Can someone recommend a good evaluator of learningdisabilities in the Bryan/College Station area? We've been told our youngest child may have a condition calleddysgraphia so we'd like to have him evaluated. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!

In theory, your school should be able to provide services to diagnose your child with dysgraphia. It's not an uncommon problem with kids. However, realistically, I know that students have passed through my classroom with undiagnosed dysgraphia. In order to get them the aids or supplements they needed (ie keyboards, pre-printed notes, specially lined paper to help with letter formation), I usually had to hope the student had another disability. It's easier to tack on supplements to an already existing IEP (Individualized Education Plan) rather than convince the school psychologist to spend time on what administration considers a minor issue. Truly, if your school doesn't openly offer to test him, then your best bet is to have a sympathetic 4th grade teacher who really fights hard for your student. (4th grade is the first writing test, so administration might actually care about his writing legibility.)

As far as a private diagnosis goes, I believe an occupational therapist is the best way to go. Perhaps people on this board have had experience with some therapists for children in the area.

Because the student doesn't have a highly visible or 'mainstream' issue that effects testing (beyond 4th grade), you might need to fight the good fight. From my experience as a teacher, administration is resistant to making IEPs for kids unless it definitely would benefit test scores for the school. If you request a 504 meeting with the diagnosis in hand and a plan for helping your student in mind, it would probably help considerably.

Teachers will definitely be on your side if you can help them come up with some solutions that doesn't require a ton of effort on their part. Sometimes they can print their notes ahead of time (not unusual for other disabilities) and have blanks for your student to fill in words so that they must follow along. Other options is having the student type, but depending on the skill level, that might just put your kiddo further behind. Dragon Dictation might be an option for your kid, where they talk and the program writes for them. This works wonders in classes where students write paragraphs or papers. Believe it or not, cursive helps as well! Keeping their pencil on the paper constantly helps kids with dysgraphia form letters easier and makes their handwriting legible.

How old? ISD will only evaluate 3 years and above. That is what we were told. We went to a physical therapy office at the med.

From my experience with my child, dysgraphia and dyslexia can go together. I do not know how old your child is but maybe you could test for that problem as well. I had a very hard time with our school district. They do not test until after first grade for dyslexia. Then once diagnosed they always wanted to pull him out of Special Services because in elementary school it disrupted the learning process (as told by the school and did not believe) to have him go for additional help. Schools want to only keep a certain percentage of students in Special Services because it does not look well on their side. If you do get into the ARD process get documentation from doctors. They have to follow doctor's orders.

I was actually told in middle school that he did not qualify for any more services for dyslexia and that he did not fall under a 504. Remember, once there is a learning disability there will always be.

I had to fight the school all the way through graduation. Keep all the paperwork and testing that you do get done for proof. It also will be great for college.

After all of that, ask your child's doctor for a recommendation for an evaluation done by a doctor to take to school to prove your case.

The gold standard in these type of diagnosis is Scottish Rite hospital in Dallas. We got a referral from pediatrician and took a year to get an appointment. Think we went three times and came out with a large notebook of results and extensive documentation of diagnosis. Every ARD the school district would try to reduce accommodations and indicate that their testing (that was done before the Dallas trips) conclusion was no longer sufficient to justify any mods. We would then extract the Scottish Rite binder and the accommodations were never removed. My son was Dyslexic and we were concerned he also had Dysgraphiia. The school district indicated he was but SR did not believe so.
The School district would not have tested if not for his first grade teacher championing his cause. He was in the spring of his second grade year before they got around to it.
Prior to this we did a round a UPA and the people at Language Learning Center in College Station helped us along the way.

Thank you for the responses. Our son is 8 (in second grade) and he goes to a charter school. Although they are being very helpful, they don't have the ability to have him evaluated. Any chance the ISD would do the evaluation given our other son attends public school and we pay taxes? Probably a stretch but I thought I'd ask. We're not opposed to paying the full cost of the evaluation ourselves. I just want to make sure he gets the best evaluation possible.

Again, thank you for the responses and the ideas!

School districts are required by law to perform evaluations to any child that lives in the district. You do not have to be attending school in the district. I would get as many opinions as possible (district, occupational therapist, pedi, etc.)

It can be a long process. Just remember to fight for what your child needs. It is also good to take someone with you who knows the ins and outs to any meetings. Good luck!

TAMU psychology dept will do all those tests. It's on a sliding scale per income. the school district didn't do anything but we went back to them with the results and recommendations of the psychology department

My son was diagnosed many years ago with dysgraphia. He was tested at Scott and White (Temple) by an occupational therapist. Hope this helps. Good luck and bless you.

For help with special-needs children, neurotypical kids, and advanced kiddos, I suggest NACD.org. They've helped thousands of families for decades, with great success worldwide. I took my little man to Dallas for an evaluation and through their individualized parent-implemented program, we've seen tremendous improvement (autism). Their program is intense, it requires a lot of time and effort by mom, dad, and/or a babysitter, but you will see results. I can give you more info by phone. Email me at amy dot gordon at att dot net.

TARDIS is right. We suspect my son has dysgraphia, and tried to work through the school district to find out. (not a local district). We were put off until the third grade because he "wouldn't take the STARR test until the 4th grade." They determined that his disability was not great enough to warrant any additional mods than what his teachers had done voluntarily to help him out. The school is not the issue - it is the district.

Now that he's in the 4th, they're panicking and want him to come to pre-school tutoring 3 days a week, which is difficult to do. We had a private tutor last year, but she isn't tutoring this year.

Hadn't thought about the occupational therapy route. Can anyone recommend someone in the Houston area?

Elizabeth Dybell Ph.D., P.C.
St. James Place in Houston
713 218 7004

She was wonderful for our son.

This is great information. Thank you all!

I absolutely agree with UmustBKidding. We attend Scottish Right Hospital for other reasons but know that they do certain learning disabilities. Our child has a 504 with the school district that we had to fight for and they have been behind us all the way. One call and I can have any and all paperwork from them. Go to your pediatrician, do the referral and get all that sent in as soon as you can. They will have to approve your application but it so worth it if you can get in.

I had several patients in my old practice see a pHD named William A Dailey in Austin TX. His evaluation was extensive and his reports were very helpful in helping the schools find the optimal path and ideas for the patients I had with learning disabilities like dysgraphia and dyslexia.

We'll it's been an interesting struggle to say the least. We're at a point where we need a medical opinion to pursue occupational therapy. However, our pediatrician isn't very helpful.

Does anyone know of a local kids doctor that specializes (or is at least considerate of the idea) that a child may need OT to assist with this problem? Thanks as always!

We have an autistic son and Dr Henderson at upa is his primary. We have other doctors as well but Dr Henderson has worked with us in the approvals and assessments needed for both speech and ot. We receive treatment through csisd and Brazos Valley Rehab.

I requested and we had an OT consult right before the end of school. My son's handwriting is horrible. When we had official ADHD testing at A&M last summer the report recommended OT consult through the school. When we did the IEP and I brought it up I was told they use Handwriting without tears and that should take care of it. As the year progressed his handwriting didn't so I requested the OT consult again. I told them I was insisting it be done. She came and observed him. Her recommendation was key boarding, cursive, hand exercises to develop fine motor skill and weekly pull out sessions. This was with CSISD. I will make sure this is in his IEP at the beginning of the year.

I would also check with the TAMU Psychology Clinic. They did ADHD, Learning Disability, and IQ testing on my son. It's done on a sliding scale fee based on income.

http://psychology.tamu.edu/html/clinic.html#services-and-fees