handwriting problems

What about requesting an Occupational Therapy assessment? An OT can work on handwriting, and your child can still have modifications about handwriting. After 2 years of OT my son has just gotten the hang of cursive. She used Handwriting Without Tears and he ended up loving the program.

I figured he will soon master keyboarding, but if I missed the window of opportunity for him to learn handwriting he never would be able to. Handwriting will always be difficult for him, but he loves being able to write cursive like the rest of the class.

If you decide to forgo cursive and concentrate on computer skills, make sure that keyboarding instruction is in her curriculum.

In my humble opinion.

I have two boys both are formally diagnosed dysgraphic.

I don’t know how severe your kid is,but this is my opinion,based solely on my own experiences with my two.

ONe child,my youngest,11 now,is much more severe then my oldest. His handwriting is literally illegible. TO THIS DAY. He has an auditory deficit that lends to the handwriting problem,his older brother has a visual deficit component. It would seem to be the visual kid would of had more trouble,but it is not true? Go figure.

Now back on track,sorry.
Okay my youngest tried EVERY handwriting program,everyone. Trust me,all of them.

Along with significant aduitory ,he of course had significant fine motor problems. He recieved OT,and assitive technology ,a device to use in class.

He had great difficulty using the AT device,still does. Even though handwriting is illegible, it is still quicker then using his laptop.The motor skills involved with keyboarding was not adequately addressed.

My BIGGEST mistake,in my mind,is that I spent soo much time with OT trying to help my kid write legibly and no time in OT using his AT device. This is a decision I will always regret. In the years that he used every handwriting program,everyone,including me,thought he would naturally start typing and using his device. It didn’t happen this way. I truely believe time would have been better spent had he had the intensive OT specificly for using his device,rather then trying to pressure him into writing legibly..

Incidently we also used typing programs,we used them with both kids. Ironicly my oldest is very much adapted to his AT device,NOT because of the typing programs,more out of a desire to use it. He,as well as his MOM,uses four fingers to type,pecking at the keyboard,but we peck FAST!.If made to type in the traditional sense we would be extermely frustrated,and my oldest would probably not want to use the laptop at all.

In conclusion to all this rhetoric,if had it to do over again,
I would have made sure the device was given at a much younger age,I would of insisted on 1. an appropriate device,(alphasmart was worthless) 2. Intensive OT specificly design to aid in learning the device in their individual way.
My oldest son’s handwriting became legible only after he started effectively using his device? ( effective meaning,it was quicker then writing)Why?
My humble opinion? When handwriting became not the main focus in actually learning in OTHER subjects,when the pressure was off,when he didn’t need to write to show knowledge in science,social studies,EVERY thing,he started writing better. He started writing slower,he started writing to communicate,when it wasn’t about survival… KNow what I mean? Let’s face it. imagine for a minute,your child in class.

Here she is science,I will use science for an example,this is her favorite subject,she is good at science,she WANTS to show her teacher that she is GOOD at science,okay so here she is in class,her handwriting problemns slow her down,she qucikly tries and kick it up a notch in order to keep up with the kids in class. Not because she doesn’t know science,because her hand won’t do what she wants it to do. So here she is trying to go faster,the faster she goes, the worse the writing looks,then she has to stop and erase it and start over again,now she is behind,now she must go even faster,NOW it looks even worse,GRRRR,erase it again,even slower. By now her favorite subject is forgotten,she can’t possibly stay up with the class,and the very subject that has reineforced what self esteem she has left is screwed,all because her handwriting problem.. Get the picture?

Get a device,get her OT for the DEVICE,handwriting will sometimes improve with time,sometimes it won’t,but at least damn it,she will show how much she KNOWS science…..

Okay off my soap box. Incidently,I am dyslexic,wrote in mirror image,I to this day,will transpose letters,and write illegibly at certain times,tired maybe,hormones maybe,whatever it is,it is always a part of my life,computers were the best thing that ever happened to me….

I read all of your posts with great interest. My son just finished being evaluated and we are trying to get our arms around what interventions are appropriate for him. He has fine motor problems that make his handwriting extremely slow, which is effecting all of his academic areas (among other problems such as processing problems, and dyslexic tendencies) He is in second grade, and has done OT in the past.

I’ve researched the alphasmart and would like to know what assistive devices you found to be most helpful. Also what typing programs for the PC have you found to be effective and fun. THANKS

Thanks for sharing. This sounds so familiar. My son also has dysgraphia,(Low muscle tone). We went to a school OT and private OT for 1 year but it was not much help and I did not see any change in his writing. He just can not do it,so what does the school do but have him print because he was in 2nd grade and thats what they do. We are now a year latter the situation has not changed, but he is learning to do cursive. We were told last year he would never print and just go straight to cursive or the keyboard. He does have an alpha smart, but does not use it because other kids aren’t using one.
When we went to the private OT we spent a lot of time on the motion of printing. One thing to keep in mind is that kids who can not print maybe able to do cursive. It’s a different motion almost all letters are formed from the bottom up. Printing is often from the top down.
Well now that we are at the end of 3rd grade I’m still hoping for some improvment because I still can not read his hand writing
Elna

Again,I would push so very hard to get OT to do therapy in how to use assitive technology. I would involve him in art,drawing,or piano,cross stitch.

Again we did handwriting without tears print and cursive,didn’t do a damn thing for MY kid. Doesn’t mean it didn’t with someone elses,it just didn’t with mine.
Your school would have a tiger by the tail with me at that IEP table. Okay maybe this is an emotional issue for me,maybe because I KNOW how your kid feels,but if he can write in cursive,for god sakes what is in their minds? Rocks? It,I garauntee,would be the IEP from hell…

There is a huge emotional component to dysgraphia noone wants to look at. It must be looked at.

Preservation of self esteem is vital,at all costs,and when I was sitting in that IEP meeting this would be my absolute focus.

If the kid is slow,why in gods name would they force him to write in all subjects? It ,to me is probably the most frustrating and traumatic thing a kid can go through,aside from possibly being a nonreader in a readers world. Writing impacts everything as well as reading. At all costs,give him a chance at showing what he actually knows,and not that he CAN”T write.

Good Luck with everything,and keep fighting for that kid of yours,he needs someone rationale on his side:-)

The alphasamrt was developed for a notetaker. Believe it or not . The screen is very small,hard to read,and you have to scroll up and down and boy talking about tracking abilities with your eyes!
if the dyslexic tendencies you refer to is in the visual spatial realm,this kid would have trouble with it.

Unless it is used for very short periods,such as taking notes,it is not useful in my opinion. Why oh Why does the school reccomend it? Cheap,Cheap,so very cheap.

My boys used the Hewlett Packard laptop. It is every bit as durable in my opinion as the alphasmart,did I mention they are also ADHD? It lays on the floor of their room a lot,and eating a snack and typing is a common occurance,no matter how many times I beg them not to do this.

The screen shows them their work at a glance,they can see what they are typing and it has automatic spell check. It is easy to start and shut down the keys are only a bit smaller. Now the mouse was a problem,the pad was very hard to use. So we got a movable mouse and they only have to plug it in in the back and there you go! tey save work on a floppy and either use the home PC to print out work or print it out when they get to school.

Now about keyboarding,again,my youngest doesn’t like to use it,he would rather write. You can NOT read his writing,but he has a teacher that does it this way,if he can read it to him,then it is a keeper,if he can’t then he must rewrite it. He does use the laptop for various software programs. Right now he is utilizing a spanish program,because he wants to learn spanish. I won’t push him either way,to writing or keyboarding,I decided a long time ago,that

A. with LDers such as myself,when the desire,the true desire is there,it will be half the battle.
B. The mental health aspect of dysgraphia is of more importance.We,his teacher and I do not comment,or say anything about his writing,aside from can you read it? Instead we try and pay attention to everything else instead. There have been times here in the last couple of weeks that he has had to redo his writing,it makes him mad,I say,well you always have your laptop,and leave it at that.Bottom line,he will ALWAYS be dysgraphic,so why force the issue?
Do not get me wrong,I am not saying give up on it,or not try to encourage them,but what I am saying is,the whole philosophy of making the kid agree to their mistakes, shame them into recognizing letter reversals,will not help them not do it. Hell it is neurological,not a purposeful act. Know what I am saying?

It just makes them feel bad,believe me when I mispell a word,transpose letters,I am literally amazed,it is not like I don’t know how to spell it,I look at the word and say,now how did I do that? It is not a matter of lack of motivation,lack of education,or lack of years and years and years of special ed classess,it is call neurlogical.

Okay keyboarding,we used Mavis Beacon,mario teaches typing. None really helped because they all have this stupid idea that one must put their fingers over the keys and remember where the keys are from memory. What the heck?? I look at my fingers when I type,as I said before I use four fingers.
So what. My oldest does this too. The thing that got him keyboarding,the internet. He chats with other kids,emails,instant messages,plays chess,and mage knights. He had to start keyboarding to keep up with everyone else in cyber play. His fine motor skills? Cross stitch,and drawing,helped.

You see, how you feel about being ld,how your parents feel about you being ld,how your teacher feels about you being ld,matters more then being ld at all.Strategies to help one just get the job done is the best thing to do,makes one feel like it is okay to just be…

My thought for the night:-)

I have a 14-year-old with visual-motor problems. He used an alphasmart at first but I agree they only show a few lines of at a time making it frustrating. One person I know refers to it as alpha dumb. It can be a starting point for a 2nd-4th grader. We bought him a PDA which is like a mini-lapdop in 6th grade. The one we have is not on the market anymore and I would have to buy a laptop at this point if we were getting a keyboarding devices. I think your son should learn to touch-type before using such a device. My son uses his PDA daily.

Helen

Thanks for all the input -self esteem is important -keeps one going to school.I think I’ll let my daughter let me know how she feels about using a device for writing as now both typing or writing are at about the same speed if we can get the speed up she just may want to type instead, but then again she might not want to use a device when nobody else is-forgot she doesn’t use her glasses because she doesn’t want to be different, but then maybe the glasses don’t help her much anyway as a visit to the vision therapist said they would.Thanks for giving me different points of view.

My son is 7 and in 1st grade. He has had OT since age 2 1/2 he still can barely write his first name legibly in a constant fashion. We are now pushing for assistive technology. An expert for our state reccomends Intelle keys with Intelli-talk program to help learn keyboarding. Learning keyboarding will not interfere with learning to write. The school should and must pay for it, but as parents we have to push for it, ask for it in writing. Ask for an assitive technology assesment, again, in writing. That makes them do things. Check with your state dept of ed. special ed services for what they know is out there.
I am interesting in corresponding with people whose children are dysgraphic. I am also wondering what technology is out there that has worked for people? My son is also ADD (NOT hyper) but I find myself getting so frustrated and angry. Am I alone? Deb