Our son is dysgraphic to the point where it hurts his hand to write more than a sentence at a time. As a result, we did not know what he was capable of in school. For math racers (timed addition, subtraction, times tables tests), he could never finish on time. For written responses to reading, etc. he would put one or two word answers. He was frustrated the most because he is so motivated to learn and excel yet has pain when he tries to respond.
We told his fifth grade teacher and school principal he needed to take tests orally and they said 'yes', but never implemented anything. Finally, we tried a private school who had other dysgraphic students and they made accomodations for scribing exams. However, even there accomodations varied from teacher to teacher and from week to week. With the scribing accomodations, however, we were finally able to see what our son was capable of. The example you gave between the Sunday school writing and the school typing was what we saw when our son was in sixth grade.
Only when he is allowed to have a scribe for every quiz and test and receive notes in class taken by a good notetaker is he able to perform well. If you were to make him write everything then he could accomplish almost nothing. With scribes he is taking calculus now, and he is only 13.
When a teacher says it is an advantage to have a scribe, I might disagree. To be able to take your own notes and to do math problems with your own hand adds to the learning process. To use other people's notes and do math entirely orally is more difficult.
I might also recommend the 'Pen Again' pen which allows your son to write using more of his hand than fingers. It did not help our son, but it is recommended.
I would push for full accomodation in every subject if you want to really see what your son is capable of, and it looks like a lot from the writing sample. Good luck.
David E.
