I am having my son tested for LD, which I am sure he has some form of. I am not sure what though. His writing is always pushed together with no spaces and he forgets how to spell common words that he should know. His writing of paragraphs becomes illegible.List form is ok but there is difficult with touching the lines with the letters on the paper.Occasionally he will have a letter backwards. He is very frustrated with his writing. His first tests show he has a really high IQ. He is approaching third grade and I fear with the increase in writing…unless I get him the help he needs he will be set up for failure.If you have any ideas of where to go after this testing is done? Books to read or ways to teach him to write better anything would be appreciated!
Re: Waiting for the diagnosis
My son had the same problem. He have visual spacial deficits which makes the spacing difficult. He had poor page management. He would start writing at the bottom or the middle of the page.
They did not have him tested by the OT initially. I had to request it and request it and request….
The OT helped him more than anything else.
His spacing is much improved and we are doing handwriting without tears this summer to learn script. He is doing well. I know without the OT intervention he would not be able to do this.
Also check out www.callirobics.com. It is similar to what my son’s OT did. It is relatively cheap and can be done by you at home.
Re: Waiting for the diagnosis
Thank you for your response. I am glad your son no longer crys over writing andhope I get there as well. What does OT stand for?
Re: Waiting for the diagnosis
So sorry.
Occupational therapy. Also Handwriting without tears is a handwriting program. Go to handwritingwithouttears.com. It is also a program you can do yourself at home. Not hard at all.
I have been on these boards way too long. I forget that only a few months ago I had no idea what these terms meant.
Re: Waiting for the diagnosis
I concur, it sounds like dysgraphia and I also recommend an Occupational Therapy eval. (private if you can) and Handwriting without tears. You might also want to try multi-sensory strategies for writing including writing in sand, shaving cream, in different color markers, with wider pens (some kids use those ebtter and the like…Even if he doesn’t qualify for OT in school ask for recommendations for help at home.
Re: Waiting for the diagnosis
I would be willing to bet he will qualify for OT at school. Sounds like my daughter who has visual processing and fine motor together with motor planning problems (and a host of others). Also, can he copy from the board? An assistive technology evaluation would be warranted as well. You can request it through the school and ask that the person “who can facilitate funding” be present, otherwise, the process takes much longer. Keyboarding can be taught and will do much to improve frustration levels and self esteem. BTW, I told my daughter to tell everyone who teased her in class re: her writing that she was practicing to be a doctor :)
Go to LD in Depth at the top of your screen then select Writing and this will take you to many good articles on writing LD which is usually referred to as dysgraphia. Read Reginia Richard’s articles. At the bottom of the page is a link to LD store which will display books available on writing. I recommend books by Reginia Rickards and a book by Mel Levine called “Educational Care”.
Hopefully as part of your evaluation your son had an OT evaluation.
Helen