It just kills me to see his writing in first grade, after a no-nonsense teacher had worked with him. It looked almost normal. Now we are back to preschool scribbling. DS has a disability but it seems like he should be required to put in some effort. It's hard to find a balance.
You might be seeing regression due to dysgraphia or dyspraxia here rather than lack of effort on the part of your ds. Our ds was able to learn how to form letters correctly through an intensive handwriting OT effort in 3rd grade, but today he doesn't form letters that way necessarily. It isn't due to lack of effort, it's dysgraphia. He also learned how to write cursive in 4th/5th grade and he wrote it really well and legibly (his teacher claimed it was among the neatest cursive in class) - but he forgot everything he knew about cursive over the summer before 6th grade and even today has to practice writing his signature in cursive before he signs forms just to be sure he gets it correct.
Also, I don't know if the OT at the school has been particularly helpful. So it makes me wonder if he had a better OT, would things have gotten this bad. I feel that they are giving up on his writing and she is not going to even try with him anymore, even though his pencil grip is incredibly awkward, he probably isn't forming all the letters correctly, etc. I feel like they are not going to increase his services for OT (he only gets 3X per month, maybe for 20 or 30 min. at a time) and I have to choose between her working w/ him on AT OR handwriting.
Our ds definitely benefitted from handwriting OT - what he took with him that's lasted were a correct pencil grip and handwriting posture. And that's actually huge for a dysgraphic kid - it meant no more pain in his wrist while handwriting. The gains re legibility and how to form letters didn't necessarily stick, but the OT was well worth the time and $ invested for the grip and posture.
In a hurry and gotta run, so hopefully I've explained that well enough for now!
Best wishes,
polarbear
