You have motivated me to start again with typing with how fast you made progress. I've been putting it off since last year but I think it would be better to start immediately,
Displaced, sorry I missed this thread earlier in the week. You've received great advice already, and I agree 900% with everyone who's suggested getting your ds keyboarding right away. I'll throw in one thought re the typing - don't expect it to be lightning fast, and it doesn't *need* to be lightning fast. Typing right away takes away one of the huge challenges for dysgraphic kids - automaticity. Your ds won't be having to think about how to form the letter he's struggling to write, therefore he'll be able to think about other things such as punctuation etc. My dysgraphic ds also has dyspraxia, which impacts his ability to type quickly, but even though he's slow typing is an extremely useful and important accommodation for him.
as well as switch to cursive for a trial.
I wouldn't recommend teaching cursive yet (jmo) - it is true that cursive is easier for some dysgraphics to use because it doesn't require lifting the pencil from the paper for each letter, and my ds did learn cursive and had legible cursive handwriting - while he was learning it. The gotcha though is that learning cursive doesn't take away the dysgraphia, it just might disguise it a little bit. The dysgraphic person is still going to lack automaticity of handwriting and still have very little working memory left over to think about grammar, punctuation, what thoughts to write etc. FWIW, my ds also *forgot* how to write in cursive over the course of a very short summer - so all the time invested in learning it was simply lost time. Even if he'd remembered how to write in cursive, it would not have been a functional way for him to show his knowledge.
It's a valid point to consider how DS would feel regarding differences. He's verbalized worry about his dyslexia and not reading like the other kids despite homeschooling for >1 year. If he is also concerned about writing and has problems again in school we would homeschool until he's older, has less "noticeable" differences, and more self-confidence.
I also have a slightly different point of view here, too. He's going to still have differences when he's older. He's still going to know he's dysgraphic/dyslexic. If you can give him a school environment where he's receiving intellectual challenge - where he has a chance to really think about things that he's interested in, where he had great teachers, and where he has intellectual peers, then those are as equally important to consider as the fact that he might feel different due to his challenges. My ds *hated* feeling different because of his challenges when he was younger - and he still doesn't like feeling different even now that he's older. However - the things that helped *counter* those feelings were giving him the opportunity to learn at the rate he is capable of and giving him intellectual challenge. I realize you can do that at home, but your ds can and will be successful outside the home too - and whenever he moves from homeschool to b&m school, he'll most likely have a transition time of getting used to using accommodations in a setting where other students don't. Don't make the "when" to transition to b&m based on worries about the feeling of differences, make the decision based on what he's going to be going into that will benefit him. Hope that makes sense!
I have DS do coloring, drawing, mazes, cutting, etc as therapy daily.
Is this therapy for fine motor muscle strength? I'm just curious. I don't intend to sound negative, but it's not going to take away the challenges of dysgraphia - which is all about developing automaticity. Most dysgraphics don't develop automaticity of handwriting. Coloring, drawing, etc don't address automaticity.
He would probably need twice the amount of time as other kids to accomplish the same tasks for anything requiring his hands. Artwork, musical instruments, you name it (from the dyspraxia co-diagnosis).
I also wouldn't count on this until he's experienced it. My dyspraxis ds loves loves loves music, and has never needed extra time for anything related to musical instruments. He holds his hands in a very odd looking position to play piano and his fingers bend oddly when he hits the keys, but he's a great piano player. He also plays in the band and loves it. Music class is actually one place where he feels completely *typical*
He's also very good at drawing. And art class is often filled with kids who are so not artistic that even nt kids take awhile to finish art projects.
I would, however, wonder if his dyslexia might impact him in music re reading music. It doesn't seem to impact my dyslexic dd, but my dd who had vision issues (convergence etc) had a difficult time learning to read music.
In general, re the non-core classes - my recommendation is to get the 504 or IEP or whatever you need for core classes in place, then add accommodations for other things as they are experienced and you have a good idea of what will be necessary.
Good luck!
polarbear
eta - forgot to mention something that was really useful for our ds - word prediction software, which means that after you type just a few letters you'll get a list of words to choose from that you can click on rather than continuing to type out the word. DS used Co:Writer for this on the laptop when he was in elementary school. There is built-in word prediction in iPads (which ds uses now) as well as word prediction apps. Not only his typing speed, but ds' spelling and overall output increased quite a bit using word prediction.
