Dysgraphia caused my son more trouble with math than with writing because he couldn't type his math. He always picked up concepts quickly and became better and faster at mental math than I ever was as a way to compensate for his handwriting issues. When he kept saying he hated math I realized that I had to do something different. We went back to taking turns writing out the problems in his Life of Fred Algebra book. We used to do that when he was younger. When it is my turn to do the writing he tells me exactly what to write. He uses IXL for more practice to increase his speed in doing the problems. When he does it his way he is faster and usually makes fewer mistakes than I do and I don't have dysgraphia. I think the sense of mastery he feels when he beats me at math is better than the sense of mastery that he gets by doing more handwriting. He cuts out as much of the handwriting as he can and still gets the correct answer. IXL deducts points if you get a wrong answer and you have to answer several more correctly to get to the point where you were before the mistake so he has an incentive to not make mistakes. He uses a whiteboard and erases (much easier on a whiteboard) what needs to be changed instead of rewriting each line of the algebra problem. He seems to be able to do some of the IXL problems mentally without writing them down. By letting him write out only what he needs to so that he can get the correct answer might help him in timed test situations so I let him do this some of the time. Other times I have him write everything out and tell him that this is how he would have to do it if he were in school so that he can do it that way also if he has to.
I did not have my son spend hours doing work that involved handwriting because he needed time to work on piano and musical theater and dance and exercise that I knew would further develop his coordination and strength, and it has. I also wanted to allow him plenty of time to read and learn things that were of interest to him to further develop his excellent vocabulary and his ability to carry on intelligent conversations about many different things. I wanted to allow him time to look for answers to his many questions and to discuss those questions with me and his dad who is just as much of a geek as his son but hides it in public just as my son has to do.
I wanted my son to have plenty of time to keep up with what was going on in the news and to learn about the history and culture of lots of different countries and to know that there is an interesting world outside of our small town where he doesn't fit in because he is interested in everything except sports and it seems that most of the other kids we meet are the opposite.
Because I didn't make him practice writing for hours he had time to read about things like Jungian psychology and he is able to make jokes when he is studying science. Yesterday we read on Brainpop "Some researchers, including Leeuwenhoek, claimed they could see tiny "animacules" when they observed reproductive cells... My son who immediately noticed the anima in animacules joked, "could they see their "inner female?" He says things like this all the time and I enjoy learning with him and just talking to him. If I make him practice writing more than what he is doing we lose the fun in learning and neither one of us is willing to give that up.
We absolutely need to keep as much fun in our lives as possible because my son will have to go back to a full time brace for at least a few more years until he stops growing and it is going to be difficult but we will get through it together.
I guess I always saw practicing handwriting for hours as taking away time from learning more important things. My son does still get some writing practice and my husband, who watched a Jack Vale video with my son that advertised a gadget called a "pooter" that well, makes fart noises, thought it might be a more fun way for our middle school age boy to do hand strengthening exercises than just squeezing a boring old ball. My son is definitely using it more than he did the ball.
