Hello!

The school readministered the K-TEA 3 to DS9 (grade-skipped, currently in 5th grade). They gave him the K-TEA before his grade skip when he was 7.

His scores then were:
ASB: 141
Reading Composite: 133
Math Composite: 156
Written Language Composite: 107

His subscores then were:
Letter and Word Recognition: 119
Reading Comprehension: 140
Math Concepts and Applications: 146
Math Computation: 160
Written Expression: 102
Spelling: 112
Phonological Processing: 117
Nonsense Word Decoding: 117
Silent Reading Fluency: 122
Word Recognition Fluency: 127
Reading Vocabulary: 101
Associational Fluency: 135
Object Naming Fluency: 88
Listening Comprehension: 144
Oral Expression: 136
Letter Naming Facility: 78
Writing Fluency: 83
Math Fluency: 107

His scores now are:
ASB: 138
Reading Composite: 126
Math Composite: 158
Written Language Composite: 106

His subscores now are:
Letter and Word Recognition: 115
Reading Comprehension: 131
Math Concepts and Applications: 150
Math Computation: 160
Written Expression: 114
Spelling: 99
Phonological Processing: 108
Nonsense Word Decoding: 116
Silent Reading Fluency: 110
Word Recognition Fluency: 120
Reading Vocabulary: 133
Associational Fluency: 120
Object Naming Fluency: 91
Listening Comprehension: 143
Oral Expression: 140
Letter Naming Facility: 97
Writing Fluency: 74
Math Fluency: 103

So not a lot of difference between the two administrations, besides the gulf between his ability to write and his comprehension growing even greater. (Especially in his math fluency vs. computation, and writing fluency vs. oral expression.) His recent MAP math score was 261.

His writing is terrible. It's large, awkward, and extremely difficult to read. We've had considerable testing done regarding his writing and the consensus is that his hand structure is different than normal, due to short fingers, limited web space, hypermobility, and hypotonia. WISC results and the school psychologist's official evaluation are still pending. But everyone else (including a neurologist we saw this summer) seems to have come to the consensus that his difficulties with writing are due to just the physical structure of his hands.

We have a 504 in place that gives him OT, allows him to type, to use voice-to-text, to have extra time on writing assignments, and to write 50% of what other students are required to. Typing is considerably difficult for him as well, so that's not a cure all. He struggles some with articulation, so voice-to-text has been only mildly successful.

Still, a simple worksheet about declarative/interroagative sentences had him in tears last night. He had to write six sentences. We offered to let him type, but he didn't want to at first. He wrote and erased the first two sentences three times before he decided to type them instead. Altogether, it took more than an hour for him to complete the worksheet.

What else can we do to help him keep up with the writing demands he gets older? Even if we work around it in his ELA classes, he's quickly going to be at a level in mathematics where it's difficult to keep up with everything without writing--and voice-to-text/typing is less than ideal when dealing with complicated equations.

For the moment, you might want to consider adding oral assessment/elaboration to his accommodations, since voice-to-text is not efficient yet. Long term, of course, that won't be a sustainable solution (for college and beyond), but it will allow him to develop and demonstrate a bit more of his language expression and knowledge acquisition in the meantime.

Is OT working on handwriting? Or are they also working on keyboarding, which is going to have to be his long-term plan? And if he has articulation issues that are significant enough to interfere with speech-to-text, then does he have speech services? At this age, it's no longer merely developmental.

I'll ask about the oral assessment at our next meeting. I'm not sure how they'll feel about that.

The OT is supposed to be working on hand strengthening, handwriting, typing, and speech-to-text, but it's only one hour a week.

He had speech services for most of second grade and fourth grade (skipped third). They told us last spring he had improved enough that he no longer qualified. He has improved a lot, but his articulation is still not great.

Perhaps they would entertain adding speech back on as a consult to the OT, for the purpose of working on effective speech-to-text. (Though if there are still intelligibility issues, I'd still wonder about direct speech services. This seems young to be maxing out on artic. The speech eval probably found him functional on intelligibility for familiar listeners (aka, his speech teacher), but that's a far cry from being intelligible to unfamiliar listeners, let alone having access to his assistive technology (speech-to-text).) It might also be helpful, if the OT isn't already doing this as a matter of course, for the OT to have some consult time to classroom teachers on building accommodations into assignments, such as by having electronic versions of written assignments, to facilitate use of his assistive technology.

On the articulation test they gave him, he was in the <1%-ile at the beginning of second grade, and somewhere around 50%-ike last spring. But the way he talks when he knows he is being tested is different than his casual speech.

I don't think it was ever as bad as they said, and I don't think it's as good as they say it is now. But I'm sure it looks good for them to report so much improvement.

Sometimes we notice him practicing talking and writing when he thinks no one can see/hear him, so I know he is still self-conscious about it, but I'm not sure how to get past the "this was his score on the articulation evaluation, so he doesn't need speech."

One of the spec. ed teachers thought he might have a mild form of CP that was causing the speech, vision (lazy eye, double vision), and fine motor issues, but the neurologist doesn't think they're related or that there is any sign of a brain injury.

He's an anomaly. But an incredibly gifted, sweet, hard-working anomaly.

Actually, I would have the same suspicion that the same underlying condition is responsible for the fine motor, speech, and vision issues. They all appear consistent with the ligament laxity and low muscle tone. Artic/speech dyspraxia are both not unusually found comorbid with fine motor issues. Some kiddos have motor planning issues, which play out in those ways in the respective systems.

But then again, what would you do differently, if you knew for sure that it was one cause? You'd still work on hand strength, cueing him to use his artic strategies, and plugging away at typing.

Yes. In some ways, it would be nice to tell the school that this is what's wrong and it fits in this eligibility category, so it's not a perpetual battle for services/accommodations.
Still, I don't think we'll do further testing unless the school psych recommends something specific in his report, or we need it to apply for Davidson Online School later.

I would also get scribing as an accommodation. I wouldn’t let my kid struggle so much with homework (I value family time too much). I would be his “secretary” and write all but the last out for him....writing exactly what he tells me and then having him check that I scribed it correctly. Then have him write only the last one. Knowing that the first 9 out of ten involved no writing on his part would make the last one so much easier.

I convinced the school to give him the 6+ math MAP as well, considering his 2-5 score was beyond the 260 ceiling. He finished that test today with a score of 248--and is ecstatic that he was tested on things he didn't know anything about.

Still awaiting WISC results and the psychologist's recommendations.

In the meantime... cursive... He is spending hours on it in class, and still often bringing it home. He always says most of the other kids get it done in 10 minutes or less. I've been writing that I told him not to do it on his the papers he brings home, per his 504. We're meeting with his teacher tonight...