Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Conference with teacher

This was the philosophy at our kids' early elementary school also, but the kids were allowed to draw and illustrate as part of their journaling when they were in K-1, and with some teachers they were allowed to type by 2nd grade while in class during journaling/creative writing time. Perhaps you could suggest something like this, or scribing, for the short term until you can see if her handwriting catches up with a little extra work?

I'd also give cursive a try if she's interested in it - one of the schools that our older dd went to for summer school when she was having difficulty with reading purposely taught cursive first before printing and it worked well for their students. My youngest dd has always liked to create stories but struggled with handwriting... anyway, her school introduces cursive in 2nd grade, and she's loving it - for her, cursive is much easier and quicker than printing. So if your dd is interested in it, I'd go ahead and teach her cursive. Another option to consider is the scripts that are semi-in-between printing and cursive. I can't remember the name of what it's called! But we considered it for awhile for our dysgraphic ds, and there are a few different scripts out there - some of which you can find directions for for free online.

Best wishes,

polarbear

I am not sure if my DS had DRA levels, but I do recall that he didn't always get the retells in the correct order when tested in kindy. I remember thinking at the time that it was odd that he would miss anything in reading/comprehension, because he had shown high ability at home. Then someone mentioned that the stories that they are testing on at the early levels are so simplistic, and not too exciting, I wouldn't be surprised if a child's mind wandered when listening to it. It might be interesting for you to try at home, to see if her recall is better with more engaging material.

Not sure if/how that has anything to do with difficulty in writing. As for writing for us, DS7 has always hated it. He's a grade-skipped 3rd grader, and probably handwrites at the lower end of age level. He doesn't like to bother with leaving a space between words either, so it makes it fun for all to try to decipher. I did notice that when he really tries, he can write very neatly, and much more so this year, so I do think there is a developmental component to it. He also can write much more (and with much more creativity) if he's typing, though he is the type of kid who will do the bare minimum whenever possible.

DS's class is learning cursive this year, and DS's cursive is so much more readable than his printing. I think it helps when he keeps his pencil to paper more in cursive.