DS6 has been working really hard on his printing for the past 9 months. We are doing Handwriting Without Tears with the help of an OT. He practices his printing every single day of the week, we use three different fun apps and I have bought countless HWT items to keep it fun and fresh. He is happy enough to do the work. He doesn't have the 'hate printing' gene that his sister has, even though his printing is much worse. His VMI was <15%ile and he will almost definitely be getting a dysgraphia diagnosis after his next round of testing this winter.
The frustration part is on my side. He has been doing HWT religiously and has made very little progress. What he can do in a session, with me by his side, is rarely ever transferred to his printing in real life. For those of you who have use printing programs for dysgraphic children... how well did they work? Did you notice any improvement? If so, how long did it take?? At what point/age did you accept that it is as good as it will get and move on to keyboarding? The app is purchased and loaded... Or, did you continue to work for an extended period of time?
The rational part of my brain thinks that 6 is too young to stop working on it, especially if he is willing to continue with the daily practice. The pessimistic mother of two 2E kids in me thinks I should pull my head out of the sand and move on with teaching him to type. There probably isn't a right answer, I realize, and what works for one child might not for another but I would welcome any opinions or advice you can offer. I think I am starting to burn out. The thought of redoing elementary school with kid #2 is so exhausting that it hurts my brain to think about it.
