Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Eval results - advice needed

-quote=mom2one=The OT administered a movement test battery for children -2, but said that he is functional, even though he appears not to have done well.[/quote]

I just had one more thought on the OT report - our ds' OT scores/report also indicated he had functional motor skills (actually not too far below average) - but if dysgraphia is the issue, the challenge isn't simply that specific motor skills aren't functional, dysgraphia is an issue with the connection between the brain directing fine motor action and the inability to develop automaticity in tasks. I had forgotten about it until just now, but I was really surprised when we got our initial OT report for our ds because it read as if everything was ok (low average on some motor tests, above average on others), then stated that he was "an excellent candidate for handwriting OT." Our report came from a private OT eval done after we already had a diagnosis of Disorder of Written Expression from a neuropsychologist (who recommended the OT eval). When we talked again to both the OT and neuropsychologist, they explained that the report looking "good" didn't mean that ds didn't have dysgraphia, it meant that his motor function was high enough that he could go through a course of handwriting OT and would benefit from it. He did have 9 months of handwriting OT and he did see a lot of benefit - his posture when writing improved, his pencil grip was corrected, he no longer held his wrist when writing and the pain he'd had before when handwriting went away. His handwriting was also much more legible after the OT. OTOH, some of those gains were short-term. The correct posture and grip stuck, but legibility didn't stick as much - his handwriting never did regress to the point it was at prior to OT, but it also never *progressed* - so he has handwriting (when he writes slowly and carefully) that today looks like the legible handwriting of a second grader (which is what it looked like after OT). When he does use handwriting he doesn't write slow, because he's only using it on short-answer questions during school and he doesn't have time to go slow and make it look neat - and it comes out relatively illegible, sometimes so messy he can't even read it. (Note - he doesn't actually use handwriting very often either, just here and there at school for short-answer questions or to make a short note.)


I'm sorry I get confused about which type of meeting is happening - is this considered an IEP eligibility meeting where the team decides whether or not to conduct an eligibility evaluation, or is this the follow-up meeting that takes place after the eligibility process where the team decides if your ds qualifies for an IEP? If it's the follow-up meeting, and you feel it's important to have the OT there, you can postpone the meeting until he/she is available (same goes for other team members). There is a requirement that the meeting take place within a certain time period, but you can waive that deadline if you need to in order to schedule a meeting where all interested parties are able to attend. You could also request it be delayed until you've had a chance to have a follow-up meeting with the OT - although I don't think you need to. But... my suggestion might change depending on which type of meeting it is.


That's great that you have a local resource for a parent advocate. Even though the advocate can't get to this first meeting, you can ask for advice that you can use in the meeting. This is what we did throughout our IEP process - our advocate wasn't able to attend the meetings, but her advice on what to ask for, how to ask it, etc was invaluable.


One other thing I remembered after answering previously - re your initial question asking if the school's eval results could be different from the neuropsychs - when our ds was diagnosed by the neurospych he wasn't given a "dysgraphia" diagnosis, but instead had a diagnosis of "Disorder of Written Coordination" (or something like that - a diagnosis from the DSM). He also had a diagnosis of Developmental Coordination Disorder. The neuropsych follow-up meeting was the first time we'd ever heard the word "disability" used with respect to our ds and also the first time we'd been told he wouldn't be able to use handwriting functionally... so we were a little shell-shocked. I went home, started googling away, and found all sorts of references to dysgraphia. I had so many questions after the first follow-up meeting that I had to schedule a second follow-up meeting with the neuropsych - and one of the questions I had was "Is this dysgraphia?". The neurospych said yes, but she doesn't refer to it as dysgraphia because the schools don't refer to it as dysgraphia. What was most important in her report from the school's perspective were the words outlining the impact of his inability to use handwriting and what accommodations he would need. DS' qualified for IEP services under "Specific Learning Disability - Written Expression". So sometimes it's not that the diagnosis is different, it's a matter of how it's referenced by different people.

polarbear