http://www.interdys.org/ewebeditpro5/upload/Understanding_Dysgraphia_Fact_Sheet_12-01-08.pdf
Cami didn't crawl until she was 13 months old. She didn't walk until nearly 18 months. She didn't speak until she was 3. She was born c-section after hours and hours of labor where the monitors stopped several times. The cord was wrapped around her neck and body 7 times. She didn't really eat solid food til well past one. Today, she is 9 years old and struggles with food issues. She prefers baby food and only textures and tastes she is used to. She is petrified of new food.
We've come along way. Now she eats enough foods that I don't have to worry that she'll starve. She loves cheese. Cheeseburgers, cheese buns, cheese quesadillas, cheese and crackers, cheese sticks, Cheezits and Cheetoes. She'll eat an apple if it is cut up and peeled. She likes mandarin oranges, packaged. Ham and bacon, sometimes chicken cut up small. Pancakes, peanut butter. Vanilla ice cream and Chocolate Chip cookies -- those are the only sweets she eats. Baby food. Baby food fruit and baby food lasagna and spaghetti. That's about it. But it is progress.
So Dysgraphia. Kindergarten, it wasn't too noticeable. Big letters, bad spacing. It's normal. Writing her name upside down and backwards? She'll out grow it. She did. First grade. Mrs. Barrett. Oh, how we love Mrs. Barrett. She'd taught Dallin and Jordon and Charli in 5th grade. Now she was a first grade teacher. I'm not sure what's going on with Cami, she told us. She seems to have a hard time copying from the board. Holding a pencil seems awkward to her. I'm going to try some different things to see if I can help her. I don't think she has ADD, but it's like she can't focus.
I said, look at her Preschool IEP. It addresses the issues she has. That's when we discovered that her preschool IEP had been trashed. She'd been dismissed from all services. What a shame. Mrs. Barrett worked with her, we tried lots of things, including a private office, where Cami could work when feeling overwhelmed with sensory issues. (She was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder as a two year old.) Finally, we all agreed that she needed a new IEP. To make sure she didn't get lost in the system ever again, and to see if I could get a "diagnosis", I took her to Neuro-Education, Dr. Krenz. As first grade came to a close, she was diagnosed with Dysgraphia. I had never even heard of that, but as I studied the information, I was convinced. Writing was no fun for this little girl.
Second grade brought Mrs. Woodward. Cadie was in Mrs. Woodward's 2nd grade class. Mrs. Woodward worked hard with Cami so that she could understand how best to help her. Instead of 20 math facts, she gave Cami one line of math facts. Instead of having her write her spelling words for the test, she had Cami give them orally. What a difference that made for Cami. Seriously. This is one super smart little girl who just has a hard time writing.
Third grade has been a challenge. One thing we have learned from previous years is that we need to meet regularly and early on with Cami's IEP team and her teachers. It seems like strategies for working with Cami don't really get passed from teacher to teacher. And at the beginning of the school year, the new teacher is getting to know the kids. And this year, the new teacher seemed to believe there was nothing wrong with Cami. Even though Cami has a long IEP that describes the accommodations she needs to be successful in the classroom.
About a week into school this year, I popped in after class to see how things were going. The teacher told me, Cami is doing really good, but I just don't like it at all that she just sits there and does nothing. I give her an assignment and rather than do it, she just sits there. It really bothers me.
Well, I say, you know she has an IEP. Sometimes a lot of work at once overwhelms her.
Oh, she says, Cami is perfectly capable of doing the work. She just chooses not to.
Sometimes, teachers see kids with dysgraphia as lazy and unmotivated. I think that is what is happening here. Just saying.
We need to have a meeting with the IEP team. Finally a meeting is scheduled. Not everyone is in attendance, but we talk a little about what will help Cami. The teacher still thinks that Cami needs no support. She thinks Cami is very smart. Well, guess what? Cami is very smart. She has a learning disability that hinders her ability to write, to speak and to function in an overwhelming environment. But she can read, she can add, subtract and multiply. She remembers everything she is taught. Just because someone has a learning disability, doesn't mean they aren't smart.
We just want her to feel successful in school. We want school to be a positive experience for her. We don't want her to feel singled out, or dumb. I've heard of many parents with children with dysgraphia who pull them out of school and home school them. They get so frustrated with the public school process. I get that. I sometimes wonder if that would be better for Cami. But we've had such a wonderful public school experience with our other children. And this is the purpose of school, right? We will see how it plays out.
Last week, we had another meeting with her whole team. Everyone was there. Everyone made me feel like I wasn't just making up a LD for my child. (Because sometimes that what I think her teacher thinks about me.) Maybe now we will get somewhere. But I still worry that she won't be given the accommodations that she needs when she needs them. So I will still pop into class every week to see how things are going.
I guess I'm going to be that parent.
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