She said she has seen students make much better strides at this place, etc. Well, it just so happened I had looked into that place and had already made an appointment with the director there to talk about DS later the same afternoon! After the interview there, the owner/director told me that based on my description and a cursory glance at his testing and evals she says my DS is a classic case of "sensory processing disorder" in the mild-moderate range. She was very optimistic that they could help with their therapies. He needs to go in for a eval there just to do the testing that they do and hasn't yet been done on him and then they will look at all of the testing etc. and recommend therapy for it ... maybe balametrics. The school psych spoke highly for their reading program there also - she said that is the only place so far that she can say she has seen students really make very good progress and that she holds the owner of the place is high-esteem professionally. So, I am very optimistic. Hopefully, this is the thing that will really help DS.


I still plan on seeing a neuropsych for thoughts too.

Does anyone know anything about this "sensory processing disorder" condition? Thanks! I have heard about it here and there but never really gave it much thought. The "A Total Approach" lady said there is no need for him to live like he is and continue like this till he grows out of some it - she said that we can do so much for these type of kids these days. I'd like to hear anyone's experience with this stuff!

There's a lot to read online about SPD, but, as the wiki entry for it points out, it's not an official diagnosis or scientifically recognized condition - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_processing_disorder

Having said that, I've ready many many stories of kids being labeled with this, receiving therapies and getting better, so hopefully that's what lays ahead for you!

Thanks Epoch.... I hope so! I just want him to feel good and thrive. I am so tired of watching him struggle with *something* standing in the way of his potential.

Hi marytheres,

I'm so glad you have a school psych that understands and cares about getting help for your ds - that's huge! I haven't looked at the website link, but fwiw I've found in our own journey, getting references from professionals who've known other families who've worked with other therapists has been *extremely* helpful and a reliable way of knowing who to turn to when you're spending the $ on private therapies.

Our dd who has the vision challenges also had some extreme sensory challenges when she was younger. Our dysgraphic ds also has a few odd sensory issues... which I think are probably, in his case, symptoms of dyspraxia. Even though it's not an officially recognized condition, sensory OT was very helpful for my dd, and I've used some of the things we learned through it with my ds also.

My one piece of advice would be to move forward with the neuropsych - even if the conclusions and recommendations are exactly the same as the school psych, the neuropsych evaluation will give you (at the least) a report that you'll need through the years as you advocate for your ds. It should also give you more testing to determine what's behind the dysgraphia etc, and it may help you understand better what is a sensory issue vs something else. Plus it will give you official clarity (in the report) re is it or isn't it ADHD - which has also been important to us, as we continue to run into school staff etc who think that the things that *look* like ADHD are ADHD simply because that's what they see more often and are familiar with.

Best wishes,

polarbear