Dysgraphia

My son had this same problem. It turned out many of the issues that we were seeing were related to a visual motor deficit.

He received Occupational therapy in school and that made a difference.

The biggest difference came from interactive metronome and vision therapy. They both helped to correct the underlying issues and now everything is just easier for him. His behaviour improved as well because he can now see the world as it really is.

That last line is hard to explain but all the therapy we did just helped him to pull it all together. There are less roadblocks in his way.

I would recommend this route over a tutor that only addresses the symptoms (the writing difficulty) rather than the underlying issues.

Did an opthamologist test his vision or a developmental optometrist who specializes in children’s vision problems? If it wasn’t the latter, the conclusion may not be accurate.

Is your son learning to read? Is he having problems with reading as well?

A developmental vision exam by a qualified optometrist is the best place to start.

Don’tstart with a developmental vision exam. That should follow after your child has been thoroughly examined for the presence or absence of LD and/or ADHD. Six years old is not too young for such an evaluation. You need to go to a professional who specializes in making these kinds of diagnoses. Often a big children’s hospital or a university will have such specialists. Your pediatrician may also be able to make a recommendation. After you have the main evaluation done, then consider an examination by an occupational therapist and by a developmental vision expert. in order to get a full picture. Difficulty with writing can stem from a number of causes, ranging from dyslexia to ADHD to motor coordination issues to vision issues. A child as young as yours who exhibits such difficulty with school could have any or all of these things going on at once. If you only talk to a developmental optometrist, you may miss out on a chance for early remediation of difficulties that do not stem from vision issues.

Oh my gosh! Thank you for the excellent feedback. Interactive metronome therapy. I’ll have to look into that. Since he is not in school, I wonder if I could do it. An opthamologist saw him. What is the difference between that and a developmental optometrist? What could one see that the other would miss? I don’t think that he has ADHD because he is able to concentrate for a long time on things which interest him. I certainly wouldn’t rule out some specific learning disabilities. I should add that he began talking at 13 months and started putting 2 words together at 17-18 months so he had normal speech development. He speaks very clearly with a large vocabulary with no articulation problems. With regards to reading, he is reading although with some struggle. It is sort of like pulling teeth to get him to sit and read. I use a lot of bribery. I am going to look into having him evaluated. Thank you all again for the feedback.

Good luck! It is great you are getting an early start on this. So many children are not diagnosed until they are much older, and precious time is lost remediating their LD. The best results come with early intervention. BTW, children with ADHD don’t have problems concentrating on things they like or are interested in. They often can pay attention for extended periods when they are doing something interesting or stimulating. In fact, they sometimes hyperfocus on these kinds of activities. So, while I have no idea if your child has ADHD or not, you should not rule out that possibility altogether. The best bet is an evaluation that looks into everything, including ADHD.

most opthalmologist test for vision the 20/20 thing but a developmental/behavioral optometrist tests for the eyes working together, focusing, as well as vision (the 20/20 thing). A really good multi-practice clinic like a university or childrens hospital may include the developmental vision and the occupational therapist. They are often booked way in advance. Consider posting your state or region or city and you may get recommendations. eg. The Scottish rite Childrens hospital are often mentioned as are the Levine clinic, Amen clinic.

I concur that you are wise to seek answers why an articulate, bright kid hates 1st grade.

While you are waiting for an appointment, look at Phono-Graphix as a reading program. its cheap,effective and very available - amazon.com or readamerica.net

Opthalmologists do not check for developmental vision delays, although a few (very, very few!) employ orthopticians to check for accommodative and convergence problems. Many parents think a regular eye exam by an opthalmologist rules out all vision problems, but this is definitely not the case. It only rules out diseases of the eye, astigmatism and acuity issues.

See http://www.childrensvision.com for more information about developmental vision problems, and http://www.covd.org to locate board-certified developmental optometrists in your area.

If your son is reading without difficulty, the problem may be visual-motor integration rather than developmental vision delays. An occupational therapist would be able to evaluate visual-motor integration. Medical insurance will usually cover an OT eval if you are referred by your physician (call the OT first).

Nancy

Thank you all so much. You have been awsome. I have booked an appointment with our pediatrican and hopefully we can get him evaluated soon. We have a very good children’s hospital here. Thanks for the great links! I feel so much better already.

I took that advice once and did not get an evalution by an optometrist done when my son was young. I did go to an opthalmologist who along with my pediatrician told me, “Kids grow out of these sorts of things.”

The school and others pushed the adhd diagnosis. The adhd diagnosis is a diagnosis based on a basket of symptoms. Symptoms that can be many things including a visual motor deficit like the one my son had.
If you child has motor issues make sure you look for an optomotrist that addresses these issues. Some only look at specific vision issues and do not address the more global motor issues.

Just be aware that many will push the adhd diagnosis on kids with motor issues especially writing issues. I have seen it with friends kids as well.

Adhd is a diagnosis to pursue if therapy doesn’t work. Therapy addresses underlying issues where adhd meds treat symptoms. For some there is no other way but for my son I am glad I addressed the underlying issues.

I have friends who pursued the med route while we were doing therapy. My son is miles ahead of those same kids today.

Both handwriting and more fluent reading can be taught directly. This is the time to do it, *now* — don’t wait until he is convinced he is a failure. There are effective, proven methods out there. Get a good tutor or educate yourself; in half an hour to an hour a day you can turn this around.

I have previously posted several long articles about both handwriting and reading skills. Unfortunately my computer has completely crashed and I’m trying to find a technician to recover the files, so I’m using tthe internet cafe to post and can’t send you stuff. But search here and in Teaching Reading and in Teaching LD under my two identities, victoria and victoriah, and you may find some of them posts still available.

If any kind person to whom I sent those posts still has the copies, I would greatly appreciate getting new copies back to pass along, thanks.