Hi, Belle,
When we had DS evaluated at age 6, we were told that he will never write well enough or fast enough for his needs and that we should start teaching him how to type and how to dictate asap (i.e., as soon as his articulation was clear enough to be recognized by the software). He's HS'd for third grade now, and we've been working a lot on his writing. His printing finally looks like a third grader's and he's learning cursive, but he still hates to write, although a little less than before. From our experience, I'd say keep the writing short, recognizing how much effort is involved in writing, and give him the opportunity to get his thoughts out by allowing him to dictate to you, as well. That should lessen the frustration. That's what was suggested to us by the psych who tested him and the OT, and it seems to work for us. We use the BBC Dancemat program for typing and Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred for his dictation. He doesn't have the hang of the Dragon Speech yet, and the results are absolutely hilarious, but we're training for the future.
HTH.
