Our OT is "stumped"

[MicheleB]

This past week in OT with our 9yo ds, the OT said she is stumped. Ds can do 3-D work (block designs, etc) extremely well, but 2-D (writing, drawing) is below age level.

She said that typically, it is the other way around. For some of his scores with 3-D type tasks, he scored at over 11 y of age.

Anyone heard of this or had this experience? Any thoughts?

His writing is VERY rudimentary, he has great difficulty spacing and writing his letters the same size, forming letters, etc. His drawings are very much pre-schoolish looking.

[MamaSheep]

How frustrating! Wouldn't it be nice if the professionals had all the answers? :grouphug:

[MicheleB]

How frustrating! Wouldn't it be nice if the professionals had all the answers? :grouphug:

Yes! And if they were available 24/7 by video-conference calling- supplemented by a manual, of course. :D

[MamaSheep]

Yes! And if they were available 24/7 by video-conference calling- supplemented by a manual, of course. :D

Oh yeah! An interactive manual with an excellent search feature. Also, they should always be in a pleasant mood and should never get tired or sick.

[FairProspects]

Has he had a neuro-developmental eye exam? My ds is much younger than yours, but with similar issues and it turns out his depth perception and everything is way off because of eye & vestibular issues. He is getting the wrong input from his eyes and so 3-D is easier because it also provides tactile input & registers differently in his brain. My suggestion would be to check and see if it is a vision issue if that hasn't already been done. HTH!

[NCW]

I second the suggestion to have an eval by a developmental optomotrist. Our son had great 3-D skills from a very early age, but lots of trouble with reading and writing - and multiple issues showed up in the eval by the DO.

hths,
NCW

[Jan in SC]

My 9 year old ds is the same! Our current OT didn't seem surprised at all. He has gross motor weakness in his shoulders, which makes his fine motor skills much worse. He is great with block designs.

His difficulty with -crossing the midline- activities create problems with writing and drawing.

I would recommend making sure the OT is strengthening his shoulders and core before beginning fine motor therapy. Try wheelbarrowing your child around and see how long he can handle it. If this is difficult, then you have found a major weakness.

My son does weight work outs (2 pounds), band resistance training, and takes tennis lessons 2 or three times a week. He does sit-ups on a giant exercise ball and he has a stretching routine. He does does most of his exercises 6 days a week.

We have seen a remarkable difference in his posture, coordination, and writing. Last year he could not write three sentences without crying and then they wouldn't be legible. This year he could write a page and I cana read almost all of it. We are still working on spacing and a few reversals, but wow! what a difference!

We are just starting to slowly add in fine motor practice. He would not have been able to do this before.

I mention these things because this is our third OT. The first two wanted to sit him at a desk and practice handwriting, or to use shaving cream, or other strictly fine motor exercise. It did not help!

Good luck!!!

[Dobela]

I also agree with the vision evaluation by a developmental/behavioral specialist and consider vision therapy. After 2 tears of OT my son's handwriting had reached a standstill and she told me that he may be one of those people who couldn't learn cursive. The VT eval showed that his depth perception was immature and that he had serious issues with convergernce. Once we began vision therapy ds writing improved tremendously and he is now reading and writing cursive.

[jclinton]

Could it be something like spatial dysgraphia?
JoAnne