Hello and welcome! This is a tremendous site. I'm not sure how I would have made it through the last 3-4 years without all these wonderful people to share their been there/done that stories.
Our DD9 is an amazing kid. I'm completely bIased ;-), I know. She was crackerjack smart and old beyond her years as a toddler. As a preschooler, she amazed us with her photographic memory, but stumped us by refusing to colour, draw or, temper tantrum worthy outright refusal to write. Her first two years of school were horrendous. She hated everything about it, from sitting still to learning dumb things to the dreaded printing. We went looking for a learning disability in grade 2. It took three years and three separate sets of assessments to finally put a name to her struggles. She has ADHD, 'mild' dyslexia (stealth), and dysgraphia. Buried under these diagnoses is a PG child who developed an anxiety disorder from being forced to sit in a class, day after day, where no one understood her and most labelled her as 'lazy'.
Fast forward to the end of this school year, grade 4, at a new school. She described it as the best year of her life! Appropriate accommodations are imperative. Cooperative and supportive teachers are a blessing. We are finally seeing what she is capable of and she is knocking everyone's socks off! She reads so high above her grade level that no one wanted to give her a dyslexia label. But she can't read aloud very well. She changes words and guess and switches things around. But, she can read a 700 page Harry Potter book in three days and recall every single detail.
Your daughter already excels at school. Getting the accommodations incorporated will allow her to soar to new heights. There are some great suggestions in the previous posts. We made suggestions to DD's school based on the ones I garnered from posting here, just like you. She had tried a lot of them and get teacher helped her figure out what works best for her. The typing and use of 'ginger' software have made the biggest difference.
Good luck as you sort things out. You aren't alone! The world better watch out when all of our kids get what they need to succeed!!
(apologies for all typos. Typed on iPhone with one finger because I gave a herniated disc, can't bear to get up and walk to the computer downstairs.)
Last edited by kathleen'smum; 07/11/12 06:31 PM. Reason: Autocorrect sucks
