My son's kindergarten teacher wanted to hold him back a year so he could work on coloring in the lines even though he could read at a 5th grade level before he started kindergarten at age 5 and could do mental math including some multiplication. She thought coloring in the lines was important enough to hold him back even though we told her that he had low muscle tone and mild muscle weakness that caused him to have trouble with fine motor skills and even though he made what would have normally been a passing grade on an end of year first grade test to see if he could skip ahead to second grade the next year. I had asked for that testing before she told us about the coloring problem. I volunteered at the school during his kindergarten year and I took home some left over third grade language arts worksheets in copy room to see if he could do them. He could do the third grade worksheets without any problem yet he couldn't or wouldn't color in the lines. He could write his name before he started kindergarten and could write all letters of the alphabet legibly by the end of kindergarten but his problem was that it took him longer to write than other kids and he fatigued faster than other kids because of the physical issues. I think he could color in the lines for a short time but he would get tired and he wanted to get his work done on time so he did the best he could and when he realized he couldn't finish in time he would scribble just to get it done. He also would only draw stick figures and was embarrassed by his lack of drawing ability. The teacher would hang their pictures outside of the classroom for everyone to see. They did a lot of coloring at his school and I still think my son was better off practicing writing instead of coloring since he had the fatigue issues. My husband agrees with me. We just didn't see coloring in the lines as an important life skill. He can color in the lines now without that extra year of practice but he spent his time reading and learning things that in my opinion are much more important than coloring in the lines. We have homeschooled since my son finished kindergarten.
My son wasn't diagnosed with motor dysgraphia until he was 11. When he was tested at age 7 the OT said his writing was low normal and she did not test him long enough to see that his writing falls apart when his hands get tired. I remember getting upset with him a few times when he wouldn't do all of the writing I wanted him to do. I remember threatening to put him back in school when the OT didn't find a problem because I started doubting what I saw. I wondered a few times if maybe he was lazy but then I realized that he didn't like doing coloring or writing assignments because they made his hands hurt and made him tired. If something causes me pain I try to avoid it too or find an easier way to get things done. He learned to type.
My son started taking piano lessons when he was five to help with fine motor issues and he used Handwriting without Tears to practice writing but I never made him color in the lines again. He still draws using stick figures. He did practice drawing a few years ago using some online how to draw examples.
