Dysgraphia-- cursive or manuscript??

My son also has handwriting issues, which have been much helped by Interactive Metronome. That might help your student too. IM got him to the low range of average—but functional. Still, I would def. say that he prefers printing. It is more familiar to him and more automatic. We have done therapy to make it more automatic. Also, I think it is beneficial to him that printing is similar to books—it helps the automatization process in general. He can do cursive but he has to think about every letter.

I would vote for printing. Few people use cursive very much these days—it just doesn’t become very automatic with advent of computers. He needs to be able to read it though.

You might also look at a program called Callirobics. It works on the hand eye coordination behind writing. It takes just minutes a day. I have one for printing which I did and one for handwriting, which I never got around to doing.

Beth

This is a private practice student. Therefore I am not doing IM. If the parents want to that’s up to them.

I think HWTears is really quite an excellent program, and it DOES also build the visual motor skills at the same time. The program was written by an OT, so there are many OT concepts there. I have not seen other programs but there looks to be a few good ones out there. I have heard nothing but good stuff re: hwtears, though I know a few kids can not do it.

However, thanks for your imput!!

I also seldom use cursive. I don’t think that beyond taking notes in HS or college it is much use. I did find though that if I took notes in cursive that I couldn’t read them after awhile, so reverted to manuscript or maybe half and half (capitals in manuscript) and some cursive, and I bet lots of people “write” like that.

This kid will need major modifications in HS, which will include word processing and note takers. I’m planning on passing along Sue’s excellent article on dysgraphia! What I want is for the kid to be able to use better printing to make small notes and the kind of thing we all have to do everyday.

—des

I too think HWT is an excellent program. I was just suggesting the Callirobics as a supplemental program that may help with handwriting. It only takes a few minutes a day and is pleasant to do.

Beth

One problem that some parents have mentioned is that when the student gets to middle or high school, some teachers write all their notes in cursive so the student *has* to be able to read it. It does no good to ask the teacher to change — the teacher has so much to write every day that a complete change is impractical, and some teachers, especially European-educated, don’t know how to write manuscript.

The best way to learn to read cursive is to learn to write it, so this is one reason to learn to write cursive.

IF (and this is unfortunately a huge if, given the horrible teaching of writing that I see) the manuscript writing is formed properly, then you can make a very attractive cursive simply by not lifting the pen and joining up the letters. The b and r are a bit different, but who cares? (In fact I was taught cursive by a very elderly German lady [Thank you Mrs. Ross] and she taught our class a print-like r which is actually more traditional) Also closed circles on the b and p make the cursive more attractive and more readable anyway.
Once the manuscript is pretty good and automatic — don’t rush it! — you can teach the student this simple cursive very quickly: first, print a word or sentence in one colour of marker. Then print it again right below. Then connect the end of one letter to the beginning of the next in a contrasting colour. You have one line of printing and a second line of printing-turned-cursive with the joins in contrasting colours. Have the student trace the print form first and then the print-turned-cursive, and then copy it again underneath. Note that for round letters such as a, o, d, s, etc,. you go up over the hill and then come back around as you work through the letter. Having the joins contrasting helps understand what are meaningful letter forms and what are joins, and avoids the confusions of n - m and so on. Usually the student gets the hang of this quite quickly, in a few weeks to a few months.

Though I do see this kid as someone needed massive extra support as dysgraphia and dyslexia aren’t his only issues. I think it may take months to teach just manuscript and break some of the old habits of grasping the pencil for dear life.

To change the subject, any useful grips for that problem? I see that HWTears does have some suggestions.

I’m pretty much planning about a week or so of nothing but working on grasp, posture, etc.

—des

Though I do see this kid as someone needed massive extra support as dysgraphia and dyslexia aren’t his only issues. I think it may take months to teach just manuscript and break some of the old habits of grasping the pencil for dear life.

To change the subject, any useful grips for that problem? I see that HWTears does have some suggestions.

I’m pretty much planning about a week or so of nothing but working on grasp, posture, etc.

—des

All I can say about posture is have fun. Ever since the seventies it has been a given (based entirely on opinion, no fact to back it up) that it is a bad thing to interfere with a student’s “natural” posture and that it is the student’s personbal choice. The fact that reading and writing are unnatural activities to begin with is completely ignored. You will have to nag and nag and be the mean old (*&^%. Keep working on it; it is worth it.

Make sure that the student has appropriate furniture — a good straight-backed chair and a nice large table where the paper can be spread out. You can’t develop good posture while cramming into a corner.

One posture that has become the norm around here is for the kid to put the left arm on the table, lean all his weight on it until he is lying on the table, place his eye an inch above the paper, and write with a hooked grip like a left-hander. Nearly all the kids in elementary do this, and it is obviously fatiguing and very slow besides producing unreadable writing. I have finally figured out the source for this bizarre effect: little kids in kindergarten and Grade 1 are taught to “write” with wax crayons and hard pencils — hey, it’s cheap, so it must be a good thing for kindergarten, right? Since these tools require a huge amount pf pressure — they are tiring even for an adult — the kid has to find a posture that will put his full force down through his small hand, while at the same time watching it closely while trying to force it into letter forms against the pressure. The teachers don’t teach writing anyway, they let the kids “discover”. After two years of this the habit is pretty well ingrained and extremely difficult to break.

Your comment on your student having a death grip on the pencil sounds like he is in this pattern.

The solution to this is to use tools and surfaces that work well with smooth low-pressure motions and badly with high pressure.
Mrs. Ross taught my class of thirty-five third graders with dip pens and inkwells. Her theory was that with a dip pen, if you make a mistake, you’ll know it (it digs into the page with its sharp metal point and either bends or won’t move, and pulls out with a jerk and a splash of ink, often on your hand or face.) This is the Montessori theory of self-corecting materials, and it is a good element to keep in your toolbox.
If you aren’t quite up to going that far — although I had one student I was going to get a dip pen for with last year — you can use modern higher-tech materials. Start with a white board and markers. Deliberately choose markers with fairly long points that will bend or break if pressed too hard. For the beginning, it’s a really good method to mount the whiteboard on the wall. This obviously forces a vertical posture and not using body weight. Once you have some free-flowing motion vertically, use some kind of a draftsman’s or artist’s desk with a very sloped surface (you can buy one, or it can be built out of plywood to sit on your table) and work on getting a free-flowing motion on that. When you move down to paper, use markers first and then super-fine marlers, still with a tip that will not respond well to pressure.

Teach large free arm motions, counterclockwise circles, zigzags, waves, cursive cccc and uuuu and oooo and so on. Get some control over the motion without pressure before even trying letter forms. The goal is large and loose and free and unstressed first; neatness can and will come later. If you go for neatness first it is very counterproductive - as your student demonstrates with the death grip.

Thanks victoria,

Your comments, are, as usual, quite enlightening. I am not really able to do some of your suggestions in my current set up. For instance, I don’t have a large white board (or even chalkboard), wouldn’t even have a place for one. And sure wish to avoid the ink wells, due to cats and all.

Actually the OT that developed HWTears has several posture, exercise suggestions. Also suggestions on the grip.

She also dislikes the thick primary pencil and instead suggests working with a small pencil. And yes they are waxy, no?

The death grip is typical dysgraphia and unlearning is usually much harder than learning.

—des

Small white boards (like the cute bulletin boards sold for dorm doors) can be really fun, though. (Gotta watch them fumes, though.) There’s just some comfort in being able to quickly remove what you’ve written, too.

Yep we will prolly use those. (Also Hwt uses a chalkboard). As for the fumes, know what you mean. Someone did art markers without benzenes. They were quite nice. I imagine what you are smelling is benzene and I wish they’d figure a way around them.

—des

My son is dysgraphic and I opted for cursive HWT with him.He had learned manuscript letters incorrectly for 3 yrs. so I thought it would be easier for him to learn a whole new form than to try to correct what was so ingrained. He did very well. It took us a whole yr to learn but that was fine. We still get the book out occassionally even now-4 yrs later! I used the chalkboard wet and dry like she tells you in the book and we also used sand and sandpaper,whiteboard and air writing. He still can’t write legiably if he is writing notes but he has a laptop and does fair with it. The day he learned to sign his name he started crying and said,”I’ll never forget you taught me how to sign my name.” That makes homeschooling him worth all the trouble! Hope this helps. Jan