Any ideas on helping kids learn to copy?

No ideas on learning to copy, other than having more birthdays. Accomodating this disability is simple though- have someone else do the copying. My daughter had this accomodation on a 504 plan, and later in the IEP. If it’s homework, you can copy the problems for her. If not, the teacher or an assistant should be able to create a “worksheet” for her with plenty of room to write the answers, maybe with lines or grids to help her keep things in order. This is exactly what accomodating a disability is all about- removing barriers so that she can excel. Why should anyone fail at math because they can’t copy the problems? It’s no different than providing braille or books on tape for students who are blind.

larger lined graph paper can help with the math copying.
possibly keyboarding could help with copying other written info, maybe the Alphasmart
Limiting the amt of info being copied and the time constraints that a classroom puts on a child can also help
maybe the teacher would let another child use the old carbon paper to copy info for your child; strike a deal copy half by herself and half with help.

If she hasn’t had one, you might want to request an occupational therapy evaluation from the school. Sometimes this problem is related to poor visual/motor coordination, and there are exercises that can help develop it.

Another thing you may want to do is get a developmental vision evaluation done privately. Sometimes the problem is due to developmental vision delays, and vision therapy can be very helpful when this is the cause. You can find developmental optometrists in your geographic area at http://www.covd.org.

Mary

Rover,
It sounds to me like you’re fairly sure that age will improve this. Is that true? mandy

Sounds like it might be a symptom of her dysgraphia. Dysgraphics have troubles retaining the image of symbols so she has to work hard to copy which is basically retaining the image of symbols and rewriting those symbols.

Does her teacher know she’s dysgraphic? In my classroom, I’d allow the child to skip the copying. I’d provide her with the line or with a “buddy” to do the copying for her. With dysgraphics and writing, practice does not make perfect - it frustrates.

A good occupational therapist might be able to provide your daughter with some help for her dysgraphia and also might be able to provide some good solutions or ways around the copying problem.

Good luck.

I have two dysgraphic kids. One has a visual problem,the other has an auditory one . Both are still dysgraphic.They also have ADHD,which doesn’t help in the retaining a symbol in their head trick. It’s funny you would mention Math. My oldest has terrible problem in Math. He is my visual one. CAN not seem to get the numbers straight even after they are copied. The trick of tracking the numbers back and forth is equally as hard for him.My youngest? The tracking isn’t a problem,the number reversals are. When he writes the numbers he also has the added difficulty of having to remember which way the buggers are supposed to go. both, I suppose, are a getting a picture of the numbers in your mind,skill. Now depending on where specificly the break down is occuring,I have a few ideas for you. My visual spatial kiddo,has been having really good luck color coding the problems. Graph paper also worked well. For some reason working the problem is soo much easier when you enlarge the numbers.I found the larger size graph paper was better. Raised paper is good too,for writing in general,if she has trouble staying in the lines,this is a good thing. The lines are raised,so it stops the pencil,at the line. Would the teacher let her use a dryerase board with markers? My number reversal dude did good with number magnets.It’s not how they get the problem written,it’s can they do the problem? PLEASE ,if you haven’t already ,pursue assistive technology for your Daughter. If has been my two’s saving grace. it totally levels the playing field. SOO much is missed because of trying to physically write. My youngest has a great knack for writing,he really does! Really good stories. It was an amazing thing when you could actually read it for the first time.Once they gave him a computer that is. BTW,I also have both of them in OT(occupational therapy) .

This won’t help with rewriting math problems, but it may help if your daughter has to copy a large amount of info. from a chalk board or overhead. There is a kind of paper that you can get from Kinkos or most any copy center that is used for making duplicate forms. You can order it with notebook lines. My son has trouble copying information too. And his handwriting is sloppy at best.

I gave a bunch of the paper to his teacher last year. Whenever, there was a lot to copy, she would give a piece of this special paper to the little girl with neat handwriting you sat next to my son. My son would still copy the information as best he could, but he would get the carbonless copy from his buddy.

I think as he gets into the older grades this paper will help him alot. We want him to improve his skills so that he can write all his own notes, but it is a great back-up and easy modification. Good Luck.

Rosie

If high tech is need check out IntelliTools, go to their web site.
Software such as Math Pad and MathPad Plus for access to math calculations.
IntelliMath (the name escapes me at this moment) is new and worthwhile too.

Thanks