Polarbear,
Unfortunately, it is not just her perception. Her 2nd grade teacher brought this up as a concern at our parent/teacher meetings and suggested Xtramath.com to improve math fluency. DD hated it and complained about training to be a calculator. She started saying things like “I hate math. All I do is learn tricks to solve things I already know how to solve.” I did not want her to hate math- I believe she is very good at it. So I stopped torturing her. The mad minute tests at school are the bane of her existence. She can never finish more than a third of the problems.
Her teacher did not provide any recommendations for improving writing fluency but did mention DD’s slow speed and inability to keep up with classmates. When DD brought home the writing journal at the end of 2nd grade, it was full of unfinished work, barely a couple of sentences per page. She has no difficulty with forming her letters-in fact she has beautiful penmanship. Even her teacher commented on how she doesn’t write but draws each letter – that is part of the problem. She uses the eraser more than the pencil- everything has to be just right. Her pencil grip does seem weird to me but she says she is comfortable. And as I said before, she can draw for hours and not complain. I have asked her about what is causing her trouble writing and she does not have any real reasons that I could pull out from her. I will try the tests you mention to quantify the issue. Regarding talking to the doctor, can I just make an appointment for this even though it is not really an urgent issue or should I wait 6 months for our annual visit? I have personally observed her palms sweat when asked to write more than a few sentences at a time, so maybe I can request an appointment with the doctor to discuss that.
Thank you so much for your ideas and recommendations.
