Hi...I am new here. I am a Christian homeschooling mom of two boys who are 9 and 11. When our 11 year old son was 4, we had him evaluated and found out he is gifted.
Fast foward 7 years to now....
we are having him evaluated again next week because he struggles so much to spell. In addition, when he reads outloud, he often omits words. The person who will be evaluating him told me that from what I have told her, she suspects he has something called "Stealth dyslexia." I had no clue as I thought that people with dyslexia had problems reading, and my son was reading at age 4, loves to read, etc.

I am not sure what to expect with the eval. It is a 3-4 hour appointment. The person doing the eval is very familiar with gifted kids and supportive of homeschooling. She said I might have to take him to an eye doctor to check his visual tracking.

Are there certain tests I should make sure to ask for?

My son is VERY strong in math and science. He is a happy, easy going child, eager to please, respectful, and responsible. He does not like to write, I think it is because spelling is so hard for him.

Any advice you can give would be great!

I'd make an appointment with the right kind of optometrist right away. To find one that deals with this sort of thing (tracking, etc.), go to www.covd.org . We've been through vision therapy for eye tracking issues and were very pleased with the results.

The other thing that comes to mind is that sometimes visual-spatial learners have trouble with spelling (so it is said; so far my two vsl's seem to be rather anal about spelling lol). See http://www.visualspatial.org/what_is_a_vsl.htm . For VSL spelling tips, see http://www.visualspatial.org/Articles/app2spell.pdf

Good luck!!

Hi!
I am not familiar with that term, but this is a great place to start asking questions about gifted, ld, etc. Good luck with your ds and welcome!

Hi, I think you may have responded to me in another forum. I cross posted because I was not sure where to put it.

The person doing the eval has this on her website-

"Mary Doe" M.ed is a Learning Specialist who has taught and evaluated children and adults with learning disabilities for more than 10 years. Her graduate work included the area of Learning Language and Reading Disabilities and she is certified as K-12 Special educator in the State of XXX. . "Mary" has extensive experience in supervising programs for students of all ages (preschool - college and beyond) with language based learning disabilities. She has special knowledge and interest in the area of evaluating and planning for gifted students. "


She is the one who mentioned that my son will need to see a behavioral optomestrist as well. She named one in particular and it sounded like she was very familiar with visual tracking issues. Do you think it is ok for her to do the eval even though she is not a psychologist?

This is from their website-these are the services they offer-


* Educational evaluations including assessment of cognitive, linguistic and academic strengths

* Specialized knowledge in language based reading and writing learning disabilities, Dysgraphia and Dyslexia, Non-verbal learning disabilities, and Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD)

*Developmental assessments of preschoolers with particular focus on language and pre-literacy development

*Identification/evaluation and program planning for gifted and talented students (preschool - high school). Ongoing assistance is available to help schools meet the requirements of Title 16, Section 2902

*Curriculum planning for special needs and regular education students, with the emphasis on integrating oral language, reading and writing in the regular classroom and in pull-out programs. Curriculum planning, testing and advising for home schooled students

*In-school consultations to help develop Individual Education Programs (IEP), 504 plans

*Individualized Instruction and counseling (availability limited)

*Parent Education Classes to continue the learning process outside of the classroom

I read about convergence insuffiency-he does not have any of the symptoms on the list I read (blurred vision, covering one eye while he reads, words jumping on the page...) but I suppose it would be a good idea to have him seen by the eye doctor just in case.
Thanks!

Thanks. So I am assuming insurance usually does not pay for vision therapy? Is it expensive?

Thanks, I will check into insurance covering for it.

No, it is not an issue for us (having a licensed psychologist do the testing)as we homeschool and will continue homeschooling for the long haul.

I found out today one of the tests they are doing is the WISC-IV. She said if a child hits the ceiling on that, she gives the SB 5. I am assuming those tests are "good."

Update---He was diagnosed with mild orthographic aka stealth dyslexia and mild dysgraphia. I don't have the written report but will have it next week. I don't know why she is saying he has dysgraphia, other than he is slower than he should be when he writes. His penmanship is beautiful. He does not like to write and it is hard for him.

Ok, now onto vision issues-

I took him to the developmental optician yesterday. He has binocular instability and ocular motor tracking problems. I am not sure if those are the same thing with different names, or two different things. I am supposed to work with him doing daily vision exercises (using a Marsden ball) for 3 weeks and then go back. She said the whole process should only take 3 months or so.

I don't know if anyone here knows about vision but I have a few questions-

1. Are those diagnoses above, two things or one thing? Are they the same as "Convergence insuffiency" or different"

2. How are these problems related to dyslexia (he has stealth dyslexia, aka orthographic dyslexia...in other words, he can read and comprehend well but cannot spell well-also skips little words when reading aloud)

Thanks!

Binocular Instability refers to the ability to use both eyes together (more along the lines of depth perception)

Occulomotor tracking is the ability to move the eyes across the page smoothly as in reading. This may be why your child skips the small words, he may be missing them because of insufficient tracking.

Convergence Insufficiency is the abilit to move the eyes from far away to near, like attempting to copy from a blackboard (at a distance) to the paper on your desk.

Yes it can be related to dyslexia and several other diagnoses. Most likely, what narrows his diagnosis is his ability to read and comprehend and yet have the underlying visual motor/perceptual issues.

My dd7 has been in therapy for 5 months now and we are working on many of the same issues. Are you working with a school to help deal with these issues? We are having a terrible time getting the teachers to accept this diagnosis and make accomodations accordingly.

Good Luck!!

Thank you for your quick reply-it was helpful!

No, I am not working with a school as we have always homeschooled. The eye doctor is giving me exercises to do with my son daily (using a Marsden ball)and we go back in three weeks to assess his progress. She is confident that within about three months of treatment, he will no longer need to have vision therapy-but I don't know if that is too optimistic.

Hi Suzanne, I don't have any advice, I just wanted to say "welcome"!

http://www.eyecanlearn.com/index.htm#Peripheral

This site has some definitions of the visual/perceptual issues and also some exercises that you can check out so that you can understand better what may be going on.

I sometimes wish I felt equipt to homeschool. But I truly don't see that as a viable option for us. IEPs and "well meaning teachers" are such a nightmare.

I hope that your ds can "graduate" in 3 months. That would be wonderful. For my dd, the estimate is 2 years, though at her last check, her eye teaming ability went from 40% to 80%!! So we are optimistic that she will graduate sooner than expected!!!!

Suzanne, there is discussion in one of the other threads in one of the other forums (how's that for vague) about dysgraphia not being just about handwriting....it's also about getting thoughts on paper.

Found it- the thread title is "Gifted scores and severe processing issues" pg 6 in 2e forum.

Hi again, I am back! I have the full written eval.
The diagnosis is gifted with "disorder of written expression" which confuses me, because she told me before he had
mild dysgrapia AND mild stealth dyslexia. She told me she "changed" his diagnosis. I have emailed her to ask about this.

I am planning on having my son work on his keyboarding skills, do the All-About-Spelling program, and continue the vision therapy. I am really not convinced he has dysgraphia-his biggest problem is spelling, IMO.

The tests she did include the WISC-IV, WIAT-II, TOWRE, and PAL.

I don't understand how his spelling problems can only be resulting from the "disorder of written expression." Am I missing something?

Thoughts?

Also she said
"The 20 point difference between his Full Scale IQ of 126 and his Written Language Composite of 106 is significant and has a base rate (occurrence within the norm sample of children his age) of 3%."

She also mentioned "A form of mild apraxia may be at work here."
But when I talked to an SLP she said there is no way he has apraxia..the only speech problem he has is an articulation problem with /r/.

Also I posted his scores here-
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....n_you_help_me_make_sense_.html#Post46075

I wish I had kept it all in one thread!

And Dottie, to answer your question in the other thread abou pseudoword decoding,
he scored 108 for a Standard Score, which is the 70% ad Grade equivalent if 7.2. He just finished grade 5.
She said for the reading summary-

"He is a successful reader who demonstrates well developed word recognition, fluency, and superior comprehension that is in good agreement with measured verbal aptitude. Because he has some orthographic weaknesses, he truly maximizes context , in which he can leverage his higher-order cognitive abilities."

Hi Suzanne,
I have posted on other threads about dysgraphia. My son is 11, a great and voracious reader and hates to write. He refuses to write much of the time, which sounds more obstinate than your son. He was diagnosed with dysgraphia at 9, but I didn't put a lot of weight on the diagnosis because he can write very neatly and is a good speller. I've always thought his refusal was based more on emotion and perfectionism. The information on the Eide Neurolearning Site about dysgraphia was enlightening for me as it doesn't just focus on handwriting and motor skills. It also helped me to put myself into his shoes and imagine what it would be like to write my thoughts down if I had to consciously think of each work while I was writing.

It sounds to me like you have some good information to start with. If he takes to typing that could eliminate most of the difficulties right there.

Good luck with this, and keep writing.
Benny

Thanks for your response. It is comforting knowing you understand and that your child struggles to write, too. To some degree, I wonder if it is, in part, a gender thing. Boys generally do not like to write that much, in my experience. And slow writing may be due to perfectionism, right?

I keep wondering if he really does also have dyslexia. It seems so weird that she said he DID and then said he did NOT.
If he does not have dyslexia, why is spelling soo hard for him?
He spells "used" "uesed", "cried" "cryed"-despite years of intense phonics instruction and spelling programs.

Is the PAL test a good indicator of dyslexia? Did she do the "right" tests to rule dyslexia in or out?

And even if I don't know if he is dyslexic or not, I am not sure knowing really matters, because I am going to be teaching spelling to him using an Orton Gillingham method, ie I am treating him as if he IS dyslexic. I am just thinking outloud and wondering how important it is for me to KNOW FOR SURE if he has dyslexia or not.

This is what I have been struggling with for the last month. I have decided FOR SURE that my son has dysgraphia. Do I need to find out which type? Why? I met with his teacher today about next year (luckily the same teacher again!) and he will be typing everything in class and at home. If that works, hurrah! The teacher mentioned the difference in the depth of written expression between boys and girls (generally) at this age. A lot of the 5th grade boys had very sophisticated ideas about the novel they are reading when talking about it, but got a lot less down on the page.

The spelling really does sound dyslexic, but there are so many LD's out there that might cause this. A friend's daughter had spelling difficulties, but also read just at grade level, was not a huge reader like the rest of the family. The Mom was convinced something wasn't right and had her tested for the convergence insufficiency. She did therapy at the Drs (about $3000.00 I think,) and it worked. The words don't jump around on the page anymore. It is unusual to find this in an advanced reader, but I have read that it does show up occasionally in kids who read well and a lot.

I don't know anything about the PAL, so can't help you there.

I am sure that perfectionism can cause a lot of anxiety and if the writing is even a little hard as opposed to a lot hard, the perfectionism piece can cause someone to give up more quickly.

Homeschooling sounds great right now!

Interesting comment about vision in the "need help with scores" thread!

Yes, the person who evaluated my son recommended I take him for a vision assessment, which I did. They found he has binocular instability and ocular motor tracking problems. We started daily therapy at home and after only 3 weeks, he is reading outloud better and skipping far fewer words. We went back to the eye doctor this week and the doctor was very pleased with his progress. They want me to continue with the Marsden ball exercise and added a bead exercise.

I know what you mean..I am not sure I NEED to know if he has dyslexia or not. I am treating him as if he does-I bought All About Spelling this week and will start daily lessons soon. He will be learning keyboarding skills this fall and we will continue to work on his writing skills. Homeschooling is great-because you can customize a program for each individual child. I realize it is not for everyone, though.

Bump...anyone else have any opinions about whether I need to know if he is dyslexic or not? I hate to have him retested again.

I understood from our experts in gifted & 2E issues that if you are treating for Dyslexia symptoms it doesn't matter whether they actually have dyslexia. They said the treatment for dyslexia will hardwire for improvement regardless of the underlying cause. In our case we have several possible causes of dyslexia-like symptoms and I'm doing Barton with him. So you may want to consider whether you have enough information and are doing enough to be able to help him between his vision therapy and All About Spelling to still *need* a label.

Also in case you haven't found http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeartofReading/ here is the description:

This is a christian parent group designed to provide support for homeschooling families as they move through the process of teaching a child/children who struggle with various aspects of reading. (fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, decoding, encoding, phonemic awareness, phonics, and/or specific issues of dyslexia, dysgraphia, language development, or auditory processing disorder.)

Be sure to check out their resources, they have tons of information in their Files section.

Hope this helps.

-Michelle