My son, 8, was just assessed and, although the referral question was ADD (and the answer was YES DEFINITELY), I want to make sure there are no other issues I should be pursuing, like maybe a learning disability? I've read lots of posts here so far and some are similar. You guys are amazingly informed, so I'm hoping you'll have some feedback for me. Here are his WISC score:

VCIQ 132
sim 16
voc 15
comp 15

PRI 104
bd 8
pc 10
mr 14

WMI 113
ds 17
lns 8

PSI 85
cod 6
ss 9

He takes FOREVER to write a sentence. He was diagnosed with sensory processing issues, which manifested as balance, strength and coordination issues, but he had an OT evaluation and they said he had no issues with writing (I disagree). Hoping for feedback!

Your son is definitely gifted, and if there is a gifted program at school, I would guess he would do well in it. Even if your school doesn't have a gifted program, there are probably kids in the regular classroom who he can compete/collaborate with at his level. Around here we call this 'optimally gifted' in that the teachers would be expected to have known enough other children with his level of giftedness as to be experienced and comfortable. Through the magic of the Internet, many of the posters here have 'rather the opposite kind of gifted kids' so don't freak out over our gloom and doom if you choose to stick around and read more, ok? Call you state gifted organization and join up - there may be Saturday classes or Summer programs targeted to Gifted kids that 'make learning fun!'

There is no handwriting without balance, strength and coordination, so get as much OT in as possible. Add swimming, martial arts, whatever physical activity you can.
That's Job 1.
Other ideas:
'Hothouse' typing (my son was fluent at age 9, and never had another problem with written product as long as a keyboard was available.)

I found the 'Handwriting without Tears' products very mom-friendly. If there is a seminar teaching how to use 'The Print Tool' going on nearby, attend and then you can do as much writing practice at home as you need. If you have more money than time, find a local tester/tutor that uses Handwriting without Tears products. I found that 5 minutes of making pretty letters on their fabulous paper in the evening after work was a fun way to spend time with my son, sort of calming. We'd do that for a week or two and then put it away for a few months.

Does your son like school? Is he 'learning how to learn?'

Best Wishes,
Grinity

Grinity, you don't know how much I appreciate your ideas. I will be all over every one of those. I'll google"hothouse typing" but I may need to hear more from you on that. David is kind of neutral on school. I can't say he enjoys academics, but I do wonder now if he needs more simulation. What he does live are the social aspects. Hopefully I can private-message you if I have more questions about your iras?

Glad to hear it.
Um. Hothouse is a slang verb we use here meaning....pull out all the mon tricks to make learning one particular activity fun. Typing in this situation. Sometimes it is rapid math facts to prove to the school that more math is needed.

The first step in hothousing is to figure out what is reinforcing to the child by removing assumptions and really observing. The number 1 reinforcer is often special time with mon or dad. Special time is any time with just the 2 of you where no intrusions or distractions of the parent are allowed. Then the idea is to let the child choose the agenda and make a sincere effort to delight in the child.

Once you've done that a few times you will become an even higher value reinforcer plus you will have better chances to know what else is reinforcing for the child. I wouldn't have the child earn special time minutes but I would take some of the aspects that you learned about in special time and build them into hothousing.

Another novel reinforcer is 'doing what older kids do.' So if there is an older sibling or cousin or neighbor who doesn't know how to type then set out to teach that other kid and insist that your target child is just too young but promise that you'll teach them when they are older. If you have no older child availible then you can substitute yourself sometimes.

If you have more of a 'I say jump you sat how high' relationship with your child then just set a time of day and announce that there will be 5 minutes of practice of whatever typing program you have daily at 4pm. At age 8 you aren't likely to see results for many months so this is a great time to demonstrate that some skills require repitition and many months of building up muscle memory. This is a very useful lession for most gifted kids.

So that's my crash course on hothousing.

Love and more love
Grinity

An idea to help with typing: try the Dance Mat typing on the kids BBC site. My daughter worked through the whole thing in 1-2 weeks last summer (just before she turned 8). She liked the program and picked it up very quickly. I do find I have to remind her to type properly from time to time, but in general she can type better than most adults I know. This was a big step for her because writing is her biggest struggle. No one will ever know what is in her head if the ask her to write it down.

Dose Dance Mat Typing teach proper finger position? I think that's key for kids who are going to be typing for much of their lives.

I like Mavis Beacon teaches typing, as it emphasizes proper finger position, and is highly customizable, so you can change the music, and toggle the games. I think games where the typing is needed to complete some other challenge are great next steps to get fluency. My son also enjoyed Runescape, an online multiplayer game with lots of chat, that's what got his speed up in the end.

I am finding this discussion very helpful as typing is a skill I want my child to learn this summer.

Yes, it does teach proper finger position. It has a series of lessons that start with the home row and then add on to that.... complete with dancing animals with snazzy british accents. DD did it completely independently (a first for her!) so I can't comment if there were games or not. But it had to have been fun or she would never have completed it!

Here is the link to the site for those interested: BBC Dance Mat Typing

Thanks for the BBC recommendation. Early on we'd use BBC resources regularly. DS8 is using the typing program as I type this... Seems to be a hit. Good typing fundamentals in a friendly, game like environment (without too much of a game slant). Plus some humor thrown in for good measure!

JB

There was a thread on typing programs here:
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....1765/Recommendations_for_learning_t.html
We got Type to Learn 3 as a result and it's good, although it was already a bit hard to find then, having been replace by TTL4.

DS5 is learning how to touch type. Recently he started putting his hands in the correct position and everything. I think this must have been simply emulating us. I am casting about for typing software now. Thanks to all in this thread.

Another thing to consider is getting a right sized keyboard. I will post a pic of the one I found for him, and links to another option (on my phone right now).

Here's a picture of the little keyboard I bought off of eBay recently. It fits DS5's hands better than our smallest laptop keyboard does (that's a 12" laptop in the picture for comparison). Note that the key widths are reduced, but the height even more so. The lettering says "MC Saite".

Here's another mini keyboard I found, but didn't get because I didn't like the slanted keys, plus it was more expensive (shop around for your best deal etc.). There is a pink version available.

Thanks for the link - always love those boy-friendly resources.
I am very interested in the idea that some experts are discouraging home row touch typing....what are they recommending instead?
Grinity

We like Typing Instructor too. I too would be very interested in the alternative methods, especially if they're available in game format...

DeeDee

Wow! Thanks for all these ideas, everybody!