Question for Sara - dsygraphia

: I’d ever like to be able to help but I may disappoint you on this one, though. My own son has been in an independent school since he was in the 4th grade and so is not allowed an IEP. Any accomodations granted him have been as the result of the kindness of some teachers and his self-advocacy.My son became very determined to “beat school at its own game” and he became very focused around that goal. He would borrow notes from the good notetakers and xerox those notes to study or even bring them to my for typing and return them and a beautifully typewritten copy of them to the generous lender. It also deserves to be said that, as years went by, he became better able to take some notes and much more able to retain what was said in class through his own memory. He would also ask teachers to write things on the board (some would, some would not) so he could copy down key words.Fortunately, in Middle School, most tests were not essay or even short answer but rather were multiple choice and matching.His first essay test was a Lit final in the 9th grade and we so carefully prepared for that. We prepared an introductory paragraph that could almost work for any Lit question and a concluding paragraph the same. He worked to memorize those paragraphs!In his school, again fortunately, spelling rarely counts on a test (although always counts on homework) What is also true is that homework is easily weighted as heavily as our tests and sometimes even more so.I found with my son, as you might find with yours, that as they grow and develop at their own pace, they do get to be better writers, both in neatness and in expression, if only they are able to maintain their sense of self and self-esteem as they “catch up.” If school would allow them to grow at the rate nature clearly intended them to, there wouldn’t be a problem. However untentionally, school creates the problem.You could in the summers when the pressure is off, do some gentle remediation for your son. I used to ask my son to write a sentence a day in the summer. Even that small task can produce results.If you’ve read my posts before then you’ve often heard me say that some children walk at 9 months and others at 14 months but no one gives the 12 month old an ‘F’ for not walking yet. Your son and mine are on their way to walking. By high school you may notice a remarkable difference in your son’s ability to ability to put his thoughts down on paper and another remarkable diffrence by college.Sara,: I was browsing the Social Skills board and noticed the topic about
: dsygraphia, to which you replied your son has.: My son also has dysgraphia - his writing is atrocious, but at the
: same time it’s next to impossible for him to put his thoughts down
: on paper.: I was noticing what you said about your son and how you do most of
: his typing (as I do for my son), because typing didn’t help him
: much. What I really wanted to know - if you know - is how do I go
: about allowing him to have a ‘note taker’ or ‘scribe’?: My son is currently is 7th grade - it’s the future I’m worried about,
: as in high school or college. I can type his homework, but I can’t
: write his essay tests for him! His SLP says he would never qualify
: for and IEP, so how do I get this accommodation? Does your son
: ever take any of his tests orally - how could I get that as well?: We live in California (near Sacramento) and he goes to the Elk Grove
: school district.: Your posts have always been so helpful and full of common sense, I
: hope you can help on this one.

Thanks for your reply. This summer we’re going to work on Handwriting without Tears and typing - hopefully that will help. If all else fails I’ll have to work with the school to get him a scribe and allow him to take his tests orally.You know it’s funny, at the beginning of the year the teachers were resistent to my writing stuff down for him for his homework assignments (sometimes the answers have to go in small boxes, and can’t be typed, so I write what he dictates). Now, they don’t seem to care - as long as they can read it they’re happy!Once for a book review I wrote down the answers to some questions and the teacher got up in arms. I assured the teacher that I definitely didn’t have the time to read all the books assigned and that I was only acting as ‘secretary’, no way would I know the answers the questions - never heard a peep after that!