How we discovered Arav had Dysgraphia

While test scores are hardly the sum total of a child's potential, they are the only objective method available to assess learning trends. And while never at the top of his class, Arav had always done reasonably well at his PYP and then MYP curriculum at Genesis Global till grade 8.

9th was a different story but we initially attributed the drop in grades to a change of school (he moved to Step by Step) and a new board IGCSE). He was scoring As, B's and C's with equal ease in the same subject, sometimes a few days apart. Teachers were as baffled by this scorecard as were we, to a point where one even implied that he may be cheating. Despite all possible efforts the year was a complete wipeout academically with one stray A that definitely looked out of place in his final report card.

A closer analysis of individual papers and sections over the term holidays revealed that while getting near perfect scores in MCQs and short, point based answers, he was failing miserably in anything that required a sustained written effort or heaven forbid, a diagram. Somebody mentioned Dysgraphia at that time but we dismissed it peremptorily - he wrote neatly enough when he had to - we truly did not see that as a problem. I would like to mention here that Arav has almost never taken notes - he barely wrote in his notebooks and after Grade 4, we would just recycle the previous year's copies. A big fan of making notes to aid memory myself, it was something we argued long and hard about. He always said "it got in the way of his thinking."

We did not have a diagnosis or even any understanding of his disability till the end of Grade 10. As he was inquisitive and participative in class, his poor exam scores were attributed to disinterest and laziness. I am not proud of the many words I employed to shake Arav out of what I considered a teenage phase. A chance remark by his English teacher was ultimately what convinced us that we may be missing something. She was simply confounded by him. To paraphrase her - it's like he simply can't take the trouble to tell us what we know he knows. At that point, a first hand witness to the mammoth effort Arav was making just to scrape by, I knew he was not doing this on purpose.

It HAD TO BE something outside his control.

The rest was pretty undramatic - getting the appointment at Children's First took a few weeks and then of course, another 4 - 6 weeks for the ADHD and Dysgraphia assessment and accommodations. All I remember now is that huge sense of relief. He did go on to score A pluses in almost all his subjects in IGCSE but from that point, it really didn't matter. Not in the same way. Traditional exam scores would never be an adequate method to assess his learning trends:-)

I would like to mention here that while illegible handwriting is often mentioned in the same breath as Dysgraphia, Dysgraphia too can be of many different kinds. Arav feels hampered by writing while thinking and that affects his final output. But his handwriting is acceptable by most standards. Some other indications of his Dysgraphia that we missed (and may even have given Arav a hard time about growing up) were the below

1. Inability to tie shoelaces or color inside the lines.

2. Generally clumsy and likely to hold unfamiliar objects awkwardly.

3. Not particularly good at sports requiring hand-eye coordination.

What is interesting is that this same child is also an accomplished swimmer and has no problems coding or playing games for hours on end.

I believe that most children lie on a spectrum and it's not so much their "disability" but archaic view points that require focus.