Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional More Clues on Processing Disorder...What is this??

We know that our son has "a processing disorder" but haven't yet nailed down the details.

He was doing a 4th grade module on IXL right beside me that was greater than less than which is a simple topic for him and he was becoming very frustrated. He kept choosing incorrect answers and he showed me how some answers "were the same number". He would look at 46,987 and 64,987 and insist they were the same number. He later worked on a rounding module and kept getting answers wrong for miscounting his zeroes when typing the numbers. If I read it to him, the answers were always correct. So I'm wondering if anyone recognizes this sort of issue.


Is this ringing a bell with anyone?

It sounds very much like dysgraphia (a disorder of written expression) to me. The red flags are the reversals and the inability to tie shoes or ride a bike. I would have expected the neuropsych to do more testing to rule this in or out, especially if he raised it in his report.

My 9 yo dd who has dyslexia and dyspraxia sounds very similar to what you described when it comes to reading numbers and writing. Oddly, she never struggled with tying her shoes or riding a bike. Although she figured out how to ride a bike very quickly she was very clumsy and would often run into things (i.e. parked cars, bushes, etc).

A lot of what you described sounds like my ds13 who is dyspraxic and has fine motor dysgraphia due to his dyspraxia. That said, it could be any number of things that are causing the symptoms you see, and it's most likely going to take a complete neuropsych eval to *begin* to tease out what's up. I don't want to sound discouraging, but with complicated kids and these types of symptoms that can be attributed to quite a few different types of issues, it sometimes simply takes time to fully understand what's up.

I'm guessing the reason the first neurospych wasn't conclusive was possibly based on age and maturity - some of the things you're seeing may be developmentally on target but your child is on the late side of the developmental curve, and some things may make more sense once your ds has been in school longer and you're able to see how his schoolwork is impacted. My ds had symptoms of dyspraxia dating back to his very first year or so of life, but we had no clue he was dyspraxic until he was diagnosed in 2nd grade (by a neurospych).

Re diagnosing Disorder of Written Expression - I suspect he's just not *quite* old enough or far enough along on the academics curve for that diagnosis yet. My ds had a DOWE diagnosis in 2nd grade, and later lost the diagnosis (even though he still has reversals in his writing etc)... he lost the diagnosis when his performance on one of the WJ-III Achievement Tests (for writing) score improved in 5th grade. Sooo.. just a guess... but I'm wondering if your ds was young enough that a low score on a similar test wasn't considered significant yet compared to NT developmetal expectations - just a guess. It certainly sounds like he's struggling with writing.

Another thing I'd wonder about is vision - has he had any type of vision exam?


A note about dyspraxia (not saying that's what your dd has but just for info) - it impacts different people in different ways, and it's not necessarily global in extent. My ds, for example, struggled tremendously with handwriting when he was your ds' age, but he was able to draw absolutely amazingly intricately detailed pictures. The key in understanding your child is to look at the specific skill involved - handwriting requires a different type of brain-hand communication than drawing, for example.

The other thing about dyspraxia is no two people impacted by dyspraxia are impacted in the same way.

Would you mind posting your ds' WPSSI subtest scores, and/or what testing/survey/etc was used to determine he has ADHD? We might be able to help you with some more feedback/thoughts/etc if we had that info. You also noted he's mostly the "HD" from ADHD - it might be helpful if you could describe that in more detail.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Yes, please look into polarbear's question.

Our son was diagnosed with amblyopia recently. One of the symptoms is a lack of co-ordination. It's always fun at our house at dinnertime. DS overshoots his seat and ends up on the floor to cheering crowds. (JK) He's your son's age and still wears Mr. Velcro's invention and only recently gave up training wheels since receiving his new specs.

Side note: For those currently patching...check out news on amblyopia and the use of special goggles while playing Tetris.

Polarbear, I think you are right. So far the NP thinks that time (and experience at school) will ensure us an accurate diagnosis. I want to do testing to suss out the "processing issue" seen visibly in his scans and evidenced in his WPPSI with a specialized gifted neuropsychologist but we are still saving for that.

Ametrine-- So today he was saying the numbers were moving (like trading places) and that the 2D pic of a ribbon was "rotating". Do you seek a specific specialized to evaluate this?

ETA: He did get an eye exam and "near work" glasses last year. Vision was similar in both eyes. This was with our rather interesting optometrist who left teaching physics to go back to school because of his fascination with optics. He loves to follow the latest literature and has a special interest in early childhood vision development. I normally see an opthamologist but have enjoyed working with him.

Yes, the numbers were probably moving and trading places for him! That's great that he expressed that so clearly.

Is your optometrist a COVD? Did she or he look at things like convergence and tracking? These issues have caused members of our family to have material on a page appear to move, dance, or been seen as multiples, and can make it hard to follow from left to right across a page.

Dyslexia can also make text much harder to read. A bright child can have dyslexia and be a high-level early reader. I think you look at things like ability to read aloud (rather than silent comprehension level) and the ability to read nonsense words (this prevents one from using contextual clues and vocabulary to compensate for phonetic confusion). Dyslexics, as far as I know, commonly see images in motion and it is easy and natural for them to rotate objects. This is a wonderful skill in so many ways, but confusing and not helpful with the printed word! This is not my area of expertise, but may be worth investigating.

I haven't read all of your previous threads, so just wanted to throw these out there in case you haven't ruled them out already.

In my extremely inexpert opinion it sounds like the root of his problem is more likely to be visual than motor...

Our optometrist isn't a COVD from looking at his website.

What am I looking for with an exam? With his new symptom of movement, I have reason to call. Love to have some more info about what I'm looking for from those of you who have BTDT.