Assessing possible dysgraphia in OUSD
Hi all - Ive read the archives and am looking for advice on steps and people to speak to re assessing whether our child just has poor handwriting, or may have dysgraphia or some related LD. The issues we see do fit many of the diagnostic criteria for dysgraphia. We are currently in a public elementary school in OUSD. For several years we've coped with nearly illegible handwriting and teachers assuming our child is just lazy and sloppy or not attuned to details. But our child actually tries very hard and has felt shame around this problem - and often has hand pain while writing longer assignments. Approaching middle school the situation has become a bigger problem, and we need to understand what is really going on. I have called a number of the professionals listed on BPN and have reached out to DREDF. But am hoping for more recent referrals and advice from anyone who has managed this particular issue. From what I'm hearing, it sounds like OUSD can push back at assessing LDs and doing the testing required - it sounds like we need to send a formal letter ASAP to get the process officially started. Any advice is most welcome!
Parent Replies
Id ask the school about allowing him to use a tablet or laptop to write. There are loads of typing programs out there. You didnt say if there are any dyslexic signs but you might want to look into it.
Middle school uses a lot of electronics. Maybe chat to the vp about it.
Wow- I just want to let you know I think you're a fabulous parent. I've had unremediated dysgraphia my whole life, it was never addressed (it continues to be ridiculed), and were it not for the advent of word processing technology, I doubt I would have made it through grad school. I'm a speech pathologist (inactive) (not like the calligraphy world was going to call to me! lol), one thing to look into is if Dysgraphia by itself is enough to get services on an IEP. The professional most likely to help dysgraphia is the Occupational Therapist, because they can do the cognitive side plus the fine motor side. PTs, SLPs and special ed or reading teachers cannot, it's outside all of our purviews. You might need an eval by a child Cognitive Psychologist. Good luck and do let us all know how it works out!! Above all, don't worry!
hello! I feel your concern, and went through a similar process with our son in BUSD. One great resource is www.understood.org.
The formal letter is very important, and also getting an outside second opinion to help with reading the tests once you get the results back. We have an educational therapist who helped us with this process, as the district tried to tell us that nothing was wrong when in fact the results were clear and consistent with a dysgraphia diagnosis.
Lots of people find external testing very helpful, but it can be quite expensive ($4,000 and above). So you'll have to shop around, and you may have to push the district to take it seriously if you don't have the money for external testing.
Our son was helped by vision therapy and we got lower cost add-on testing from the binocular vision clinic at UC Berkeley, but that may not be the case for your son (in our case dysgraphia is related to visual processing differences, and visual memory issues). UC Berkeley will do a few simple tests for a lower cost, so that may be something to look into.
Good luck!
OUSD will not help you. I put a request in writing for an assessment for my son. I filled out some questionnaires and the school psychologist observed him in the classroom for a bit. They insisted he did not have a problem because he was at or above grade level in everything but writing. We finally did get a dysgraphia diagnosis outside of OUSD. I don't have much advice for you except to tell you that you will have to go outside of OUSD for proper assessment and diagnosis.