May I ask for opinions on ds2's writing?

[NobodySaidItWasGoingToBeEasy]

He was 6 in July and has just started P2 (Second year of school)

His teachers are just starting to flag up that he is having a few problems. He seems to have zero impulse control and will do silly things without thinking. He struggles with fine motor skills - he can't hold a pencil properly yet and seems to find buttons difficult. He also ends the school day looking very dishevelled (though I think this is normal for 6 year old boys!) and is very disorganized.

One thing we are worried about is that he may be dyslexic (dh is). His reading seems fine (ORT stage5) but can really only read the reading books or other books he already knows. I always joke that he hasn't really yet realised that reading is a transferable skill!

I was on the phone to my mum the other day and he wanted to say something. I always tell them instead of interrupting to write me a note. I was delighted that he did actually write me a note, but it did require the usual decoding. It was written full size on an A4 piece of paper:

Telra
neThe
aty
sa m
pDof ig

"Tell Granny that you stamped on my finger" (I did stand on his finger but it was an accident, honest!)

Bearing in mind that this was a quickly scrawled note, is this ok for his age, or would it be cause for concern? We did mention dyslexia to the teacher but she did say he is too young to even think about Dyslexia. She is referring him for further investigation in general though.

I'd say that it seems more reception level to me but I'm no teacher.

DS is 8 and in P4, and from p1 his teachers have flagged up that he struggles with pencil control, and the gap between his writing and his reading. My sister is a learning support specialist, and she says the same - that his reading and verbal skills are way ahead of his writing ability and that's what makes her suspect he's dyslexic.

So, your DS's writing does seem quite confused in terms of his word formation, spelling etc. but I think the biggest indicator (to me, and I'm no expert) is that there seems a big gap between his reading ability and his writing.

DS is getting a lot of support with his writing, and my sister has suggested I ask the school to use a predictive text software package for his creative writing. I don't want to be seen to be promoting things on site but feel free to pm if you'd like the web link for the programme. We've not used it yet so I have no direct experience, but DS has had a go with it and seems to like it.

Thanks that is helpful, I will pm you in morning :)

He has only recently started writing at home. Also his drawing is very immature. For example he will draw a person with only head, eyes, body and legs, unless prompted. Or if the person needs arms do be doing something - like holding a gun!

Sounds exactly like my DS! If it's any comfort at age 6 my DS could barely draw anything, and age 7 he won a prize in a national art competition so sometimes they are capable of things at school that you don't realise from looking at the work they produce at home. Have pm'd you

I think looking at the message it looks worse than it is because of the way it's spaced out. At reception and year 1 they will run out of space on one line and just continue on the next. If you space it differently it looks like this:

"Tel
rane
Theat
y
sa mpD
o
f ig"

I would agree that it looks quite reception, but I don't think it's dreadful, I think similar to what ds (year 1) would write, if you managed to persuade him that he wanted to write . I think ds would be able to spell you and on without help, and I think he would get "er" on the end of finger because it's his favourite sound (!). Ds is a strong reader, he's ORT 9, and reads those easily. But he loves reading, and only does writing under duress, which I think accounts for the discrepancy.

Ds doesn't draw people either; he might draw a plane bombing people, but the plane would have loving detail and the people would be lucky to have a proper body.

Only thing is, have you had his hearing checked. I ask that because he has missed out the "g" at the beginning of "granny" and the "t" in "stamped", both of which my ds who has glue ear, would struggle when hearing.

Definitely second getting his hearing checked as my DS had the same problems with glue ear and spelling. If you can't hear the sound you can't write it. It can also affect organisation as again if you can't hear the instructions ....

Hopefully the school are in addition to flagging up difficulties are also giving you some strategies to work on at home to complement what they are doing in school. eg exercises for fine motor control, strengthening his hand muscles etc

You also mention that he can be silly, many 6 year old boys can be!! You don't mention how your DS feels about not being able to do these things, could his silly behaviour be as a result of his writing skills. My DC used to be the class clown to try to divert people from noticing what he couldn't do!

I hope the further investigations give you some useful information.

Thanks Chrys :)

going - very true, ds does say he feels stupid. he will also do things where if he thought about it for a second he wouldn't do it - like when he pushed the bottom of someone's water bottle that they were drinking from - no malicious intent just acting on an impluse. Teachers haven't given us any strategies but I did find a fantastic list of things to improve fine motor control on MN (thanks mrz :))

Thanks Dewe, I did get his hearing checked when he was in nursery as he was having SALT (still has it for a couple of sounds) and it was fine. I have realised that he does say "ranny" instead of "Granny" so that does explain that.

He has been doing so much writing and drawing today :)