Hi I posted once before but wanted to add some more information which may add light to my previous post.
I am the mom to a 5 year old son, Christopher (he turns 6 in march). He has been previously diagnosed with apraxia and aphasia. He was in speech therapy for 3.5 years and graduated last summer. He also has acquired esotropia which is a vision problem and he wears prescription glasses (5.5 in both eyes) so he can see about 20/30 with his glasses.
I was the one who posted looking for articles about the connection between LD’s and future problems.
Christopher was assessed by an OT in December because I worried about dysgraphia. The OT said he does not show signs of this because the message is getting from the brain to the fingers and coming out okay although exptremely poor writing. She said with dysgraphia the message would not get through. But Christopher cannot write a straight line. His lines wiggled all the way down…like watching a seimograph used to judge earthquakes! You can see what letter he was trying for most of the time but very shaky and other times I can’t tell what it was.
This OT said his lack of manual dexterity skills is from lack of finger strength. She did not okay further OT and suggested many manipulatives to use at home to build finger strength and the Handwriting Without Tears Program.
I worry about the OT not wanting any more therapy after the assessment. His handwriting is so poor and he cannot tie his shoes either. I did buy all the maipulatives and the Handwriting Program as well and will work on it.
I know these type of Expressive Language Disorders often lead to other LD’s which is why I had him assessed when his writing skills did not develop. He can cut well and plays Nintendo great!
During speech therapy they said his muscles in the mouth and jaw were weaken than normal so the OT says this finger problem is related to that. My question is how long do I wait before asking for a reassessment? Any other people with similiar issues? Do you think it is only finger strength? His intelligence is great. Expressive speech doing well. Mainly just very poor writing. Can identify letters upper and lower. Numbers up to 100 with no problem. Can do simple math and read small 2 letter words.
Maybe I just worry too much. But he is turning 6 in two months, is still in pre-K and needs to start Kindergarten in Sept. I just don’t want his writing skills to make him struggle or feel bad. I am lucky in that his future K class teachers already know him and about his struggles and are willing to bend over backwards to help me.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks also to those who sent emails offering advice and suggesting we see an OT. I plan to write to every person individually but was hoping this further clarification would elicite more information.
Thanks.