Questions22, you've received excellent advice above! I'll add a few thoughts - my ds has DCD and dysgraphia, as well as an expressive language disorder that impacts written expression. When he first evaluated by a neuropsych at age 8, he also had a diagnosis of "Disorder of Written Expression", but fwiw, he lost that diagnosis three years later during a re-eval even though he was still struggling tremendously with putting his thoughts on paper. My understanding of the DOWE is that it was based on the discrepancy in his writing scores on the WJ achievement tests vs his ability scores on the WISC, which measure discrete tasks such as spelling rather than extended written expression, which is more often evaluated with the Test of Written Language (TOWL). My first suggestion is that you scribe for your dd (as spaghetti mentioned above) when working on writing assignments, and if, over time, you find that she's still struggling to put her thoughts into words (with handwriting removed from the equation), request that she be evaluated for an expressive language disorder by her school, or get her a private evaluation (this will be with a Speech Language Pathologist). If you find that the words flow once she's not having to use handwriting, then you don't need to even think about this step. One potential word of caution though - my ds was extremely verbal and could talk your ear off about many things. He couldn't, however, write in response to open-ended, abstract questions. So as you practice writing with your dd (you giving the prompts, structure, dd telling you what to write), try to include different types of writing, because she may be very capable in some areas and have a huge struggle in others.
I also have a question for you - when she was diagnosed with DCD and dysgraphia, did the evaluator give you any type of plan-forward, with advice on how to accommodate and remediate? You'll receive a lot of great advice here from those of us who've been through this with our own children, but we don't have the benefit of knowing your individual child. I found the roadmap given to us re what to attempt with our ds vs what to not bother with, as well as what to anticipate in the future, were very important in how we approached accommodation/remediation with our ds. I suspect you'll find, as we did, that some of the advice that's given out for students with dysgraphia-"only" diagnoses (no DCD) will not apply to your dd. The big difference there for our ds was typing speed - my ds, like spaghetti's ds, relies 100% on typing, but his typing is slow. Slow enough that if you didn't know he was dysgraphic you might look at him and think... um.... why is this kid typing, it's holding him back - when the reality is, his typing is the fastest it's going to be for him, and it's faster than handwriting not only because of the speed but because of the dysgraphic impact of lack of automaticity of handwriting. I so didn't explain that very well! I hope it makes a little bit of sense
I also see the impact of DCD on my ds in other movement functions, and it's impact in his schoolwork. I'd say that his dysgraphia is almost a non-issue at this point, in high school and having been 100% typing for a very long time. He still doesn't spell well when writing, even on the keyboard, but word-prediction and spell-check make most of his papers ok on spelling from the start, other than words such as their/there/they're etc. And capitalizing the word "i" etc. OTOH, his homework takes a long time. He simply moves slow. He moves slowly when he puts his clothes on, when he uses the knife to spread butter or jelly, when he buttons his shirts, when he puts on a jacket. Handwriting wasn't the only skill in which he lacks automaticity. DCD impacts each individual differently, so those may or may not be things that impact your dd, but they are things that are different than simply having dysgraphia, giving a kid a keyboard, and then finding that almost like magic the words flow. Hope that makes sense. And.. I hope it doesn't sound depressing, because it isn't, it's just different. One of my favorite "DCD memories" of my ds in early elementary was a morning when we were running late and I was trying to hurry him into school. He was 10 steps behind me and I was desperately trying to get him to speed up, so I begged him to "run!!!".. and ds, looking very much like he was walking and that was it, replied "I AM running!". I was exasperated at that point in time (before we knew of his DCD), but later on in his early years we realized that, for him, that was running. As I mentioned, he's in high school now. He is on the cross country team (our school district lets everyone participate in team sports), and he was the slowest runner on the team the first year. Really, really slow. But he ran, and he's still running. He runs against his own personal best each time, and he's improved so much. He's still in the slow pack, but he's no longer the slowest. And he's ok with that. He gets out there and he runs. Just mentioning all of that to let you know that although your dd will have some struggles now, she's going to be more than ok - she's going to soar
I need to help her get her skills up there because her handwriting problems keep her from learning what she needs to be learning in school. [/quote=Questions22]
I'd de-couple this entirely. You need to help her acquire the handwriting skills she's capable of acquiring. I don't know what this will be for your dd, but for my ds it meant learning good handwriting grip and posture (this alleviated wrist pain and fatigue and helped with uneven pencil pressure on paper), learn how to form letters properly (this might or might not stick), try to learn cursive (this will most likely come a few years later in school, but for some dysgraphics cursive is easier to use than printing because the pencil doesn't leave the paper as often), and eventually be able to write a short note. Handwriting never becomes automatic for dysgraphic people, and (jmo) it's important to only remediate to the point of what's reasonable to expect for that child, and then to move on to keyboarding. You'll most likely run into a lot of resistance in elementary school from people who view handwriting as an essential skill, but when you run into that, take a quick reality check by looking around at the adults in the world we're living in - how many people rely on handwriting?
This summer she has agreed to spend 30 minutes a day on learning to type
I'd not make her spend more than 10 minutes per day on typing, and I'd try to let her use a typing program that's fun. It's been too many years since my children were young to give you good advice on a learn-to-type program, but my kids loved the BBC-mat typing program, never practiced on it more than 10 minutes at a time, and they came away from it with good typing skills.
I'd also caution you to not require that she use traditional touch typing - it's tough for small hands. My ds stuck with it even though we told him he didn't have to, but my dds both used adaptive typing - they figured out on their own which fingers to use for which keys, and primarily used thumbs and index fingers, a little bit like texting
Although ds used traditional touch-typing on the computer keyboard, when he later moved to the iPad he also came up with an adaptive typing system of his own. Adaptive typing was highly recommended to us by ds' OT.
[quote]...and writing of some kind--
Before I practiced a lot of repetitive writing, I'd try to use this summer for *you* to learn what types of writing your dd is good at, and what types are more challenging. I'm sorry I'm in a bit of a rush so don't have time to give you details on that suggestion at the moment, but I can come back later with a few suggestions.
One thing I'll suggest now that you can google though is help with organizing - I think this software is still out there, if not, something similar might be very helpful: "Kidspiration" (it's the children's version of Inspiration) - it's an interactive graphic organizer. When my kids were little they offered a free trial version for something like 2 weeks. One big "take this with a grain of salt" warning about my suggestions though - when my ds was first diagnosed, the iPad hadn't come on the market yet! There are so many cool apps on the iPad, that the first thing you should probably do... deserves it's own paragraph lol.... here goes:
Research current AT options for dysgraphic elementary-aged students. You can do this online (like you're doing), but you might also be able to do some "on the ground" research where you live. I was able to find a disability services office in our city that helps people find AT solutions (I found them listed on the wrightslaw yellow pages). We were able to get advice on various solutions for keyboarding, word prediction software, etc then picked and chose what made sense to try for our ds.
and we'll do something fun to celebrate.
Definitely don't forget about the fun, and also don't forget about focusing on things your dd enjoys in terms of academics (not necessarily during the summer!)... it's just tough in elementary school and particularly when first diagnosed, for children with challenges such as dysgraphia to find time to be "just kids". It might continue to be tough too. As I mentioned, it takes a long time for my ds to finish his classwork and homework, and this hasn't changed over the years. He's doing very well in a great (and competitive) high school program, but he spends so much of his time on schoolwork, even with accommodations in place. It's really important not to let the "work" take over a child's life. (or your life ) I often find we forget as parents how precious this time with our kids is while they are young - while we're in the midst of it. It goes by so quickly! Having spent the time with my ds helping scaffold and support him through his early challenges helped us forge a bond between us that is rock-solid and really wonderful, but I am also, tbh, envious of the parents who didn't have to work through that, who were able to actually play with their kids after school and not have to spend hours working to get through a challenge.
I can't be sure, but I do feel like her writing problems are tied to the DCD and harbor this secret belief that if she just practices enough, writing will become more automatic.
From everything I understand (and I'm not a professional, just a parent, so definitely weigh what I have to say with that in mind
)... but from what I understand, the lack of ability to develop automaticity is part and parcel of DCD.
I'll also add that my ds' handwriting did get "better" with practice. "Better" means he learned how to form letters properly, and he learned how to write without his pencil pressure ripping up his paper. When he learned cursive with his class in school, his teacher was always praising his handwriting, noting how nice it looked compared to many of the children in class (and claiming it was proof he didn't have a handwriting challenge). But there were so many things he never gained with handwriting - the obvious things when he was younger were that his handwriting was very slow compared to peers, his spelling was compromised when using handwriting, his punctuation was off, he mixed up words or left out words, copying wasn't accurate, etc. By the time he was in middle school he'd make comments such as "I like writing numbers better than letters because there are only 10 numbers to memorize how to write instead of 26 letters". After studying cursive in elementary school for two years along with his class, and having developed that "beautiful script" that his teacher thought was proof he didn't have dysgraphia, he forgot how to write cursive all together over the summer before 6th grade. Today, in high school, when he has to sign his name on a form he practices writing it on a different piece of paper first, to be sure he writes it correctly. His name. He does write short notes etc using handwriting in school on occasion... and neither he nor I can always read what he's written.
So - just to put it in perspective - get some professional advice re what your dd can realistically expect to gain with handwriting (long term), and then be sure not to put more effort into it than is truly beneficial - *for her*. You don't want to have her struggle with tons of time learning something that is frustrating and isn't going to stick.
Does it get better for kids with DCD-based handwriting problems over time if you just work really hard?
Work on handwriting didn't really stick with my ds (as I mentioned above), but work on written expression *did*. It took a long time and a ton of scaffolding from me and support, but I don't regret one minute of all the long hours we put into remediating written expression. The first key to that, however, was taking handwriting completely out of the written expression work.
Also, does the asynchrony between what a child can think and write contribute to handwriting problems?
It can... but part of what you can do this summer (and going forward) as you practice with different types of writing etc is to talk to your dd, ask her what's going on in her brain etc as she's writing, and that will help you tease out if what you're seeing is asynchrony or something different. I"ll caution you that in the early years, it was easy for me to think ds was having difficulty with academic tasks because he was so danged smart... when really.. yes, he was danged smart.. but he also had a learning challenge.
If so, does that get better as they get older?
*EVERYTHING* (except the handwriting lol!) got better for my ds as he got older
My last piece of advice for your summer (or start now if your school is still in session): put together a request for accommodations at school. Does your dd have an IEP or a 504 plan? She'll need one if she doesn't - sometimes in early elementary you can get by without one because a teacher will let your dd use accommodations without one, but even if all the teachers you ever have in elementary school are those amazing teachers who recognize and accommodate, at some point you're most likely going to run into either a teacher or a situation where your dd is going to be told she can't use a keyboard or can't have some other accommodation she might need in the classroom. It's first and foremost a good idea for you to think through, research, and help her test different accommodations (think of it as planning for life, not for school alone), and then be sure she has access to those accommodations at school. Keep in mind that the accommodations she needs and uses will change over time. And keep in mind that in addition to taking care of your child's needs now as you advocate for these things, you're teaching her that she has a right to use accommodations, she's learning that that is all they are - something she uses, not something that makes her different, and you're teaching her how to someday advocate for herself. Those are *invaluable* life lessons for any child
Best wishes,
polarbear
