My DS5 is in love with learning about everything to the point that I can't keep up with him he was so excited to learn and was fascinated with the whole scientific breakdown of the chemical reason the color changes happened in leaves in the fall- he has dyspraxia and Sensory processing disorder and fine motor coordination is a huge problem for him. He is also a 100% perfectionist which just adds to the wild mix. He has always had huge problems with grasping crayons/pencils and with the help of other OTs, teachers and friends we have tried a multitude of special things - grips, special writing utensils, slantboards, feet supported at the table..the list goes on and then add in a large array of muscle activities/games to help build that fine motor coordination. He has grown and we can now read his name - when he focuses he can write his letters and numbers but it is a real struggle for him and he complains that his fingers/hands are always so tired. He knows that writing is not his strength and beats himself up if what he does isn't always correct or perfect to what he wants it to be and it has been a real sore spot for him. So my problem is this...
...we are homeschooling this year for K because our county just has no clue how to help a 2e child but I am a little lost as to how to proceed. I have a child who can verbally tell me every answer he is asked, when we do any kind of lessons - math, science, reading he is verbally involved and very articulate and excited but the minute that we have to do any kind of journaling or writing to complete math problems or any writing/drawing, he just wants to quit and shut down. I don't want to dampen his love of everything and had been working out a deal where when it came to math problems, we would take turns...he would always give me the answer and I would write one answer and he would write the next and so on. We are doing Handwriting without Tears in hopes of building his confidence. But whenever he has to write anymore than just a a few letters or one or two words, he gets so frustrated and upset he shuts down....part of me wants to jump in and just dictate the answers for him - he is doing the work and learning and knows the answers, I would just be writing everything down for him...but I don't know if that is what I should be doing? I know that if I forced him to do all the writing, we would be in a constant fight to get even the tiniest bit of work done and he would be miserable...but the other side, if I write for him, we would go for hours with lessons and explorations and he would not be stressed. I don't want to break his love of learning just because he can't write legibily. Would love to hear opinions.
Last edited by Belle; 10/08/08 08:37 PM.
