Another reason his handwriting might be getting worse as he gets older is that he needs more of his brain power for the thinking part of the assignment as assignments get more complex (thinking of the sentences, spelling, grammar, etc.) which leaves less of his brain power for the writing portion. This is what I see with my DS. He did OT to learn to form his letters and write well, and while it wasn't beautiful it improved quite a bit. However, the neat handwriting went out the window when he had to actually think of what he wanted to write rather than just write the letters themselves for practice.
DS uses a mix -- for short assignments (one or two sentences), he handwrites. For longer writing or a sheet full of one sentence answers, he uses a mix of AT. It is definitely a learning curve full of frustrations. He does a mix of typing, voice typing (speech to text) and us scribing for him. It all depends on the purpose of the assignment. For things where we want to capture all that great information he would leave out if he had to handwrite or type himself because it would be too much for him (because he is still learning to type well), we scribe for him. However he has to do the edits on our scribed version. We type it just as he says it. When he is typing for himself, he will mix typing and voice typing. However he does get frustrated with the voice typing not recognizing what he is saying. His accuracy will improve as he practices more and learns to speak clearly and slowly. It is our goal to not be scribing for him at all, but we realize at 8 years old he just isn't there yet. It is a process...
We don't have great accomodations for math except he only has to half the number of problems if it is a worksheet with many similar problems.
You made the comment that he needs to put in the effort. I absolutely understand what you are saying and have had the same thoughts myself about DS. The thing I have come to realize about my DS is that even though it might not look like he is putting forth effort and has taken some steps backwards, it doesn't mean he isn't trying really hard. I have come to understand his limitations, accept them and realize that no matter how much he practices his handwriting can only improve so much.
