Illegible handwriting in 4th grade!

Audiblox has a dysgraphia program that may work with him. It would help with the reversals too.

A lot of people swear by Handwriting Without Tears.

Then he needs to be able to type his schoolwork if the OT feels she/he has done all that can be done. Time to move on and work on the keyboarding. He can use a scribe for things that cannot be typed. Get those accommodations fixed for him.

Janis

If he has reversals, there must be other concerns besides his handwriting.

He [b]is [/b]currently typing and everything he does in school is typed.

That’s great! There is not a great success rate with improving visual motor skills. But when Lindamood Bell starts offering their Drawing with Language program again, I’d like to take the training to see if it might offer something new.

Janis

I like Handwriting without Tears as well, but I do think the expectation that this will totally be enough and that your kid won’t really need the keyboarding is not a good plan (not that anyone said this…). I would just keep going on the keyboarding, work on those accommodations, and if your child would be receptive do the HWT a few days a week. It really only takes 5-15 minutes and has very nice OT components, etc. The kids do like this mostly.

It would be interesting if the Drawing for Language does offer any new ideas. We’ve seen that sometimes LMB does have some unusual insights.

—des

How much time has actually been spent teaching him handwriting?

I have posted earlier suggestions on how to teach handwriting and reduce reversals etc. If you do a search under my name you should find it. If not, email me at [email protected] and ask for my notes. I’m a little slow sending them out recently but will get a batch in the mail shortly.

I have dyscalculia. But, I am very good with English; I am a literacy tutor (who cannot type well) and I also tutor developmental studies level reading, English I and II and Elementary Spanish I and II. I do not know what it is like to work with youngsters at all, but…

Graph paper works really well with adults who cannot cypher hardly at all. I teach adults with the literacy program I volunteer with, to learn how to cypher out their letters using graph paper. I go from ten by ten all the way down to four by four size. It is very much a painstaking thing to do, but you can try to start with the letters on like ten by ten graph paper and slowly work your way down to little words and then have them hone their fine gross motor skills by using the four by four graph paper. I also, with regards to adults I guess, fail to see the point in forcing cursive on anyone. Learn to write your name well and leave it be, I say. Well, this is just a thought and all, but I really have seen grown folks learn to cypher in print through using the graph paper and it might work for a child.

[quote=”love2teach”]I have a student who has illegible handwriting in 4th grade. His OT has suggested not qualifying him anymore because when he tests him with OT tests he comes out in the average range including visual perception. She feels that she does not know what else to do with him.
He has lots of reversals and when he writes it looks like chicken scratches. I would love any advice to help him. He is learning typing and doing well with it, he types everything, but when he has to hand write it is notrocious. He also has learned cursive and that was not successful if not made it worse.[/quote]

Have you used the “Handwriting Without Tears Program”. It begins with print and then cursive… :lol:

I would also suggest continuing with the keyboarding skills. However, I wouldn’t rely solely on a keyboard/scribe setup. In the real world, he will have to be able to write on occasion.

I teacher sp. ed. and I use a highlighter to put lines on the paper. The child has to write small enough to stay within the highlighted area. This works very well for all levels. It is similar to Handwriting w/o tears in that it reduces the white area that many students get lost in. :D

In the long-run, getting accommodations in place that allow keyboarding and dictation for academic work, is a good idea. But, it does not address the life-long issue your student faces with employment, housing, and other applications that must be filled out by hand. Nor does it address the on-going issues with self-esteem and belief in ones self as a learner that are so critical to academic success.

[u]The Gift of Learning[/u] by Ron Davis and Eldon Braun includes a section on teaching handwriting to children who do not respond to typical OT solutions. The methodology discussed there was effictive with my 4th grader…the description of your student could have been her 5 years ago…

O “Guest” who is pushing the Davis Method down our throats, do you have a name? Anonymous sales pitches (especially mass-delivered ones) kinda make me feel like there’s a reason you don’t want anybody to know who you are — you don’t want anybody to come back to you later.
IF things are working for you & your child that’s great news — and there are lots of ways to share that… and a pushy sales pitch is one of the least effective or pleasant for others.

There is another program called Peterson Handwriting. Check out www.peterson-handwriting.com. Call the 800 number and talk to Chick. The guy is a handwriting expert. He helped me with one really tough case last year. His program is cheap and comes with a CD. My students liked the program. If nothing else, call the guy and talk to him. He might have a helpful suggestion.

Mcihelle AZ