Bookwormde, her dx came from her O/T. I read up on it, and unfortunately she meets virtually every single criteria. It also sounds like a wicked disorder that affects both reading and math. Copying from the board is torture for her. She consistently guesses at sight words, and very badly.
For instance, I show her the word "there" and she says "over". I get that she associates the 2 words, but she is showing no ability to decode words. I have tried to repeatedly ask her to just look at the first letter in the word, make the sound it makes, and we'll figure it out together from there.
She can't remember how to write numbers. For instance, they have been counting nickels and pennies. Say the answer is 37. She has no idea what 37 looks like. I break out her number chart, and she goes ballistic and says she doesn't need it. I feel that she knows she's behind all the other kids, and she's trying to fake it.
Right now, I'm trying to figure out if we should try vision therapy. I'm also meeting with her teacher and her SPED teacher to see exactly how they teach reading/writing in the classroom setting. One thing that bugs me is they have a set of vocab words, a set of sight words, then a set of "word families" every week. If I were teaching Zoe I'd pick a "word family" and spend however long we needed to, until she mastered it. Those same words would be our vocalb and spelling words.
I know they are trying to avoid pulling her out for SPED services, and I appreciate it. I also know we are going to have to do a lot of work at home too.