Fabulous advice above! I agree that the biggest thing is to educate the teachers and school.
Dysgraphia is one of those things where it is so easy for them (and you!) to think the child could do it better, they will do it better, if they just try harder and practice more. In my own experience, the crucial concept is to understand automaticity. It's not that the child can't form the letters - actually, some dysgraphic children can make lovely words - but only when they slowly draw them as a picture. What they can't do is quickly and automatically write out letters and words without much thought. For all the other kids in the classroom, making letters and words gets easier and easier, and they think about it less and less. After a few years, they don't think about it at all - virtually no brain power is going into making the letters, so it's freed up to take on harder tasks. With a dysgraphic, in contrast, that automaticity and freeing up of brain resources never happens. Instead, a whole lot of brain power goes into thinking about how to form each letter, which letter goes where, not dropping any letters on the way by, getting them lined up in a row and spaced out correctly, etc. All this uses up a huge chunk of the brain - which way does the line go on the "d" again? Where am I supposed to put that space? Is this supposed to be a capital, and how do I make a capital F anyways, and is there a picture of one on the wall somewhere I can copy? So unlike all the other kids in the classroom, that brain power isn't available to be thinking about what they actually want to write about. They are trying to do the more complex task, while also simultaneously putting all their energy into the mechanics of writing.
If teachers really, truly understand the trade-off the child has to make - I can write or I can think, pick *one* - then they are much less likely to think they are helping the child by "making them practice". Because how can they get better at it if they don't practice? But the reality is, with this particular neurobiological deficit, kids may get better at compensating, but for the most part, the automaticity doesn't much change. The trade-off is ALWAYS with them, no matter how much they practice. So really, deeply buying into the idea of by-passing handwriting is important. Then teachers will be more ready and able to get creative about avoiding handwriting where it isn't needed.
And as you've seen on older threads, there's lots of ways of doing it. Especially for younger kids, it's often not about the tech. Oral reports and responses; pictures, diagrams and flowcharts; posters; presentations (DS fell in love with PowerPoint by grade 2!); make it into a song or skit; collage and art.... there are tons of ways to demonstrate your learning above and beyond simply writing it down. That said though, I totally agree with the suggestions to get as comfortable with technology as much and as early as possible. Keyboarding, voice recognition, graphic organizer software - all are huge help, but take a lot of practice (here's where you want to focus on practice!) before they become more help than hindrance.
