I get frustrated when I hear her teachers tell me she could get better grades if she applied herself. Yet in math, spelling, and reading she is really trying. We have been working on reading for 3 years now and her progress has been minimal. My daughter is upset that she can't read and write as well as her classmates. She is very frustrated and it is hurting her self-esteem. She fails spelling tests that I know if the teacher asked her to spell the words orally she'd get them right. She can read a story 3 times (once in class, once with me reading to her, and once she reads to me) but b/c she can't read the questions on the comprehension test (about the story) she fails the test. If you were ask her orally the questions she could tell you the answers. I feel all of this is affecting her grades imo.
You have described my DD9 to a tee. She suffers from very similar struggles with her writing, down to the reversals and spelling issues. She is so incredibly bright, but she cannot translate her knowledge onto a piece of paper. We have often heard the same spiel about her not applying herself. I know how hard she tries. She is to the point that she is shutting down at school and refusing to do work that she knows will be difficult for her.
She was assessed with the WISC-IV at 7.5 yrs. At that time, the achievement tests the were mostly average to slightly below average scores (spelling was dismal, but reading comprehension was at a grade 8 level)... concerning to me because she is described as HG+/PG. At first, we assumed her ADHD was negatively affected her school performance. After 1.5 years of trying to tweak her meds and make accomodations, nothing has changed and everything is getting worse as she advances in school and the writing load increases. We took her back to the psychologist to assess for dyslexia at the beginning of this month. I honestly cant' recall what tests she administered, as they were not familiar to me. DH and I have an appointment to go over the results at the end of this week. I will be shocked if she is not identified as having dyslexia. Everything I have heard and read about dyslexia makes so much sense in DD's case.
If I learn anything at our meeting this week that may be of any help to you, I will post. Best of luck!
