If a child can't copy off the board

He wouldn’t be alone, or the only one. I think it involves both issues that you ask about, I just know our son struggled all the way thru k-12 and still has difficulty at the college level with copying off the board. Not trying to depress you, just facing our reality… that’s all. One thing that is most impressive is watching him type now that he has mastered the skill of not needing to look at the keys when typing. It removes the need to refocus on hands to put thoughts on paper. If your son could get that skill down, then with a key board, or lap top etc. type of device, he could look at the board and type what he needs. Spell check etc takes care of the little things. Hope this helps a little.

Andy

Has the child had his near/far vision checked? My older son already on ritalin for his adhd was found to be nearsighted in 2nd grade, my first clue was when he copied his hw assignment “write these words in AER order”.

My youngest started making these mistakes in 2nd, I had his vision checked (ok) but finally teacher agreed we should have him formally evaled for adhd which I had been asking about since he was 3. (there were other symptoms) He was put on ritalin also, no problems academically since. He also was found to be nearsighted in 4th grade. Adhd and nearsightedness is a family thing.

Hope this helps. Best wishes.
Amy

http://www.margaretkay.com/Dysgraphia.htm

Helen

Agree with Helen. Visual motor/dysgraphia. My daughter has been in Sensory Integration OT (WARNING: $45/30 min). She’s better. In 2nd grade, it was so bad, she would look at the board, never taking her eyes off, write across the paper, across the desk and her hand would fall off the other side. The teacher said she had NEVER (in 20 yrs) saw a child do this.

We now use a keyboard, she’s getting pretty good at not looking at the keys. As stated elsewhere, the student then does not have to transfer from board to paper.

I would suggest your child get an OT and AT evaluation at school. Keyboarding can make the difference for these kids.

My daughter receives OT at school. Timed, she gets all of it written with many errors and omissions. Untimed, 90% accurate, but gets 1/3 of the work copied from the board. Keyboarding is a must.

The specific visual skill that can cause this problem would be accomodation or focusing. The ability to focus your eyes from near to far quickly is required to copy from the board. Some people cannot adjust their focus quickly.

My son has this issue but is doing specific exercises that address it through vision therapy.

My son’s broad diagnosis is visual motor. I am quite sure his motor issues/dyspraxia also plays a role.

I don’t know whether my DD has trouble copying from the board, but I do know that she has trouble accurately copying from another piece of paper — or even from a different place on the same piece of paper. Would this have a similar origin as problems copying off the board, or is this indicative of a whole other set of problems?
Thanks,
db

The copying off the board issue is due to the fact that it is a near/far issue. You have to adjust your eyes from near focus to far focus.

My son does alot of exercises reading a small piece of paper close and then a large paper a few feet away.

Does she lose her place when reading as well? If she isn’t copying correctly because she constantly loses her place it could be related to an ocular motor issue. My son is blessed with this one as well but has gotten much better.

Just imagine if you couldn’t control your eye muscles and your eyes kept moving on you.

I would be willing to bet if she has trouble transfering from paper to paper, then from board to paper is going to be troublesome as well.