3rd grade/8 year old son

This could be part of the problem with his writing and copying. It may also be a combination of small motor issues but he could also have an undiagnosed astigmatism or other visual deficit which is impacting his success at writing and reading.

While my daughter doesn’t have any problems with reading, she cannot write, and has issues with recall. Before you assume it is a fine motor problem, how are other tasks - ie coloring, drawing, etc. For our daughter, writing is the only thing that causes difficulty. Unfortunately, you need to write for all subjects. We used several kids typing programs this summer to help with her keyboarding skills, and try to type whenever possible.

In addition, one of the teachers discovered last year that when she tried to copy something from a paper that was laying on the desk, she had great difficulty. However, if the paper was placed in an upright position, similar to the old typing stands, she had no issues.

Our daughter is now in 4th grade and we have many similar things that you are requesting written in our IEP. My problem now is that they are not being followed. So, we have a meeting next week to address the issue.

Good luck to you and your son.

His OT report from Nov 02 (when he was 8.0) showed; VMI score 111 (age equiv 9.6), subtest of Visual Perception 83 (age equiv 6.0), subtest of Motor coordination 105 (age equiv 8.6), Evaluation Tool of Children’s Handwriting (ETCH) showed poor legibility of letters and words (words 64.7% and letters 71.2%), good for numbers (88.2%), some improper formation patterns which interfere with quality/legibility of printing and inconsistent size of letters, OK for ability to copy from a distance or dictation and OK for sentence composition. Report goes on “One of his major problems with his ability to score well on this tests is that fact that he has difficulty remembering the sequence of the alphabet. He consistently writes U after Q which causes him to lose the correct sequence..” Also, we had a private exam by an Optometrist last year which showed no problems with eyesight.
So… OT is continuing with goals of 1- copy age appropriate forms. 2-correctly identify various forms to match stimulus of at least 5 items 3- draw a line thru various paths/mazes approx 1/4 inch wide with no more than 2 deviations and 4- print all letters in lower case showing proper formation w/o a visual model. In addition, he goes to Resource every morning for Lang Arts and Speech for Apraxia.. We work with him at home by reviewing his classwork for understanding, pair reading, dolch flash cards.

Any thoughts/ suggestions/ ideas of any other ways to help him??
Thanks!!

This sounds like the dyslexic variety of dysgraphia where the problem comes, not from motor skills, but from his ability to remember/recognize letters and the sounds they make. What is being done for his dyslexia?

A simple idea, but does he have a model of the alphabet taped to the top of his desk?

Was the optometrist one who specializes in developmental vision testing? I ask because I have seen the sequencing problem with remembering the alphabet associated with developmental vision delays, which are not evaluated in regular eye exams. Handwriting problems are also often associated with developmental vision delays.

If it was developmental vision testing that he passed with flying colors, then you may want to consider doing something like Audiblox at home to develop sequencing skills and hand strength. Also, Callirobics often helps with handwriting (http://www.callirobics.com ).

Nancy

Yes I’m sure it is dyslexia, school is doing what I posted above-in the resource room he is using Lexia, Reading Milestones, Brain Builder. At home last summer I used PG got 1/2 way through. He has difficulty with remembering, for example the sound the short vowels make.. Certainly part of the problem is his speech disorder, his short vowel pronounciations are not all correct (his short ‘a’s sound more like short ‘o’s…) These are being addressed in speech therapy at school and reminders at home.. But he still reverts to his old speech patterns.. We also do Lexia at home, pair reading nightly, and dolch flash cards. We are now getting the social studies/ science packets from school sent home while the class is working on them, to reinforce at home. I’ve also ordered ‘Key Kids’, the typing software they use at school for home use. He is making progress in reading, but slowly. I think the main problems behind slow progress are the speech disorder, sequencing and memory. He is slipping further behind his peers, any other ideas on what else we can do to help??

Have you looked into auditory processing disorders (APD)? Your son may not be pronouncing sounds correctly because he can’t “hear” them correctly. To look into auditory processing disorders, check “LD In Depth” above, and look at “processing disorders.” Also look at www.ncapd.org (National Coalition of Auditory Processing Disorders).

My son has APD, and was in speech therapy in school for two years. His articulation still wasn’t great, but he could pronounce the -individual- sounds correctly, and was let go from services. I took him to a private SLP and we talked about different remediation therapies. She had a theory that most programs would do the same thing if used with the same intensity. So we did Earobics ($59) for 40 minutes a day, five days a week. I saw big gains in his listening skills after the Earobics.

I tutored my son using “Reading Reflex” the summer before he did Earobics. He made progress, but it wasn’t great (and he really hated working with me <g>). The summer after Earobics, I took him to a one week intensive for Phono-Graphix, and he did beautifully.

I also know when my son finally understood the sound/symbol relationship, his articulation improved greatly. One of the other things that has been very successful with helping my son’s writing speed improve, is that I make him SOUND OUT each sound in each word as he writes it. This helps improve his automaticity - and he isn’t constantly looking from the board to his paper trying to get all the right letters down. It’s not perfect, but it’s improving little by little.

Lil

I have to say the absolue single best intervention for sequencing issues in interactive metronome. IT also improves motor planning and attention.

My son had a major sequencing deficit and I will tell you that sequencing problems affect many aspects of learning. Reading writing and of course math was affected. Some kids can circumvent these problems with really good visual spatial skills but my son had a major visual spatial deficit as well.

Nothing impacted sequencing quite like IM. There is scientific evidence that supports the use of IM for sequencing deficit. It can be found on their site.

Vision therapy also helps if you get the right therapist. My son had all the problems you mention and after IM and VT he has improved dramatically. He had motor planning and attention problems as well but they are mostly gone after IM and VT.

www.interactivemetronome.com

Just to add, if the problem is true dyslexia without a visual component, vision therapy won’t help.

The first thing I would like to say is that there are likely auditory processing issues. However, I am not saying that everyone needs to have this confirmed officially, because most kids who have speech/language delays and reading problems probably DO have APD. But what I DO know is that effective reading methods are ESSENTIAL for a child with these issues and Reading Milestones is about the WORST possible program for him! It is a sight word program!!! By all means, stop what you are doing and go back to the Reading Reflex combined with the Earobics, as Lil suggested. Do not wait until next summer. You need to do it as intensively as possible to get him reading as soon as possible! It won’t happen with what they are using at school. Lexia software is ok for practice, but it is not appropriate to stand alone as a structured language reading program.

Janis

In third grade, I would still work on remediating handwriting and learning keyboarding skills. It does look and sound like motor skills are not the problem. Perception and spatial skills maybe or the integration of both. It could stem from dyslexia too. I believe that there is an aspect of handwriting we have not yet clearly identified. Often, students with poor handwriting can score within normal limits on fine-motor and spatial perceptual testing. In addition, they do not have visualmotor (tracking etc.) or acuity probelms. Mel Levine refers to it in his book “All kinds of Minds and “The Myth of Laziness”, yet he does not clearly define what we are seeing other than “graphomotor dysfunction” - this tends to be a catchall phrase for difficulty with handwriting.