My son is 10 and in 3rd grade he still cant write in cursvie very well its his neatest however but very slow.He prints slowly too and has lots of reversals and writes larger than most 3rd graders.he gives no space between words too.He cant spell worth anything too.His teachers are wanting me to teach him to type over the summer and then his sp. ed teacher said she would get the school to provide him a Alphasmart to use.My husband dont like the idea of typing and wants him to learn to write.How realisic is it for him to improve in his handwriting skills now.He will be in 4th grade next year.He only goes to resource room right now for spelling, phonics skills,and writing and so far for his IEP for next year the same.he does use the computer now for spelling and does some creative writing on the computer.Is there anyway to get across to my husband about his writing.The school still is going to let him write some but they said computers are how he will get through school.My the way my sons IQ is over 130.He is classified in school under SLD.He does get OT and speech therapy too.
Re: Writing disability
Sounds like my life.
My husband was pretty much locked into thinking our son should be doing MORE handwriting worksheets than everybody else to fix the handwriting problem. He toned it down after a session with an LD specialist we were working with who explained that this expectation was roughly equivalent to asking a kid with a broken right arm to write perfectly with his left hand. The connections to make it work to that level just aren’t there. And what my husband was suggesting would be also perceived as torture.
Raelyn, I have two pieces of advice for you. The first is to look for every possible way to keep things positive for your child (at least those over which you have some control). A child with these issues is already getting attacked on all sides about their differences. Try to help your husband understand this and try to find ways to make home a safe and accepting haven for your child. Take all the accommodations you can to make homework less painful (work reduction, dictating to you to while you write, dictate to you while you type, give him clues on answers, read to him, etc.) You will see amazing things when your child only has to think about what he wants to say on the subject, and not where the pencil should be and which direction it should go. Get it written into his IEP that arabic [? is that the right term] writing, reduced written output, strategies to avoid rewriting, and assistive technology are all acceptable in homework and in classwork. Also, I had to recognize my own contribution to my son’s frustration — my every effort to “fix” him and every frustration I expressed to him when he wouldn’t sit still or write neatly was just as destructive as what he was experiencing at school. Now I do everything I can to reduce the amount of his work, try to make it fun, and accept how he’s willing to do it on his own terms. Now two years later he has a much more positive attitude and does 80% of the work completely on his own.
The second is to prioritize the issues you need to address. I’d say reading is the absolute top priority. Phonics can really help with reading and spelling, if he can get to the point where the connection is automatic. Unfortunately ours ( a 7th grader) still doesn’t get rules for long vs. short vowels and that’s just breaking the surface of understanding phonics. Since dysgraphia is pretty difficult to remediate and for the most part is really an issue with “making it prettier,” I’d say this is low. A child like this should be measured by what he can demonstrate he has learned, not by curly-cues. Keyboarding would really help him if he can master it, but ours hasn’t yet, and if yours has OT issues as well, he might find this difficult too.
If you have the means to get a qualified LD tutor, it can take you and your husband out of the middle of the battle. Sometimes they’ll give 110% to someone else, but dig their heels in when working with mom or dad.
I hope some of this helps. Every child is different, so you will have to find a style that works for you. Best of luck on this long journey!
Re: Writing disability
Thank you for your response it means a lot to me that I know I am not alone.
I dont know if he will ever apply the phonic skills he knows when he reads besides when they are doing phonics.This is the problem he can do the work in thr resource room but cant apply them in reading in the reg. classroom.This 9 weeks his grades over all have slipped I tink it is due to more independent reading on his own is expected.His teacher did say in our IEP meeting the other day he should be okay till the 2nd nine weeks of 4 th grade next year when there is a lot more independent reading.He has brought home mainly Ds and some Fs the past 6 weeks today 4 Fs and 2 Ds.I am sooooo fustrated he still is working hard at home and his teachers say he is at school too.He even wants to go to summer school I gave him the opition and he wants to go we will postpone our vacation 2 weeks because the dates were just announced for summer session.
Re: Writing disability
Raelyn,
The truth is that it is not very realistic to expect your son’s handwriting to improve all that much. That’s not to say he shouldn’t continue to work on it — we all need to be able to handwrite certain things if we possibly can. Nevertheless, handwriting can be one of the hardest skills to remediate. There are lots of different causes for dysgraphia and what works for a particular kid and how well he responds has a lot to do with what is causing the problem and with things intrinsic to that child alone. For a child whose main handwriting problem stems from ADHD, medication can help handwriting a lot, along with using a multi-sensory approach such as Handwriting Without Tears. For a kid whose problems are largely in the motor realm, occupational therapy can be helpful, if it is started early enough. At age 10, your son is not likely to see a big change as a result of OT, though it might still help him some. My 11 year old gt/ld son has dysgraphia, stemming from coordination difficulties, ADHD and mild dyslexia and has received occupational therapy since age 5 and takes medication for his ADHD. His handwriting has definitely improved, but it is still hard for him to produce and hard for others to read. Content-wise, his handwritten work tends to be very brief, with lots of misspellings. Put him on a computer, however, and he types like the wind and can write almost on grade level. He uses Microsoft Word’s grammar and spell checking feature that underlines errors as you type them, which allows him to easily spot his mistakes. Your husband is probably struggling with accepting your son’s LD and I think all of here know how that feels. But, as my husband says, at some point you have to get over yourself and start making sure your kid is getting what he really needs. A gt/ld child like your son already faces so many frustrations, because it can be so hard for him to demonstrate to the world what he really knows. Making your son stick to handwriting is just putting up more obstacles for him. You are on the right track exploring keyboarding. It could make a world of difference for your child. Keep working on the handwriting, but make it separate from learning how to communicate via the written word.
Andrea
Re: Writing disability
thank you it has helped I do know my husband dont like to face it our son has disabilities.He is the only son of 4 and the oldest.My son is doing his report on the computer tonight at the request of his teacher since he will be up all night producing it by hand otherwise with all his other work too.
Re: Writing disability
Your son can be helped. A good Orton Gillingham tutor should be able to address this handwriting issue. Now is the time to deal with this program. He will be more resistant to learning cursive as he becomes older. It’s not too late. The summer would be a great time to work on this issue. If your son has other issues in the areas of reading, writing, and spelling I would ask you to visit the website of the Shoshone Summer Camp. We have a full academic + recreational program for dyslexic students. We are located on a beautiful ranch setting near Yellowstone Park in NW Wyoming. Our website is www.shoshonesummer.com.
Best regards,
Fran Lunney
Shoshone Summer Camp
Co-director
617 842 5227
[email protected]
Sounds like my son who is now 14. In 4th grade we added keyboarding skills to IEP. He uses mostly keyboarding for school work. I will admit that his handwriting did get worse but I don’t think he could have kept up in claass without a computer. He takes a labtop to school each day.
Helen