WAY OT - Sorry. Desperate for help

thanks Vicki! 8-) Cheri (Bubbee to Emily and Nathan)

Cheryl:

1) The plural of "anecdote" is not "data". 2) Your personal experience is not necessarily universal. 3) Neither you nor your mother are medical professionals, and neither of you knows the child in question. Genuine professionals REFUSE to do net.diagnosis because it's damn near impossible. The most they will say is along the lines of, "It sounds as though it might be X, but go see your own doctor, don't just take my word as gospel." 4) Continuing to scream at anyone who suggests that your opinion might not be the *only* correct one is not making a point. It *is* making you look silly.

Celine

Here comes another 2 cents worth, but I am married to a first grade teacher(25 yrs) and have been a psychologist since 1965. I would have a pediatric neuropsychologist evaluate the child. If you are near a major university with a Ph.D. program in psychology you may be able to get the eval done free. It will be slow, and graduate students will do the actual testing, but they will be supervised by a faculty member. If the U also has an education dept. they can recommend remedial action if it is necessary. They may also provide it as training for their grad students. If you do not have access to a Univ. try to get 3 referrals from each of several sources, the ones that are mentioned by everyone or a majority are the ones to see. Ask pediatricians, social workers, psychologists, spec ed teachers. Make sure the person is boarded in "neuropsychology", that means they have at least 5 yrs post doc experience and have passed a rigorous exam by the ABEPP- American board of examiners of professional psychologists. They should have a certificate for this. A reassurance from someone who truly knows what to look for can be a boon to you and the child. Don't forget Leonardo Da Vinci did mirror writing all his life. That is why it took so long for anyone to understand his notebooks. I agree that the label is dysgraphia, but there are several types. He does not have expressive aphasia since he does well in other mediums. Buying him a simple laptop to use for his writing assignments might help a lot. Set it up for a fairly large block type font at first and then change to an italic and then to one that looks like handwriting. There are milions of fonts besides the ones MS puts in their OS. It will make him special in a positive way with the other kids. I have seen neuropsychologists do some incredible diagnostic work, including identfying brain lesions that the MDs couldn't find until autopsy. Do NOT panic, I don't think your son has a lesion-that was just an example. Any way, he may just grow out of it, but it sounds like you and he need some expert info for peace of mind. As an aside we have a granchild who could count in 3 languages at age 3 and now at age 7 has to count on her fingers. Some of these things wax and wane regardless of what we do. Best of Luck. If you want any more info I might have please feel free to contact me by email. snipped-for-privacy@snowcrest.net Armand Vine, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist Beady gofor for Kerry Vine

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "armand vine" :

]Armand Vine, Ph.D. ]Clinical Psychologist

wow - i'm duly impressed!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

newest creations: ----------- I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all.

VJ you forgot the most important part. "Beady gofor"

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "armand vine" :

]VJ you forgot the most important part. ]"Beady gofor"

well, yes, that's impressive, too!

**smile**

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

newest creations: ----------- I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all.

Glad to support. I haven't heard back from my sis - I think she's hiding or something!

Dysgraphia was the term I was thinking of - mentioned by a few others. I was also going to ask about typing -which you answered.

Hugs to you and DS - and good luck!!

Ok - you are/were a paddler and also a Psych geek?!

So - where did you paddle? I'm a IIIish paddler and have a PhD in Cognitive/ Experimental Psych. I used to help with the kayak program at my grad school and we noticed that in several classes we had lots of Psych majors/grad students!

And of course you are the beady gofor!!

Kerry says there is a series of books called "Brain Gems" that have specific exercises for dysgraphia. She had a kid with a 60 IQ(borderline retarded) and he was helped a lot by them. He only knew 6 letters of the alphabet at the start of first grade and could write his name and other things at the end. Her final spelling test for the first grade is one word-"supercalifagilistic" from Mary Poppins.

well I guess you failed first grade. It's supercalifragilistic. LOL Cheri (Bubbee to Emily and Nathan)

In fact, the *whole* word is "supercalifragilisticexpealidocious"!

Celine (who can still sing most of the song from memory)

but you both forgot the 'expialadocious' part on the end... :-)

Kar>

well that will teach me to smugly make fun of others!

Not. LOL

Cheri (Bubbee to Emily and Nathan)

Unfortunately I did not have my wife as my first grade teacher. AND, I woke up this morning realizing I left off the rest of the word and wondering who would notice it. Thank you Karin. Also, I did not show it to her before posting it. Bad me.

I don't know where you live, but here in Calif. if the problem has been identified as existing by the school, the district is financially responsible for whatever it takes to correctly diagnose it and then correct it. If you want to talk to an objective first grade teacher about it, email us - vine at snowcrest.net we can exchange phone numbers and Kerry would be happy to talk about it with you. Armand Vine

Armand,

I am in Minnesota, in a very good school district. (We moved back to MN from MD and built our house where we did specifically so that our son could attend school in this district.) I have heard thru the grapevine that they are a bit slow to react to a problem that isn't "in-your-face" obvious, but that's ok. I have no problem 'nudging' the proper people!

My phone number is 651-322-8126.

Take care, and I hope you are feeling better!

Katie

Katie, please be careful about posting personal information on here. I know it feels like a private party, but it really is not.

Cheri (Bubbee to Emily and Nathan)