ps -
On a related note, his motor skills seem to be improving, but he has been really working at it every day (including holidays/breaks etc). If he misses a day, it shows up. I am not very hopeful of getting a dysgraphia diagnosis based on how much he has been working at it. However, more than 4 sentences tires him as well
It's possible that this is developmental or due to a different challenge, but this also sounds like it could be dysgraphia (the tiring after more than 4 sentences and the having to really work at it to improve). One thing you might want to take to your neuropsych interview are examples of his handwriting - other clues to dysgraphia are inconsistent spacing and letter size, reversals, mixing up caps and lower case, backward letters, lack of consistency in how the same letter is formed, crumpled up/messy/torn up paper etc. I wouldn't worry that dysgraphia (if that's what it is) won't be diagnosed because your ds has worked on fine motor skills and his handwriting has improved - dysgraphia is diagnosed in a neuropsych eval by a combination of evidence - our ds has a very distinct pattern in his ability testing and achievement testing that is reflective of dysgraphia plus the neuropsych included follow-up tests that showed clearly the type of dysgraphia he has (fine motor). His neuropsych also looked at his handwriting examples both from school and the work he did during the eval and things she noted about it included the speed (slow), she observed how he held his pencil and his wrist and posture while writing, she observed that he didn't form letters consistently and it was her opinion that his level of handwriting output (form, spelling, consistency etc) was significantly below expected level based on education and grade. A teacher sees a lot of broad spectrum of kids using handwriting and will be used to seeing some kids who "get it" quickly and others who are on the lower end of the "getting it" spectrum - same thing with reading in the early grades. The teacher is naturally looking at it from a teacher's perspective - not all children develop beautiful handwriting early on. The neuropysch is going to be looking at your ds' samples from the perspective of being a professional trained in looking for issues who also has most likely seen a wide variety of handwriting samples from young children. He/she is going to be more able to identify an issue with handwriting (if it exists) simply because she's looking for potential issues, and because she has the training in what to look for, as well as having extra input to guide her that the teacher doesn't have.
polarbear
