Today I had a phone meeting with the psychologist at Kaiden's school. Not something you really want to have to do, but in this case I initiated it.
Our old foe, Asperger's Syndrome, has raised it's ugly head again.
I really wish it would just go away. But as that's not going to happen, we need to learn to let it come in, make itself comfortable and then entice it to sit quietly in the corner and play Xbox or something, so Kaiden can just get on with his life.
His recent exam results in English were poor. To say the least. And I know it's not his fault. He tried hard. Boy, did he try hard.
And I know he studied, because I studied right there along with him. He even worked himself out a study timetable in the two weeks leading up to exams. Finally my influence is rubbing off! My boy is slowing becoming organised!!!
But the English exam results were bad. In the hour he had to write he didn't even manage half a page. He knew what he needed to write, that's not the problem.
It's all there in his head, he just can't seem to get it from his brain, down his arm, through his hand, into the pen and onto the page. Somewhere along the line it gets blocked, and comes out ........very........very.......slowly.
What he does produce is really good, and if he had hours and hours to do the exam, I know he would ace it.
Hence my call to the school psychologist today.
Long story short is that certain kids can get an extension of 10 mins or so per hour, but for Kaiden this is nowhere near enough extra time. So the psych will give him a hand writing test just to see what speed he does write at, and we will then take it from there.
We have also begun to practice writing at home, which won't solve the problem but may help it become more automatic in some regards. I've turned to Google to try to find other ways to help him, but with no luck so far.
I really want to help him, he wants help, has asked for help and I feel terrible that I can't wave a magic wand and fix it all for him.
This is one time I can't just give him a hug and kiss it better like I did when he was little.
Being a mother can be so heart-breaking at times.
Good on you for making that phone call. It is a call I have been avoiding for a myriad of reasons (one being that our school doesn't have a psychologist). I am off to visit and educational psych/ADD specialist in the next few weeks to try to find some strategies that will help my boy who is struggling with writing also. His writing is beautiful and neat and not all that slow but he can't get anything onto paper that isn't facts or figures. He doesn't seem to be able to write things that aren't real. He has an amazing imagination, like a typical 8 year old boy, and he can tell you all about it but as soon as it comes to writing down his thoughts the connections just seem to disappear. This, amongst other things has had him pigeon-holed as being lazy and a distraction in class when it seems to be more that something isn't firing the way it should. Hopefully the specialist can help us because it seems as if the teacher has no desire to want to. I will let you know how I go.
ReplyDeleteoh that sucks for poor Kaiden. Would it be any easier for him typing it out on a computer? I am sorry if that is a silly question, as I do understand it's getting the information from his brain onto the paper, but my cousin's daughter, used a computer (laptop) for all her exams as she found it easier?
ReplyDeleteGill
Gill - A laptop is one of the ideas I had thought of too, and I will speak to the psych to see if they allow this at his school as I think he could type faster than he writes. Will go through the options after the school psych has seen him.
ReplyDeleteSuperRelish - it really sucks for our poor kids when something doesn't come out the way it is in their head. I hopefully the specialist will help you guys out. My next course of action would to go back to the private psych that Kaiden saw a few years ago. It's an expensive option but it may be necessary. Good luck and keep me posted on how you go.
It sounds to me like he has an amazing mama on his side... It is always difficult to watch your children go through something trying... always wanting to do it for them. ((hugs))
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