I should add youngest ds is 8 and we are REALLY struggling with the handwriting issue now. The biggest problem is the schools seem to invest it with such importance. Ds is very bright (gifted seems to be a dirty word where I live), but his handwriting makes him look slightly impaired. In NYC having any kind of label of a "problem" appears to bar one from entering schools where there are opportunities for greater challenge. This ds is doing EPGY math and scored very highly on JHU CTY (so will travel with me to LA for the summer and will do CTY day camp). I feel like I have to get ds through this tough time in school when the kids are judged by handwriting and such rather than reasoning and other higher level academic ability. I am not in a position to home school right now, but for all practical purposes we are home schooling, just fitting it into evening hours! If anyone out there DOES have a suggestion for improving handwriting, I would love to know what it is. Alternatively, how about a suggestion for getting lower school teachers to see that in the broad scheme of things, handwriting is not really terribly important, and certainly a child should not be judged based on his fine motor ability!
