To piggyback on the idea of stressing lack of automaticity in explaining this to people my go to has been to state in a very matter of fact way "With dysgraphia she completely lacks the ability to develop automaticity. Writing a word or a sentence is never automatic. Each time she has to think 'OK a letter 'N' that's a line down, then a line at an angle and then another straight line.' She can either write or she can think but she can't do both at the same time. We prefer to have her think and use voice to text or typing." This straightforward explanation - leaving no room for debate - seems to get the message across.
I will say DD's second grade teacher would not or could not understand or implement her IEP. She kept insisting that DD 'try herself first' and 'ask for help when you get tired'. We spent hour upon hour in IEP meetings drafting and redrafting making the IEP requirements tighter. She. Just. Couldn't. Get. It. DD ended up with a full time para to scribe for her. I think it was totally unnecessary but this woman just couldn't stop insisting that DD do things like this. In that situation the best analogy I came up with was "Oh so when you have a kid in a wheelchair you don't let them use it - right? You tell them to first drag themselves down the hall as far as they can and when they get tired you will bring their wheelchair. Then when they join the rest of the class at pe they have missed half the class just getting there and are so exhausted from dragging themselves down the hall they can't participate in the class anyway. I'm not really sure how this is helpful or allowing the child to access their education..." That works for most people. Finding the right analogy can work wonders, I think the second grade teacher was being intentionally obtuse...
We had no luck teaching DD to type at home. We bought her a desktop computer with a huge monitor and color coded keyboard. She totally stressed out with any typing program than had a timed component. But in her case she has SO many disabilities impacting her. She needed to be explicitly taught in OT starting with how to scan the keyboard. Visual processing issues, slow processing speed and dyslexia muddied the waters for her so your DD will likely have an easier time.
When DD started at the spec Ed school one of the first things she leaned was how to make PowerPoint presentations. I literally cried the first time I saw one - it was the first time I felt she would actually have the chance to show what she knows.
Now DD writes All. The. Time. She is constantly writing scripts or songs or stories. Constantly. We found that the built in voice to text on iPad 2 and higher works well. But you have to make sure she has wifi. When the AT specialist gave us the specifications for what to buy her she forgot that one important detail. This means that we didn't include cellular when we bought it so she can use it at home but not in the car or on the schoolbus or in a park or in a restaurant, etc.
We just returned home from a one day trip to a "living museum" where DD did research for a school project on a local Native American tribe. She typed out her questions in advance and spent the day interviewing the interpreters, taking photos and really experiencing their lives. One problem I noted was that she had to pay close attention to each person as she spoke to them and was unable to jot down notes as needed. DH stood behind her and wrote notes himself that she will be able to refer to. DD has an amazing memory but this is still one skill that she will need to develop. I'm really not sure where to go with it. I guess this will be an ever evolving process so you are just laying the groundwork now.
