Dysgraphia diagnosis?

[RAzn]

Hello
My 9 year old son has trouble with handwriting and now in year 5 we were told that school (class teacher and SEN person) 'were not overly worried, but he might need extra time for sats next year'.
Meanwhile I have of course been googling things.... and have self-diagnosed that he probably suffers from dysgraphia. He is doing absolutely fine in all other areas of school, but his writing is bad and too slow so he ends up spending considerable amounts of break time finishing stuff (I have a rant for this one but let's leave that aside for now). He also cannot draw or use scissors well (never really has).
Because school is not 'overly worried' so special measures are in place for him currently and this is where my question comes in: Is it worth getting him tested/diagnosed to make sure he gets whatever help he needs? And if it is, how do you go about that?
Thanks!

[Waitingforsleep]

Hi
My dd has dysgraphia amongst other things which include dyspraxia.
I was advised my a tutor I took her to that it would be best to get her diagnosed so that she could have this going forward into secondary school where the work gets harder. My dd is the same age.
We had to find a private ep who diagnoses This which was around £400.

I have to say that it really irritates me that school don't overly believe in labels it seems but at primary she does t need it as such yet however if she is to sit sats the 11+ and eventually GCSEs by having this diagnosis we will be able to get her more time, able to use a laptop or a scribe etc as she gets older so I think it will do as we hope and help for the future.

Hope that helps

[Waitingforsleep]

Ps my dd can't spell either and this is part of it and dyslexia.
I wonder about the cutting and if there is dyspraxia too? They are all very similar

[RAzn]

Thanks Waitingforsleep that is useful to know. I think diagnosis probably is the way forward if for nothing else then for me to know what is going on. The whole dyslexia,dysgraphia,dyspraxia spectrum seems quite confusing so self-diagnosis is probably not all that helpful. Currently the way his teacher deals with this is to keep him in a break time to do extra writing if he hasn't done enough in class. Its a bit like asking a child with a broken leg to stay in after PE to make sure he does as much running as everyone else (!) and he feels like he is being punished for being bad/slow at writing. Breaks are there for a reason and how the woman thinks that depriving him of break time is going to help him concentrate and be more productive is a bit beyond me - hardly a supportive strategy... £400 is a lot of money, but if it gives me something to take to school to ask for support rather than harassment, then that's absolutely worth it.

[RAzn]

How did you identify an educational psychologist?