Any parents of DC with Dysgraphia here?

[FortunesFave]

DD is getting assessed tomorrow. She's 11 and has struggled through primary and now her new teacher (we're in Oz) has immediately suggested that she might have Dysgraphia.

I feel awful for not having her assessed sooner but her old teacher kept reassuring me instead of looking into it!

Her new teacher has been amazing though. She said within a week of working with DD she saw that she shared a lot with a boy she'd once taught who had a diagnoses of Dysgraphia.

She said DD is very bright and that Dysgraphia is no indication of IQ or anything...I'm nervous about the assessment but also a bit keen to finally get DD some help

DD is also looking forward to it. What characteristics do your DC with Dysgraphia have?

DD has an amazing vocabulary...tells sophisticated stories but has the handwriting of a much younger child.
She can tie her shoelaces now but it takes her much longer than it should.

One thing is that she is coordinated...she runs well and catches well, also good at gymnastics.

Just want to hear some positive stories really! Her teacher said they'll allow her to work full time on a laptop soon. We just want the diagnoses before putting a plan in place.

My DS10 has dyslexia, but I think he may have dysgraphia (EP doesn't like to use labels, so I just say he has dyslexia). His hand writing is bad and I think he has underdeveloped fine motor skills (eg tying shoelaces).

We are working with the school and they are supporting him, but progress seems to be quite slow. We have been delayed due to school holidays, changes in teachers and the pandemic. You have to really keep on top of the school. I know of others with dyslexia where dyslexia was suspected by the school, but other than a file note, did nothing. In another case, the dyslexia assessments weren't sent to the new school, so the child had no support in place.

With DS, we are finding that he struggles to understand the tasks, but once he does, the learning is secure. We use lots of YouTube videos for his learning as I think the catchy songs and graphics seem to work for him.

All in all, I think it's about finding things that work for the child.

What sort of EP doesn't 'like labels" Labels are how we get children treated surely!

Thanks for sharing by the way...I do feel confident in her teacher. She's on it...very interested and dedicated.

DD doesn't struggle to understand tasks as much as she can't seem to process a lot of instructions at once...and she forgets things very quickly.

She reads well....but her poor old writing is terrible!

My EP said that 'dyslexia' for example effects people in different ways, so she likes to focus on the effects it has and not the label.

DS struggles with written comprehension. He struggles with worded maths problems, but if you wrote out the equation, he would be able to answer it.

He goes to a dyslexia class on Saturday mornings. I'm not sure how much it helps him, but he enjoys it so that's good enough for us.