Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Should I be worried yet?

Hi GM
This was my DS but at 4.5, we didn't realize it was such an issue until we met with his WPSSI tester. I actually just posted in the 2e section about how much improvement he has had in one year but that we still have concerns. I would be concerned about the not doing it. I hadn't realized how much he had internalized how bad he was at it in comparison to reading and other things. We did take him to OT and it was good and bad, good in that it reframed the discussion, problem in that this was a place with people with much more serious concerns than DS and they didn't really know how to reach him. He just wasn't going to write the same letter over and over. We went 1x a week for 2.5 months and then we were moving and I wasn't really liking the therapist so we decided to outsource it to the pre-k we sat down with them at the beginning about having him write everyday, not letting him opt out. Trying to get him to paint, etc. So over the course of his pre-k year he went from no you do it to drawing and writing
for his own pleasure.

Grinity said at one point that skipping those fine motor things early in favor of other
things - reading instead of painting or playdoh - can come back to haunt you because the body seems to need to learn that way. We did not push things he didn't want to do in favor of things he enjoyed and while I don't regret pursuing his interests, we let too
much go. So in the last year we have focused a lot on trying and working, this was the first thing that wasn't easy for him. But the upside is that having conquered it, he can write, his letters are getting smaller, etc, has taught him the value of perseverance and that you aren't always good at things.

My DS starts K next month and we plan to talk to the K teacher about whether he needs services or whether he has made enough progress to be at grade level. Is your
DS going to K or do you homeschool - if home than I would consider it.

Check out my post in 2e, I learned something very interesting about his perfectionism
but also that at this age it's so hard to know is it a problemor not or just looks like one next to the asynchrony. There was no harm in getting the eval and while I am not sure we got much out it because the particular setting was wrong for him, it did help to
restart the conversation. And I would find another one if the schools recommends it.

Oh and DS was also the I will it do it myself perfectly or not at all too! Could have walked at a year but cruised until 15 months rather than hold anyone's hand!!!

DeHe