Your ds sounds sooo much like my ds13 in 2nd grade! FWIW, up front, we discovered through testing at the end of 2nd grade that my ds has fine motor dysgraphia (shows up in the same pattern of significant relative low in coding speed on WISC... his symbol search was higher - I think - I'd have to dig out his old reports to be sure). We later on discovered our ds also has an expressive language disorder - I believe it's somewhat related to his dysgraphia but basically it causes him difficulty in generating thoughts and then getting them out into written expression. You'd never know he has an expressive language disorder from *talking* to him because when he talks he's very clear, obviously very bright, can talk in great detail about things he's interested in etc.
A quick question for you - did your ds have any other testing or just the WISC? Did he have any type of achievement testing (WIAT or WJ-III) and did he have any follow-up tests of visual-motor integration or executive functioning/fine motor etc? These are things that are important (jmo) to determine *why* the coding and symbol search scores are so low - it could be fine motor (as you've noted a slight issue) or it could be something entirely different - vision for instance. Once you know *why* the score is low you can work toward remediating and accommodating
Despite the low processing scores, he is an excellent reader.
Processing speed subtest scores have nothing to do with reading - they test the ability to copy quickly and correctly (coding) and to find an object in a busy visual field (symbol search).
However, he has a really hard time extracting thoughts from his head to write down. (He is a fluent and sophisticated oral communicator.) As a result, his written productivity in school is very low.
This is my ds. There were several follow-up things that were helpful in understanding what was up (and to be honest, I wouldn't say that any of us ever *completely* understood, we've just done our best to help him!) First, the TOWL-4 will be helpful to see if there are specific skills associated with writing that your ds needs help with. I'll add a disclaimer here - our ds had such a *huge* challenge with generating thoughts for written expression that the first time he took the TOWL it couldn't be scored because he couldn't think of enough words to write. The other eval that was *extremely* helpful was a speech-language eval (CELF-4). DS didn't score low on this, but he had wildly discrepant scores (from 99th percentile to 60th percentile). It's not a timed test, but his tester also noted that he answered most subtest questions quickly, except for the subtests that were lower scores, and in those tests it took a *long* time for him to come up with answers.
The teachers totally get what is going on, so we don't have "school problems" in that sense--but we're all searching for ideas that might make it easier for him to write. (We'll teach him to keyboard this summer.)
It's good you have understanding teachers. Try to remember though - they understand that he's struggling, but probably don't have the answer for "why" - and understanding "why" as much as you *can* is really important in putting together a plan to help him.
Keyboarding is a great place to start. For some kids with fine motor challenges, that's all it takes to open up and get the words flowing. So it's a great (and important) first step. If using the keyboard doesn't get the words flowing out (this is what happened with my ds), then I'd want to look further - if he hasn't had the follow-up testing I mentioned in my first paragraph above, I'd look into getting a private neuropsych eval if you can. I'd also suggest an SLP eval.
[quote[He's in second grade. His other major problem is staying on task (because the inside of his head is so interesting, so he thinks about things rather than focuses on his work, which of course is written and thus, that much less compelling). Similar experiences? [/quote]
TOTALLY similar experience. Our ds' inattention during writing assingments in his 2nd grade class had his teacher convinced he had ADHD - but he doesn't. He simply was completely and totally stuck with no idea how to proceed.
the main thing I'm wondering about is how to help him with the processing speed stuff--and how that might map to the writing and organizational challenges.
Neuropsych testing should provide you with a good clue re why the processing speed subtest scores are so low. And has he ever had his vision checked? If not, I'd get his eyesight checked out right away (and I'm not talking about developmental optometrist - which might be very useful too, but just a plain old vision exam). If his eyesight *is* ok, I'd also consider having a developmental optometrist look at his vision (they look at how eyes work *together* - tracking, etc). I have a dd who had severe double vision all the way up through 2nd grade that none of us knew about because she thought everyone was seeing double like she was! We discovered the vision issue through a neuropsych eval where she had extremely low scores on coding and symbol search.
Re figuring out how/if the low processing score subtests map into the struggle with generating written expression - try the keyboard. That might help right away if it's just a fine motor issue. Also check the vision - if there's a visual challenge, those subtest scores should increase dramatically after the vision challenge is corrected. BUT - I think the chances of a vision challenge causing the inability to generate written expression is lower than a fine motor (or other) challenge - partly because my severely double-vision dd had no issues with writing stories. Her handwriting was sloppy due to her vision but her ideas flowed.
Re the fine motor - you might ask your ds if handwriting causes his hand to hurt, and also google dysgraphia and see if he fits any of the symptoms.
Hang in there - and ask us any questions you can think of!
Best wishes,
polarbear
