my almost 6 yr.old has tremendous difficulty writing letters and numbers. It is very hard for him to remember how to write them. He can identify them but can’t get them on paper, and gets extemely frustrated. I try writing in sand , still resistant and I can’t tell what he is writing when he does it in the air. What can I do to help.?
Re: writing numbers and letters HELP!
The Handwritng Without Tears curriculum is great. Website www.hwtears.com. This curriculum address issues with finemotor, visualspatial skills and it’s fun. inexpensive, and easy to teach. I am an OT
in the schools and see the worst cases, if a child has near normal intelligence, this program has been successful. Good luck.
Re: writing numbers and letters HELP!
When my son turned one, he hardly spoke a word. By 18 months, he would put two words together. Although he understood everything, he didn’t speak. I made an appointment for the Child Find services in Ft.Lauderdale who then told me he was Speech delayed and was put in the PLACE program at our local elementary school. Over the past two years, he has made great progress with this program. Also, durning this period of time, he has seen several neurologists, had an MRI, blood tests, you name it all came out negitive or normal. Still delayed in speech and slightly delayed with both fine and gross motor skills. This past April, I received a call from the ESE teacher at school who had been proforming many test over the past months to determine his placement for the upcoming school year. She informed me that she had done 2 IQ tests on him, one reading 61 and the other 49 thus labeling him Educationaly Mentally Handicap. They are putting him in regular Kindergarten with a one hour pull out. This past Friday, I took him for is five year physical and the peditriation told me that he may need to be medicated in order for him to do well in school. This was the first time I had ever heard this. This was yet another blow to what appears to be a healthy, normal, social child.
I’m looking for help, I want to try and provide more help at home with his learning skills. From the basics of letter recognition to colors to shapes to adding.
Any thoughts?
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Re: writing numbers and letters HELP!
we bought handwriting without tears (available on line) and were amazed that our 5 and 8 year olds could master letter and number writing. The 8 year old has improper motor pathways for writing and has struggled with multiple learrning disabilities. This program may be the answer to correcting his reversals. So far we have seen great success.
Re: I can send you practical guides by email
[quote=”victoria”]<HTML>I have typed up my approach which I use succesfully in tutoring. To avoid posting the same things over and over, I’m offering to send copioes to anyone who is interested. Just email me what you’re looking for.</HTML>[/quote]
I would love to see what works for you. please send it to me!
Thanks,
Deidre
[email protected]
Handwriting without Tears
Thank you so much for the referral of Handwriting without Tears. I just looked on their website and I’m definitely going to order. Like Ari, my daughter has trouble with her writing skills. I really think this will work!
Re: writing numbers and letters HELP!
I have three sons with different LDs and spend a lot of time at school, especially monitoring their classes. I am now homeschooling one of them.
My point is that I have seen the OT at our school using Handwriting Without Tears with students of all ages and it has done wonders. Children that could not write the first letter at the beginning of the year in kindergarten were writing their names and copying information off the board by the end of the school year. I have seen it in action and know it works. They also have a program for older kids and a cursive writing program.
You can also place your order through snail mail if you don’t have a credit card like me. I have ordered it and have not yet received it, but it has only been two weeks.
Re: writing numbers and letters HELP!
To Debi H:
Definitely keep up the speech work for your child!
Do NOT take those IQ results as written in stone. Three problems with those IQ results: (1) IQ tests naturally require language skills (understanding questions, following directions, etc.) So if a child is language-delayed, the IQ score may come out lower than his actual abilities. (2) IQ tests given in the preschool years are not terribly accurate anyway; many kids see large changes. (3) If the child is actually LD and not mentally handicapped, training programs to overcome his difficulties can change the IQ scores notably.
The suggestion of drugs sounds off-the-wall and possibly illegal. As I understand it, in most states education people can NOT require you or even recommend you to use drugs. ONLY a doctor can prescribe. Furthermore, drugs are supposed to be the last resort after all other reasonable behavioural approaches have been tried. If he isn’t even in school yet, clearly they have not tried yet! And of course I haven’t seen the child and cannot prescribe at a distance, but if you are not experiencing behavioural problems then behaviour-modifying drugs are not what you need. Now, there are some kids witth ADD who focus better and learn better on medication, and if this is your case you get a good doctor and work out what is best for you, but that is very different from what you seem to be reporting.
Re: writing numbers and letters HELP!
I’d like to add that writing letters and numbers on calkboard in LARGE print can help with memory. Handwriting Without Tears was great, too.
Re: writing numbers and letters HELP!
I really like HWTears, but I also like Victoria’s ideas. They work well together I think. HWTears is priced reasonably and Victoria’s are priced even more reasonably (free so far :-)).
—des
I have typed up my approach which I use succesfully in tutoring. To avoid posting the same things over and over, I’m offering to send copioes to anyone who is interested. Just email me what you’re looking for.