Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Homeschool, dysgraphia...advice needed

I started homeschooling DS8 last week. Considering the abrupt start, things are going well. I haven't had time to think about addressing the dysgraphia but I think it's time. I added a simple writing prompt to the morning and it's just not going well. I've asked him to write two sentences and it ends in tears. He resists writing and I feel like this is reinforcing those negative feelings.

My hunch is that I need to work on spelling skills and perhaps incorporate Handwriting Without Tears. He's already working on typing. I guess I need to accommodate the way I wish the school would have. Sorry, thinking out loud here.

Can I let go of the writing for a season? Do any of you have experience with a good spelling resource? I feel like he needs to understand some rules, not just memorize word lists. Finally, is anyone else homeschooling a dysgraphic child? I know each child is different, but I'd love to hear your experiences.

I love All About Spelling. I'm also tempted by the Logic of English, which has a similar OG-inspired design, but integrates handwriting (at the lowest level), reading, and writing, as well, though I'm already so invested in AAS, that I'm not about to change now. Plus, my kiddo is much further ahead in reading than in writing/spelling, so having them separated works better for us, anyway.

We haven't homeschooled, but we've done a *ton* of after schooling to help our dysgraphic ds with writing - both the mechanics and written expression (generating ideas, organizing, summarizing, what is expected on a written assignment etc).

Have you asked your ds what is difficult about the writing prompt assignment? He may be too young to really be able to answer the question, but he might have some insight that would be helpful. Are you having him use handwriting to answer the writing prompt?

The first thing we did when our ds was diagnosed (or at least attempted to do - school didn't cooperate lol).. was to *completely* separate handwriting instruction from written expression instruction. So think through, what is the goal of this exercise? Practicing handwriting or working on building sentences and paragraphs, or creating original written expression. For handwriting, we tried a handwriting-specific program even though our ds had been through one already at school (he was 8 when diagnosed), and ds also went through handwriting OT. The handwriting program we tried at home didn't work because handwriting caused ds pain, so we dropped it and dealt with handwriting only through the 9 months of handwriting OT.

We started ds keyboarding immediately, but keyboarding was also a separate assignment (only to learn keyboarding) until his keyboarding was up to the level it needed to be to respond on writing assignments. While he was learning keyboarding I scribed for him on all assignments that required written answers.

If your ds is a typical dysgraphic, once you've removed handwriting from the equation and he's either keyboarding or you're scribing, he will probably be able to tackle writing assignments and you'll see a big increase in written output. Just remember that "written" doesn't have to mean "handwriting". OTOH, if he's like my dysgraphic ds, you might not see the words flow simply by introducing keyboarding and scribing - in that case you'll want to work on structuring his written expression assignments to target the areas he's struggling in - generating ideas is the first step, organizing ideas next, sentence composition etc - all of these things can be worked on one piece at a time, and for dysgraphic kids, there is sometimes a lack of automaticity in how to do these steps, not just in handwriting - so you need to apply the same philosophy you apply to helping your child learn how to write letters - repeat, repeat, repeat etc.

Hope that helps a little bit!

polarbear

ps - the other thing we did was to prioritize - which skill was most important to tackle first etc. Spelling came out relatively low on the list for us - partly because ds was able to spell when he wasn't in the midst of the writing process - how does your ds' spelling compare/contrast when you ask him to spell a word vs how it's spelled while he's writing? If he can spell well when prompted with just one word, then chances are it's the dysgraphia that's causing spelling errors when writing, and (this is jmo... take it with a grain of salt!)... that's not really a problem that you need to solve. First, it might be something you *can't* solve because your ds is always going to be dysgraphic. Second, with spell correct and word prediction spelling errors drop drastically when keyboarding. Your ds needs to be able to recognize a mis-spelled word when he proof-reads, but he doesn't necessarily have to be able to spell it exactly correctly when writing if he's keyboarding.

All of what Polar said.

Plus this: in an area of struggle, make the task so small and easy first that he is able to succeed with it. Do it that way several times before increasing the difficulty, and increase it in such tiny increments that there is always some success in view.

It can feel ridiculous to give a gifted child a super-easy task, but if he's already deeply anxious and feeling unsuccessful, it really helps to start there.

ITA with DeeDee re the small and easy tasks first!!

Also one I forgot - give the same type of assignment over time - maybe repeat it every other Friday or every Monday morning or whatever. Make it non-identical, doesn't have to be exactly the same, but use the same idea/concept/framework/etc). After a few months it will give you something concrete that you can show your ds to show him how far he's progressed. This was something that was really tough for our ds - when you are the student who is caught up in the midst of working through a challenge daily, it's not easy to see progress over time. Just showing a piece of current work or reassuring our ds that he was making progress really didn't convince him of it - he needed to see how differently he was responding to a repeated type of assignment to realize that yes, he really was making progress.

polarbear

pb, you re-invented effective progress monitoring! (This is how schools are supposed to be monitoring student progress for IEPs or RTI.) You can also use something quantifiable and graph progress (e.g., words written per minute, correctly spelled words written per minute, etc.). Makes it visible, and somehow feels more objective.

I can't speak from a homeschooling perspective, but can only offer some thoughts as to what is keeping us surviving - or not - with our own writing issues.

First thought: I have often seen homeschooling parents on this forum recommend a "detox" period, especially when you've had an abrupt start following a bad school experience. So to your question, "Can I let go of the writing for one season", it may be worth considering if there's really a good reason why you can't. Is there one particular activity that is causing him the most stress, and can you live without that for a month or a term?

Within the school context, we've spent a couple of years trying to figure out what output might look like in non-written form. Our DS doesn't seem dysgraphic, so taking out the handwriting aspect doesn't help him much. For yours, however, that might be a significant and helpful change. As polarbear suggests, there's lots of alternatives to handwriting and spelling, including typing, word recognition and voice recognition software. If any of these help make writing feasible for your DS, they are NOT cheating!

Another option is to look for alternatives to traditional written output. Posters and flowcharts, for example can be good for the visual, non-writing types. Diagrams, drawings, storyboards and comic strips. Build it in lego, popsicle sticks or Minecraft. My DS loves PowerPoint. He's now learning the "Inspiration" software, and using it to brainstorm, capture data, and structure and build presentations. Some day, we'll move to trying to use it to help build text outlines, but, well, maybe not yet today

Are there types of writing that work better for your DS than others? My non-writing DS is inexplicably happy writing poetry that follows strictly-defined patterns, like haiku and pyramids. I haven't yet convinced a teacher to try letting him response in verse to a writing assignment, but I'm working on it. My dyslexic DD, on the other hand, loves to sing, and will improv lyrics on the spot all day long. Again, I'm still trying to convince a teacher to try asking for her response in song rather than on paper...

All that to say, there are so many ways a kid can demonstrate their understanding, analysis and ideas. Perhaps a few months of creative thinking and exploring output in non-(hand)written forms might be just the ticket to ease your transition.

Congrats for taking the plunge - all the best to you. Hope it goes well!

Thank you! He doesn't mind writing single words. The trouble comes with sentence-writing. I think I'll remove this for now and scribe.

I need to take a breath and not try to solve every issue at once. It's a little overwhelming.

I didn't expect to already have to advocate for my DS in regard to writing requirements at a play-based (!) preschool. However, this excellent advice from both Dee Dee and Polar Bear (both in this post and many others) enabled me to work successfully with a teacher confused by the combination of exceptional intelligence with inconsistency of writing skill acquisition. I put a kibosh on "requirement", but guidelines for small incremental skill building as outlined by Dee Dee & Polar Bear. Thank you!

Does anyone know what age dysgraphia can be diagnosed? DS just turned 6 and he struggles with handwriting. The new school year starts next week, and he is accelerating into year 2 at a new school. I am concerned that writing is going to be an issue. We have started OT, but we were on an extended holiday overseas and we struggle with a lot of resistance with practicing writing at home. I am not sure how much is not liking to actually have to work at something, or if there is a real challenge for him.

Yes of course you can drop writing for a while. Plenty of people take 6 months off to settle - read heaps of books, play games, go on field trips. You could also try something like 'writing with ease' which only does copywork (then dictation) and oral narration and summation in the first few levels. That separates thinking what to write from writing until he feels more confident.

Thanks, puffin. I've taken writing pretty much out of the equation for now. He is still doing the writing prompts but I'm the scribe. He writes great sentences without a pencil in his hand! I think we'll stick with this for a while while we adjust to homeschooling.

Dubsyd, I'm not sure what age dysgraphia can be diagnosed. My DS had just turned 7 when we got the diagnosis. As I've learned, dysgraphia has many layers. For DS7, he simply does not have the skills to write as well as he thinks-he cannot form the letters properly, spell words correctly and ceases to use basic punctuation. This difficulty led to serious resistance and frustration. DS wanted to go a good job but he couldn't.

That's just my personal experience. Polarbear and aeh will have a wealth of knowledge for you.

Qualifier here - I'm not a professional, just a parent, so everything I'm about to say is just my impression based on our ds' experience

There are several different things that you look at when diagnosing dysgraphia. It can be tough to make a call "is it or isn't it" dysgraphia when a child is just learning how to write and through those early ages of 4-7 years old, because, just like with reading, children's fine motor skills, writing skills etc, develop at different times. OTOH, if you're careful and you're looking and you really think things through, I think that you can get a good idea re whether or not your child might be dysgraphic when they are in that age range - the key is looking at more than just reversed letters, sloppy handwriting because that is all developmentally possible at that stage.

These are the things that we saw in our ds at 6 that would have been considered signs of dysgraphia if he'd been evaluated at that age:

Crumply messy paper - uneven pencil pressure
Held his wrist and elbow when writing
Odd pencil grip
Total refusal to do homework that we knew he knew how to do (in his head)
Dip in processing speed relative to other subtests on his first IQ test (test was for
entry into a school district gifted program)
Letter reversals didn't lessen or stop as he progressed in school

Once a student reaches third grade or gaps in handwriting appearance etc are a lot more obvious when compared to peers - but there's no way you want to wait until 3rd grade if you suspect dysgraphia because of the double-whammy of having a child miss out on opportunities to learn how to work around dysgrpahia as well as the years of frustration prior to diagnosis that can really lead to blows to a child's self-esteem.

At 6, if you had a professional administer an ability/achievement test combo that included timed tasks such as processing speed on WISC and fluency tests on the achievement battery, and had them review handwriting samples as well as observe him while writing, you'd probably be able to rule dysgraphia either in or out. To get the actual diagnosis you'd want just a bit more testing to determine if it's fine-motor related or visual in origin.

If you're waiting for testing, I'd recommend gathering examples of his writing, and observing how he sits/holds himself when writing. Try to teach him a proper pencil grip and see if it sticks or makes a difference. Have him write the alphabet out (upper and lower case) and time him to see how long it takes - then calculate letters per minute, and compare it to typical letters per minute measures for 6 year olds (you can find ranges by googling). Also look to see how many letters he's reversed, skipped, not written in caps, formed incorrectly etc.

Hope that makes sense!

polarbear

Thanks NikiHarp and Polarbear! There is a lot of useful info in your post Polarbear. I will definitely try some of your suggestions. DS is really resisting all writing practice at the moment. I think this will be a stressful year because of it, but hopefully we can make some progress.

We have had some assessments done. At age 4.5 DS took the wppsi and his processing speed was 40 points lower than his verbal. At 5.5 he did woodcock Johnson cog and ach tests. His achievement scores we all consistent with iq, but many of his category scores on the cog were uninterpretable due to big variations in subtlest scores. The psych commented that his writing was below age expectations, but that he was too young to qualify for dysgraphia. I was okay with that at the time, but that was before we knew he would be skipping into year 2 this year. Ahhh the joys of asynchronous development, his handwriting will be below average for his year 1 age level, and he will be in year 2. But I am glad they are taking a strengths based approach, as I don't think being academically under stimulated in the year 1 classroom and struggling with his writing would have been a better situation. I think I need to just get ready for a bumpy road.

Also DS does have some visual problems with tracking and converging that we are working on, he has prism glass that seem to help in the mean time, so it might be entirely visual or a combination of things.