LRS, dysgraphia comes in many different forms, shapes, sizes etc.. so take my advice with a grain of salt - I'm just a parent, not a professional. Our neuropsych suggested we teach our ds how to form letters as much as possible through HWOT (at home). It's the same program our school used, fwiw. DS had a really tough time with it and we never did get much of anywhere with it - but he did at least understand the concept of the letters starting at the top thanks to HWOT. The thing that I think held him back with this first step was that he was still suffering from a ton of wrist pain when he tried to write. He did go through handwriting OT, which helped give him a reasonable pencil grip and good posture while writing - which was probably the first step in alleviating some of his wrist pain. The OT also worked on different types of finger-muscle strengthening exercises and that helped too. When we were hassling with our insurance over payment (which it never did cover), we were offered the option by the OT of not sending ds to weekly sessions, but instead paying for an eval and for a few sessions to put together a program that we could work on at home. This might be something worth investing a small amount of $ in so that you have a path forward but also don't spend a lot of time trying something that isn't going to be worth the effort (which HWOT was, for, us, ultimately not worth the effort at the time because ds first needed the OT).
I also need, for clarity here, to explain that while OT greatly *diminished* ds' wrist pain while writing, it didn't eliminate it (it is still an issue years later) and it also absolutely didn't eliminate the need for AT.
We were also told by our neuropsych to start our ds typing as soon as we'd exhausted whatever was possible in terms of teaching him how to print. I'd step that up honestly and say - start in with keyboarding right away even while you're remediating printing. I also would look into apps for teaching letter formation - our ds was learning how to print before iPads were on the market, so we didn't have the same type of tools available that are out there now.
Re his participation in classes at Northwestern etc - our ds has the same accommodations available to him through talent search classes that he does through school classes. Has your son been diagnosed by a professional? If he has, you should be able to use the report to advocate for (and receive) accommodations such as use of a keyboard or oral response on tests or scribing etc.
I also just want to add as a bit of encouragement - it's not unusual for 2e kids to have their intellectual gifts go unrecognized early on in elementary school, and much of the time it can feel like all of your focus is on remediating or learning how to cope with the second e - but please know, if you focus on understanding and learning how to accommodate for the 2nd e now, opportunities are going to open up in middle school and beyond and your ds will be well prepared for participating in them, thanks to the work you're doing now.
Hang in there!
polarbear
