Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Link Dr. Ruf

E -
I really don't remember about the High School equiv. I tend to view those Woodck-Johnson type scores with a grain of salt. So maybe she really means high school level work?

I think you'll enjoy the book is you can get it through Library Loan. I think you are going to enjoy the YSP, particularly the homeschool list, but it's good to know that not all the kids there will be Level 5s like what you are used to, many will be level 3 and 4. Brace yourself, ok? I'm hoping you'll find a place where you feel totally at home, and YSP is good because the Parents there really "get" level of giftedness, even if their kids aren't level 5. KWIM?

Smiles,
Trinity

Hi Trinity:

I have a totally unrelated question I just private e-mailed you about.

bk

I just got back from an Amiee Yermish talk. Let's see if I can get the Grade Equavilent score explainaton correct. Let's say you scored a 9 of 15 on a subtest, such as picture naming. Yor age or grade equavalent would be this - what age were the average children from the norming sample who also scored 9 of 15?

Dottie, did I get it?

Aimee is a great speaker. I spoke to her a bit about PIQ/VIQ spread. I have heard so many conflicting stories about the significance of a discrepancy here. Linda Silverman has gone on the record as saying that a difference of just ten points indicates a learning disability or 2e situation, and others have said that even a large gap is not indicative of a problem. Aimee takes a very holistic view of the child and says that it is impossible to generalize. She doesn't have any hard and fast rules about how the numbers line up; instead she pays attention to particular subtests and behavior, and looks for trends. This individualized approach really resonates with me.

If anyone is in the northeast and looking for cognitive assessment, Aimee runs Davinci Learning in Massachusetts.

I wanted to add this link to the Dr. Ruf topic, since I know I'll be wanting to re-read it againg -
http://www.educationaloptions.com/unevenly_gifted.htm

smiles,
Trin

Bump -
BK1, was this your lost link?
Grinity

Bump!
Smiles,
Grinity

Bump - again.

Now that my son has the motor dyspraxia diagnosis, it makes sense why all of the other Level 4 characteristics fit except the two that required fine motor skills that he didn't have because of the disability-- "many liked puzzles by 15 to 36 months" and "most printed letters, numbers, words, and their names between 2 3/4 and 3 1/2 years."

His OT recently told him that he needed to work on the 3D puzzles instead of the online puzzles that he likes. My son wants to know why being able to do the 3D kind quickly is so important. He says he doesn't believe it will help him in any way and he thinks it is kind of like the "coloring in the lines" that he hated and the kindergarten teacher thought was important. He is still skeptical about doing these things to help him grow "new neural pathways" in his brain. He still wants proof. Even his OT says the OT is not a cure for the dyspraxia and hypotonia and she can't tell us how much the sensory integration therapy will help, but she says she has seen the therapy work very well for kids she has worked with.

As an OT, these are interventions that I have seen work wonders for children with dyspraxia:

*Therapeutic Listening
*Interactive Metronome
*SI based treatment with LOTS of gross motor movement through space
*Perceptual activities that involve gross and fine motor coordination, laterality and directionality, language, vision and auditory processing
* Play that involves sequencing, timing, planning and executing movement

For hypotonia:
* play activities that activate the core muscles and work the child to fatigue
* SI based treatment that activates both the vestibular and proprioceptive systems
* Nutritional support, including pre-digested protein drinks (like the body builders drink) or supplements such as Carnitine, Coenzyme Q-10, B and E vitamins and alpha lipoic acid.

I'm much bigger on the "bottom up" approach to OT with these issues, but it seems like your son needs a "top down" approach in conjunction with it! Have you seen the Dyspraxia Foundation website?
http://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/

Lots of great info here! Maybe he'd like to read some of it.

Best of luck. I'm glad you know what you are dealing with and that now you can continue to progress forward!