Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Issues with capitalization

My son, who is 10, has so much difficulty with remembering to capitalize words. When I read his submissions to school I am appalled. These are short assignments or responses my son is typing into Seesaw for distance learning, not formal essays. When he writes something longer he's better about capitalization but forgets about 1/3 of the time in his first draft. It seems like carelessness to me but I wonder if it's actually some clue that he is struggling with something.

Other issues that may or may not be related: my son has difficulty with handwriting but is doing much better with keyboarding. He has some trouble with organizing and planning his writing and written work reflects much less complexity than his thinking and speaking. Oddly enough, his teachers report that he is an excellent poet but I have noticed that longer pieces of writing that are more conventional often use odd turns of phrase. Again, using a keyboard has made a big difference but his writing is only at grade level, which one wouldn't expect of a kid with verbal scores in the 140s.

He has Tourettes Syndrome and anxiety. He is socially awkward and not clumsy but definitely physically awkward. Sometimes I wonder if he has dysgraphia but we haven't had him tested because the local testing center said it would cost $5-7,000 and insurance won't pay for it. I have not yet been convinced that there is an issue that justifies spending that much money on testing when none of his teachers have expressed concern. Other potential data points: his handwriting is a bit labored but not particularly messy or hard to read. His spelling is excellent. He understands the rules of capitalization but is inconsistent with using them. If I prompt him, he will go back and edit and fix the errors. But he consistently makes them no matter how many times I remind him this is an issue and that he needs to double check before submitting work. Is this just careless typing or should I dig deeper?

I see this post is old. But replying in case this is helpful to others.

My 10 year old was just identified as HG and diagnosed with dysgraphia. He has issues with capitalization and punctuation (among many other issues with his handwritten work).

We are in the very expensive Bay Area and it did not cost that much for the educational psychologist to administer a test called the Beery VMI. (Less than $1,000; may have even been less than $500 but it's hard for us to separate out the time she spent on the WISC-V versus the Beery VMI.) That really helped crystallize the dysgraphia diagnosis.

You should ask around and see if someone can administer the Beery VMI and if so, how much that would cost. The test I think took less than 30 minutes to administer (although I was not present, so cannot say for sure), so it's not a high-hours request of a testing psychologist.

Welcome, ardenwood! (And apologies, lepa, that no one responded to your original post.)

I very much hope the VMI did not cost as much as $1000 per administration, even in your pricey area! Depending on how many components were administered and how quickly the student worked, 30 minutes might be generous. But I'm glad it was helpful for your DC's evaluation.

There are other types of dysgraphia, some of which would be better served by other instruments or more comprehensive evaluations, such as by an occupational therapist (if the concern is mainly fine-motor), or in academics, in various aspects of written expression (various types of professionals can do this). Executive functions--which are often impacted in the diagnoses reported by the OP--are also a factor for both mechanics and expressive aspects of writing. For example, self-monitoring errors and dysregulated attention both can explain inconsistent use of punctuation and capitalization, as well as spelling errors. Planning/organizing weaknesses can generate the difference between strong brief writing products and weaker extended writing products. EF would be best evaluated by a psychologist. Communication disorders can also impact written expression, at the level of the actual language being generated, even before it reaches the page, and would best be evaluated by a speech language pathologist.

Bottom line, there are many possible causes of writing weaknesses, some of which are in the category of dysgraphia proper. Among those, there are multiple types of dysgraphia. Appropriate remediation depends on accurate identification of the cause of writing weakness--which also requires an appropriately comprehensive evaluation of all suspected areas of challenge. Sometimes you just happen to pick the right area on the first try, but not always. (Your evaluator probably identified it more quickly because they also had WISC data and the accompanying clinical observations.)