I am thinking of having my 11yo evaluated by the school — mostly because I think that 504 accommodations would help her greatly on the written portion of the state’s assessment test that comes the end of this year (5th grade). My dd writes very slowly and laboriously, and spells on a 2nd/3rd grade level. I think she would do *much* better on the 5th grade test if she were allowed to dictate the written portion.
For those of you not familiar with us, dd is a remediated dyslexic with excellent receptive language skills. We are making very slow progress with spelling, but handwriting will never be fast and we haven’t started a keyboarding program yet.
I haven’t investigated anything so far. Perhaps I’m even asking the wrong question, and should be asking instead how to get an evaluation for dysgraphia and accommodations for that. (Dd had a complete OT eval about a year ago. A few unusual test results, some weakness in hand strength, but nothing that would have qualified her for services.)
Mary
Re: Thanks!
That is a terrific website, and the advice about the TOWL-3 was exactly what I was looking for.
Mary
TOWL-III
Hi Mary,
Just thought I’d mention that my 14yo dd written expression LD was identified using the TOWL-III.
Blessings, momo
Re: TOWL-III
Hi Helen,
You said, ” If your daughter has had a recent WISC look at the processing speed. A low processing speed can indicate that the child may have problems in the writing area .”
How is the processing score reflected on the WISC? I looked at my daughter’s scores and didn’t see anything identified as processing speed.
Thanks for your help! Blessings, momo
Processing Speed
Hi,
The two subtests of Coding and Symbol Search make up the Processing Speed Index. The Coding subtest measures visual-motor coordination.
A low score on Coding (below 8) would indicate visual-motor coordination difficulties.
Helen
Mary,
Go to the following site for a good information on dysgraphia and assessment for dysgraphia. Definitely as for the TOWL-3. Ask for testing in all aspects of Written Expression as the schools do not like to use the word dysgraphia. If your daughter has had a recent WISC look at the processing speed. A low processing speed can indicate that the child may have problems in the writing area though a young child may have an OK processing speed that drops with age.
http://www.margaretkay.com/Dysgraphia.htm
Helen