Cindi,
Not all GT kids are stubborn - but the ones who are stubborn are REALLY stubborn. Also a lot more of them feel 'up against the wall' in the school environment.
I think I have an idea for you. The 'handwriting without tears' has a thing that is aimed at OTs called 'The Print Tool'
The print tool is a way to turn 'ugly writing' into an actual score. I talked DS into being my first 'test subject' on the pretext that I wanted to turn this into a side business. Once he saw that 'pretty handwriting' had actual criteria, that translated into a score, he got the picture. He was 10 at the time, so it might be 'too early.'
At age 7, DS12 fought us so much on things like - 'leave a space between words that is twice as big as the space between regular letters,' and 'Leave a margin on both sides of the page.' But when he was 10, spending about 30 minutes with the actual scoring sheet was enough to convinse him that 'these really are the rules.'
DS12 didn't handwrite at all in 6th grade, and mostly used his laptop in 7th grade, but towards the end of last year, he started showing me his 'classroom notes' and they were so beautiful! So much for the idea that one has to practice handwriting to improve!
Anyway - good job convinsing your DS that it was in his best interests to practic writing. I think that some of these great readers set the bar so high that they become discouraged and can't bear to even try.
Smiles,
Grinity
