He sees an OT for 60 minutes a week. He qualified for handwriting and motor planning. I asked if we should pursue dyspraxia and dysgraphia as possible LDs and she encouraged I seek a neuropsychologist to assess as he has some red flags.
You already have most of the tests a typical neuropsychologist would run, but given the OT has seen red flags and the uncertainty you have re what's up, I think my next step would be a neuropsych eval.
I'm not convinced dyslexia is the reason for the big gap in achievement/IQ and processing speed weakness...but also recognize he is protected a lot with his 170 GAI thus hard to tease out. I'll keep with the tutor for now as he enjoys it...says he learns more from her in 45 minutes than a whole week of school.
FWIW, (and I'm not a professional, just a parent of 2e kids, so take my opinion truly for what it's worth - not much!!!), the profile your ds has on his WISC and WJ-III Achievement tests looks more like dysgraphia than dyslexia. Like you, I'd leave him with the tutor though since he's enjoying it
Surprisingly to us he was identified for speech at school. Th/f and d/t plus swallowing his Rs. The therapy is helping and the issue is minor...
This actually doesn't surprise me, if there's a chance he's dyspraxic. People who are dyspraxic sometimes have speech issues too. My dyspraxic ds has a few articulation issues which are *very* subtle but they are definitely there.
While Ed psych recommended we see a developmental optometrist we saw an ophthalmologist and he plus my pedi spooked my DH from exploring vision therapy further. I know there are several POVs on that subject but we have tabled it for now.
I won't hammer in my pov, but fwiw, I'm not surprised an ophthamologist pooh-poohed the idea of vision therapy, and I have two children for whom vision therapy made a *world* of difference so I'm a big supporter of it for kids who have a demonstrated need. I think I asked before about your ds' Beery VMI subtests - this is a place you could look to see if there is an indication of visual-motor challenges that are vision related.
So it appears we now have a common processing story with some minor struggles in writing, spelling, reading and speech...all minor though...add motor planning and a picture seems to be forming. Whether this picture explains the underachievement, I don't know...dyspraxia, dysgraphia and stealth dyslexia have all been disorders suggested. I'm thinking our next step is a neuro psych to get a firm diagnosis so I can start lining up accommodations as they become needed.
The neuropsych eval will be valuable to you for three reasons - first, you can (hopefully) firm up a diagnosis and get a better understanding for root cause (fine motor, visual processing, etc). Second, you'll have a report that you can use for advocating for accommodations/etc at school. More important (imo) than just having the documentation for school, the neuropsych should be able to help you see a plan forward for *life*, not just for school, and should also be able to give you references for whatever therapists etc he/she feels are necessary.
his regular school time is not going great. He has had difficulty connecting with classmates. He does have recess with BFF. He complains that he just sits there all day practicing the same thing over and over and he feels he already knows this stuff
Most likely he already does know this stuff. Elementary school (outside his challenges from the second e) was excruciatingly boring for my ds. The neuropsych may be able to help you with recommendations on how to go forward re a school plan for the gifted side of your ds' 2e. I know that folks on here tend to emphasize the importance of finding a neuropsych who sees gifted children regularly... fwiw... I found that seeing a *local* neuropsych held almost as much value for us because our neuropsych knew the local schools well and in many cases was familiar with school staff and potential obstacles we'd face in one school vs another.
His teacher is a bit of a mystery and so is his classroom work. she barely sends work home. during PTC she had two writing samples available to share,
One thing that helped me advocate for my dysgraphic ds (also in a similar situation where classwork samples weren't being sent home) was to prepare writing samples at home that illustrated the impact of his dysgraphia - things like having him write a story using handwriting and then write a very similar assignment using keyboarding (be sure to time the writing). I could then pull those samples out at school meetings when the staff questioned whether or not there was an issue - it was obvious from looking at them that there were several issues!
His first quarter report was mostly 3s(meeting standard) after all 4s the year prior.
I don't really care for this teacher much either (and I don't even know her lol)... but fwiw... we also ran into teachers in our elementary school who gave 3s rather than 4s even when my kids clearly should have been at "4"... the teachers explained it as "they aren't expected to be at 4 until the end of grade whatever they were in". So the teachers were using it as proof the kids were advancing "properly"... when really it was just either laziness or lack of even paying attention on the teachers part or maybe just a big attempt to make sure all students were right there smack-dab-in-the-middle of expectations. It was so not related to the actual student's work or abilities, but instead seemed to be more about the teacher meeting the school district's guidelines for how to report.
What she has offered during PTC and a meet with VP and AIG early in the year is...his handwriting is fine when he focuses on it.
Two things to watch out for here. First the "it's fine" - it probably *looks* fine for a child who isn't as high ability. But remember that it's not "fine" that is what your child is entitled to under Federal Law. The ADAA guarantees that your child has the right to FAPE, and to access FAPE, he needs to be able to *show* the full extent of his knowledge.
The second red flag I see here is her comment "when he focuses on it". Being able to write well sometimes and not at other times was a huge issue for my dysgraphic ds. His issue went beyond the physical mechanics of holding a pencil and forming letters - he also had issues with generating ideas and simply getting started writing - but sometimes he could. Teachers would look at that seeming inconsistency and think he wasn't trying... when really the inconsistency was related to the type of writing assignment and prompt give. There are also even now, as a teen who's been through a ton of remediation, some days that writing just flows easier than it does on other days. It's so not about motivation at all - and our ds' SLP has reassured our ds many times that even for professional authors, writing doesn't just flow every day - you have to be in the mood.
I think your plan to seek a neuropsych eval as well as seeking advice from the gifted teacher for classroom goals is a good plan - good luck as you move forward, and let us know how everything goes!
Best wishes,
polarbear