I have a major problem with the test system, so I might just be biased, but I think I have found a major case of prejudice. In the FCAT(Florida) Writing, all work is to be done by hand. This means that if two people cannot read my handwriting, my work will be given a 0. Autism tends to cause motor skill problems in the vast majority of the cases, so I feel that I may very well be given a bad to horrible grade purely because of autism. Is this just me?
Hi Subatai
My handwriting is awful--I remember in the 4th grade getting a 65 in penmanship when all my other marks were over 85--my Mom pitched a fit--but it's never gotten much better. (I didn't know this was one of the many Aspie traits until recently.) Do your best--try and make it legible if you can't get or don't want to try and get a dispensation to use a computer.
The examiners are probably used to reading crummy handwriting.
That's the problem, I can't use a computer. They won't let me. My handwriting has gotten progressively worse (I am not sure if this has anything to do with the way that I was born, as I do have several joint problems in my legs from birth canal problems), and I am afraid that I will lose points over this.
Sounds as if you need to get more information--here's a suggestion that potentially involves the kind of deviousness that an NT might employ.
The suggestion is:
Find out how to contact the organization that grades the tests, say that you are concerned on behalf of a friend (if you don't feel comfortable saying that the question you're raising applies to you yourself--that's where the deviousness comes in)--your friend (or you) has fine motor coordination difficulties that result in handwriting that is difficult to read and he is worried about how this will affect the grading--say that you'd like to submit a sample of said handwriting to see if these concerns are warranted (i.e. get a fax number to submit the sample or an address to mail it to). Assuming you get this far, find a sample of your writing that's likely to be similar to what you'd produce during the test. Then, if they say that writing of this sort would be likely to affect the grade, ask them what they would advise your friend (or you) to do so that the person's true performance on the test can be assessed.
Not much to lose if you try this approach--maybe you can get someone who is supporting you to do the contacting.
That's interesting that bad handwriting may be an Aspie trait, in elementary school, my handwriting grade was among the worst, even though I got good grades in English. My writing is still bad, but I was a good enough writer to pass the writing exam I had to take my junior year of college. It was a thing where I had to take that test or I wouldn't be allowed to register the following semester.
I'm just glad that we didn't have so many standardized tests when I was in high school, I would have never made it past the math portion, as that was the worst subject for me.
This is gonna
really date me--when I was in grade school, we had these dip pens--i.e you'd dip them in real ink--and we were taught the "Palmer method" (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Method). We had to pass a penmanship test every year, which consisted of copying characters and sentences--pages worth--and if you got ink blobs you had to start over. Although I was up there with the brightest kids in the class of 30plus kids, I would consistently be among the last 2 or 3 to finish the writing test.
It got better in the 7th grade when I transferred to a school where they didn't force you to write a certain way...but my writing still sucked and only got worse as I got older...thank heavens for word processors!
I'm may be threading on ice here ...
As we were going through the pro's and con's of allowing the school to enter the tentative diagnosis of Asperger's on my son's records, one of the pro's given to us was that he would be entitled to accomodations on all standardized testing. That in our highly charged, competitive, county, parents are actually trying to get their "normal" children labeled simply to earn the right to testing accomodations (nuts, isn't it?).
I can see how it's touchy, because the label puts my son into the category of "special needs," and that might be a sensitive term, but as a means to an end?
Aren't there accomodations available with this test? Or are they not of the right kind?
My son is only 8 but writing is a HUGE issue. He is trying keyboarding but isn't taken with it yet, and cursive didn't turn out to be a new beginning for him, either. It was actually watching him struggle with writing that brought us all into the IEP process and led to the tentative diagnosis of Aspergers.*
* (we have not medically confirmed the diagnosis - it is a school assessment only that our reading tells us fits - because, to date, the school was been amazing in accomodating what we at least think are his needs - I am starting to realize there may be much I am missing but I don't know where to go with that - I want my amazing son to be who he is, but I also want to ease his frustrations - I cried so many tears watching him start to shut down out of frustration just over the writing issue .... anyway, today, he is happy. More often than not, at least. I've been afraid to mess with a good thing, but time is likely to do that for me anyway, isn't it? We won't always have this school, and we won't always have children willing to let him be him - his friends really do. His friends do all have other children who are better friends - but that's been my lot in life, too - I'm just glad he has friends. He want friends. He is most happy when kids want to be with him. Sorry for the ramble, many of these thoughts aren't fully formed, they just started to flood out - I could delete but I'll let it ride. No one has to read this part)
I can see how it's touchy, because the label puts my son into the category of "special needs," and that might be a sensitive term, but as a means to an end?....
My son is only 8 but writing is a HUGE issue. ..It was actually watching him struggle with writing that brought us all into the IEP process and led to the tentative diagnosis of Aspergers.*
* (we have not medically confirmed the diagnosis - it is a school assessment only that our reading tells us fits - because, to date, the school was been amazing in accomodating what we at least think are his needs
Sounds like you're on a path to getting more information. One thing that worries me about labels is, once there, they are hard to remove. Maybe your son doesn't have Asperger's (whatever that really is..it's a syndrome without a superclear set of criteria) but instead something else is going on with him. One need only read Iron Man's posts to hear how wrong diagnoses can impede progress.
Yes, it has been such a relief to find a protocol that has actually worked, and made him happy, that I dropped the ball on having anymore assessments done. But, there may be other issues, either with or replacing what we can pinpoint, and the smooth road we're on isn't likely to last. Better to tackel it now, than after things go awry.
But, as I gather more and more information: Asperger's fits. Not perfectly, because every single individual is so different. But assuming it fits and listening to the voices of those with it has helped us make our child happier.
Have you checked other PDD's, such as PDD-NOS and possibly even Schizophrenia? I have found that very rough fits to the Autistic spectrum tend to either be A)Women (I have diagnosed two women with AS, both cases were on the more NTish edge of the spectrum) or B)Not Autistic in the direct sense of the word.
I don't agree that poor handwriting is an Aspie trait. Mine has always been very legible, whether I use my right hand (running writing) or my left, (print only), because they made me change over to the right in school when I was five and it became evident that I could use either hand. Thus I never 'learned' running writing with my left. When I do 'mirror image' writing of the same sentence with both hands at the same time (left hand comes out right to left, letters reversed) and I try running writing, my right does the running writing, the left still prints!
I love doing calligraphy and illustrative borders as well. Absolutely adore anything to do with writing. Collect stationery and pens obsessively, even if I only use them once or twice. They are so pretty to look at.
Alison
I wouldn't expect difficulty with fine motor skills to be a universal Aspie trait. I think what I found most startling when my son was in the evaluation process was the uneveness of his abilities. Brilliant in some; very deficient in others. I have the sense that most NT's are more even. talents and weaknesses, sure, but such severe peaks and valleys .. no. So, I would think - and I'm far from an expert here, we're still pretty new and uninformed with all this - that what is more indicative is having a skill area that seems insurmountably difficult, with more than normal stress and frustration resulting from it. Even with therapy and tracking training and everything else anyone can think, writing remains literally painful for my son. He may learn to compensate, but I don't believe it will go away. So, for him, this is one of his unusally difficult areas. Maybe for you it is somewhere else. Am I on the mark there?
On the issue of handwriting and Asperger's, see, for example:
http://www.nha-handwriting.org.uk/Article_2.htm
Here's the thing--not every person has every characteristic associated with the syndrome or with the autistic spectrum.
energeia,
thanks for posting that. If nothing else, it shows that at least all the exposure is beginning to get Aspie children some help in school. When I was going to school, I was just thrown in to sink or swim. Because I obviously wasn't ***, I just had to deal with my lack of interest in sport (in Australia with it's sports hysteria that's almost considered worse than murder), my disinterest in making friends, my obsessive love of books and reading, repeating words, etc.
Perhaps if kids get help in school today, and particularly if we can stop the bullying! then there will be hope for future generations.
Alison
I differ somewhat from the apparent Aspie "norm" in that I write very neatly. One of my special interests is calligraphy, and I adore fountain pens, various inks, parchments, etc. I don't have the time to practise so much anymore, but still love the whole calligraphic idea.
My penmanship (penpersonship?) is excellent when I write right-handed, but I can only print left-handed, as my teachers stopped me using my left hand when we learned joined-up writing at school. I was told the left hand was "the devil's hand"; the consequence is I can still print left-handed, but sometimes when I'm not concentrating I tend to write in mirror-image with my left hand.
The kids in my preschool class think it's funny: if one of them holds the paper in place for me, I can use two textas, one in each hand, and write simultaneously. Although it has to be the same sentence, I think it's impossible to write two different things at the same time, at least, I've never managed it! :smile: And the left-hand side is always mirror-image when I do that, if I concentrate too hard then my right hand starts writing mirror image instead!
Alison