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Joined: Sep 2014
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Sallymom, thanks for the input. Yeah, he seems a bit young to evaluate but then again I'd hate to leave him struggling with something that will cause him problems down the line. His reading skills developed a whole lot in a short period of time and maybe the writing/spelling is just going to proceed at a more normal rate for a while.
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Aquinas, thanks so much for your input. I think I'll try to get AAS for our summer work for sure.
My son works on handwriting at school quite a bit. They went through handwriting without tears both last year and this year and he's still getting handwriting worksheets (not sure if the whole class does these or just a few kids). Last summer I spent a while working with him on handwriting. So it's definitely not an easy thing for him. However, he definitely wasn't into crafts or drawing before he started school, and still isn't into it. He writes a little bit around the house but it's mostly making flags for play dough roads or labeling pieces of tape on his hot wheel tracks. He definitely has made some major improvements this year but it's clearly not as easy for him as reading or other school skills.
I do agree that my son is lucky to have this teacher. His whole school is quite nice actually. Lots of sweet supportive teachers with good information, etc. Understood. Personally, from what you've written, I'd explore the dysgraphia hypothesis further. In my DS' situation, it was a question of lack of exposure and practice stifling output, not physical capacity to execute the task.
What is to give light must endure burning.
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I don't want to belabour the dyslexia possibility, but I will throw out there that counterintuitively, reading better when the text is harder is quite common among dyslexics (especially gifted ones). The more complex the text, the richer all those context cues are that help them guess their way through it. Dyslexics commonly skip over all the little words and excess syllables (which all tend to look the same) and instead jump from one "meaty" noun or verb to the next. The bigger those words, the easier they are to tell apart. (I was pretty shocked on page 1 of AAR, when DD made multiple errors on a list of three-letter words.... she kept guessing - as she always did - but here, finally, it showed.)
I'll also throw in a plug to think about trying AAR first, and not just the spelling program. In our own experience, because reading is far more rules-base than spelling, and has a finite number of rules, it was much easier to learn and made far more sense than spelling. Several people on the forum here have used only AAS successfully, but I confess the thought makes me shudder. I'm really glad we did AAR first. Good advice from the Platypus in the trenches. Please take her advice before mine, as she's battled both sides of the equation capably with her own family. 
What is to give light must endure burning.
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Platypus, ah, that's interesting. We usually read these easy books for 5 minutes at bedtime and he's clearly bored and tired so it's hard for me to tell how many of the mistakes are 'real' and how many are because he's being silly. We also end up repeating the same stories a lot because he doesn't switch guided reading books often so he's much more engaged with his new harder material. When I tell him to slow down and read every word on the page he tends to get them. I'm gonna go get the AAR and AAS books today if they're in our local store. PM me if you'd like the AAR level 1 and 2 books. I have copies of the readers (with some progress stickers) that I could provide. Depending on our relative locations and shipping rates, that might save you some money.
What is to give light must endure burning.
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Joined: Apr 2017
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Here are some things we're working on with my DS8 that may or may not apply to your boy... -Hand strengthening exercises using Thera-Putty, tweezers, push/pull exercises, etc. -Oral spelling, so he can build the spelling knowledge without the need for writing. This is still a considerable challenge for him. We're not sure whether it's just because we've neglected it so long while trying to iron out the handwriting or because of a larger processing issue. The school is supposed to do full IQ testing before his next IEP meeting so we can look at working memory, processing, etc. -Consistency in correcting his letter formation, spacing, capitalization, and punctuation in his written work, which will expand to include spelling as he's ready. -Keyboarding skills. We have had moderate success with TTRS ( https://www.ttrsonline.com/), which is a typing program for dyslexic students that is based off of OG methods. -Speech-to-text, so he can get his ideas out and focus on just subject matter, organization, and conventions. -And a bunch of HWT. Several members of his IEP team have decided that there's no hope for him to ever really write legibly, and are really pushing just the Speech-to-Text kinda stuff. I'm not ready to give up that fight yet though--he's only 8. So we keep practicing.
Last edited by Cnm; 03/22/18 03:42 PM.
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I don't have a lot to add, as many PPs have covered my usual points. =) But I will say that I had a very similar experience with my #2 in prekindergarten (the one year that we used a b&m school), with a very experienced and perceptive teacher, who noted that, though math was well ahead, pre-reading skills were suspect. Fast forward a couple of years, and it became apparent that there were clear dysgraphic (and mild dyslexic) features present. AAR was not out at the time, but we had very good results with AAS (all seven levels). Now at the secondary level, we use speech-to-text, wordprocessing, or oral elaboration for any response longer than a single sentence. #2 can write a thank you note, sign a document, or complete a form, which are all that I think one actually needs in adult life, as far as handwriting goes. (With much agony, and very little mechanical accuracy, we can also produce a paragraph--but it's just not worth it, given the available assistive technology.) We did just enough cursive work (we used the Zaner-Bloser system) so that #2 could read other people's handwriting, and then let it go. I think I dropped handwriting work qua handwriting at about age 9 or 10. I would suggest that starting early on typing will have excellent long-term benefits, as many dysgraphics are slow to attain fluency in typing, for similar automaticity reasons. Start now, and it will be second nature by the time he hits middle school (or even earlier). www.typing.com is a good and free resource.
...pronounced like the long vowel and first letter of the alphabet...
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aquinas that is so sweet of you to offer that! I'll check and see if they're available locally and then message you. Thank you though. You are very kind.
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Joined: Sep 2014
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CNM, thanks for the info. Wow, some good ideas. Do you have your son correct his homework if it's incorrect? I've just been leaving it because it's the end of the day and he tends to be a little melty at that time, but maybe I should push him to make corrections. I hope the full IQ testing gives good information for your son.
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Joined: Sep 2014
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aeh, thanks so much for all the information. Typing was not remotely on my radar but sounds like it should be.
Last edited by readermom123; 03/23/18 07:26 AM.
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aquinas that is so sweet of you to offer that! I'll check and see if they're available locally and then message you. Thank you though. You are very kind. Happy to.
What is to give light must endure burning.
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