dysgraphia

Been there, doing that. It sounds as if your son, like mine, suffers from both dysgraphia and dysorthogrphia - sadly a double challenge. I came early to the understanding that my son would write if only he could. We have a tendency in our society to doubt children and to disbelieve them. Many teachers and parents think that a child is always trying to get out of work and so they encourage us to hold our kids accountable to work assigned.

As a teacher myself, though, I would tell you that the work is assigned not with your son or mine in mind. Unless they modify his assignments, your son is expected to do the same work as other students who do not have dysgraphia or dysorthographia. Is that fair? And does that make sense?

If a person is learning to do a task, shouldn’t they be given a task designed to meet their learning needs? Your son and mine are being asked to keep up with a pack of students who don’t have dysgraphia.

I’d maintain that from the first the assignments they’re getting are not right for their issues. Children with learning issues need to have the steps in their learning carefully plan and tailored to their needs. Sadly , that seldom happens.

Most teachers don’t subscribe to my thinking though. I could write an even longer post as to why that is but suffice it to say that most teachers think everyone in their classes should all be doing the same thing.

Whether that’s right for all the students or not.

My son wants to be successful in school. He can’t spell or write well but yet he is interested in school and wants to be good at it. He can learn the concepts well but he can’t write out his understanding of those concepts well. Why should he be penalized for what he truly cannot help?

So I help my son help himself. He often dictates his homework to me while I type for him. I look at the world ahead and know that all these kids will type more than they write. I’d say let your son type and if right now, after these years he has grown so discouraged he’s not up to that, type for him. I’d say help him to believe in himself after these years of school may have sadly taught him otherwise.

I’d try to get his work modified but certainly until then I wouldn’t fold at all cause he might.

Good luck.

Oh, yeah! My son is in 8th grade and we’ve been dealing with the same thing since kindergarten! I agree with Sara, I often type (or write, if it’s on a specific worksheet) while my son dictates. Not only can I not read his writing, neither can he! So, we deal with it as we can. As for reading, it’s gotten much better, but we do get history books on tape and difficult literature books on tape, so he doesn’t have to ‘read’ them, but still gets just as much out of the lesson.

My son does have a 504 plan written up. At the beginning of the year I send all his teachers a copy of it, along with a letter spelling out his strengths and weaknesses. As of yet, he hasn’t been penalized for his poor writing and the teachers ask him orally to answer if they honestly can’t read his writing (for work done in class). I really think distributing the letter and the copy of the 504 plan has made a big difference in the teachers being more understanding.

I have to admit that the amount of work he’s been assigned hasn’t been reduced any. In fact, my son insists on doing all of it, even if it’s until 10:00 at night! Luckily, that doesn’t happen very often. He actually has gotten much better and homework isn’t such a struggle any more (of course that was after meds and years of intervention with an SLP, but that’s another story!).

Dysgraphia is a “know when to fold them” problem, in that most dysgraphia is highly unresponsive to any kind of therapy. That’s why we are teaching our daughter keyboarding. As soon as she can type fairly well, we will be buying her an AlphaSmart.

For spelling, the *only* program we’ve had any success with is Sequential Spelling from Avko (http://www.avko.org). I highly recommend this program, which is roughly based on the Glass Analysis approach to reading (developing recognition of letter patterns in words). You can try out a week’s sample of lessons on the website. The keyboarding program supplements the spelling program.

Reading fluency can also be developed in most kids, but that is a more complicated topic.

If your son has a true anxiety disorder, it may well be aggravated by the stress associated with dysgraphia. However, anxiety disorders have a life of their own and require separate treatment — usually medication. (Been there, done that with my stepson.)

Mary

Your son shouldn’t be writing by hand- he should be typing. Frankly, as soon as I see a kid who freezes up while trying to write, has poor pencil control and/or is a terrible speller, I automatically want him or her on an Alphasmart or laptop.

I think we have to look at what we want to accomplish here. In former days, handwriting was the only communication means available to people other than speaking directly to them. So it had loads more importance in those societies than it needs to have in ours.

We want our children to learn communication skills. Using a keyboard satisfies that fine. In fact it’s better than handwriting. Wouldn’t you rather read something someone’s typed rather than struggling through their handwriting unless they’re one of the rare people with excellent writing?

Thank goodness we have such technology nowadays that even spelling and punctuation can be relatively painless. Even in former times authors had proofreaders and editors; nowadays we all can have the same thing in the form of the computer.

Teachers who don’t realize that aren’t, in my opinion, real teachers. If they don’t have the ability to look at each individual student and figure out the best way to help them learn, then they ought to find another career. I really like Sara’s post about teachers - my feelings exactly. Children do the best they can - they want to be successful; when they struggle, it’s up to teachers to help them, not ridicule them.

our son is 19 and dysgraphic+, so am I (not 19, but dysgraphic+). Typing has been the saving grace in this family.

I learned how to type from Mr. Sylvester in the 9th grade. Way back then, electric typwriters were the cool, modern tool that really helped. I took typing as an elective in 9th grade, and it was incredible. All the effort in writing, all the continued comments about my poor penmenship etc… went out the window. To this day I cannot write cursive, except for signing my name, which you can barely read anyway. My printed writing is almost hyrogliphic if I am in any kind of a hurry. I have a lap top at work, and use it as often as necessary. I could go on and on with the successful coping tools and skills I have learned to survive with, but bottom line is the keyboarding skills are of infinite help.

Our son used to resist my telling and showing him how wonderful typing is/was as a tool to help those of us who struggle with written language. He resisted in middle school, but then slowly started coming around in high school. Once he started to “get it down”, he really opened up. For many of us parents of dysgraphic children, we see the full potential in who they are or can be, but privately dispair as we see them put down the least amount possible to survive with written products. It’s really too bad. Oddly, the hugest boost in his typing skills came from doing that Instant Message form of communication those young people do these days (I’m really not THAT OLD), but it makes the point. He now types like a fiend. He is just getting ready to schedule his final semester of his 2nd year at Jr. College. He works part time and and in all is doing wonderfully well!

Anyway, just posting to let you know there is hope and survival stories ahead of you; so don’t lose sight on the potential for success in the future. Keep the faith!

Also, couldn’t agree more with Sara and Joan regarding approach to children (from a parent’s perspective).

Best regards,

Andy

My son is only 10 and dsygraphic among other things. He’s been taking computer classes at FutureKids and keyboarding for about a year. He’s not able to really type yet, but he’s learning. Even the hunt and peck method on a keyboard is faster for him than handiwriting. His bigger problem is organizing and thinking what to write.

Some ideas that have not been mentioned yet include…

Get a dictatphone for your son to dictate answers that can be later be typed by him or you. My lawyer husband couldn’t live without his. He can’t type, and his handwriting is nothing to brag about either. Handwriting is not an indicator of intelligence. In fact, I think they teach illegible handwriting as a course in Medical School.

I haven’t found a voice recognition software package that I could recommend. I understand some of them require a lot of training of the computer. Dragonly Speaking was the one I had looked at before. I haven’t tried that idea with my son yet. But, I think the technology is promising for dsygraphic kids.

There is also a PenScanner that is the size of an enlarged marker which can scan text from a book. I’ve seen some complaints about them not working so great. But, the new models may have improved. They had some post on the PenScanner in the bulliten board about teaching with technology.

There is writing program called Kidspiration and Inspiration that is supposably helpful in organizing and writing. I looked at in online at www.inspiration.com.

For older kids it might be helpful to learn some shorthand for taking notes.

There is also a carbonless paper that your son could have a friend use for taking notes in class. Then, your son gets the copy. I can imagine all the note taking in middle school and high school is really tough for dsygraphic kids.

You can request, even require, that the teachers provide your son with xerox copies of transparencies or extensive information that must be copied in class.

For essay questions on tests, your son can give the answer to the teacher orally.

Sometimes, writing on graph paper can help. It may sound funny, but in college I used all kinds of thin calligraphy marker pens for my school notes. I changed colors often, and used a form of doodle note-taking described in the book “Use Both Sides of Your Brain”. It made note-taking more fun. My notes looked like a combination of cartoons, graphs, and text. Who knows, finding ways to make the writing more motivating and fun might help. The book is old, but definately worth looking at just for ideas.

You can get permission for your child to use a handheld Franklin Spell Check in class for writing. AlphaSmart sounds like a good idea.

For reading faster, there are books on tape. More and more popular children’s literature is now available. You can call “Recording for the Blind and Dsylexic” for information. I think their website is www.rfbd.com. They have many student textbooks, and I think you can request to have books recorded for you.

Good Luck,
Rosie