Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Heavy Sigh - for the parents of dysgraphic kids...

I'm not sure how I feel about this! But fwiw, thought maybe someone else might identify:

DS12 is in 6th grade, in middle school, in a new school. Overall, things are going *great* compared to elementary school. He's finally transitioned to keyboarding almost everything and has a very supportive school staff. The last two years in his previous elementary school the school staff spent a ton of time arguing he didn't have a handwriting challenge in spite of very clear private eval documentation followed by very obvious public school IEP eligibility documentation and a ton of clear evidence in the classroom and homework throughout his school years.

He participated in learning cursive in 4th grade with the rest of his class, and in practicing cursive 4x/week in 5th grade along with the rest of his class. His 5th grade teacher and the SPED teacher at school would often point out to us that his very neat-looking legible cursive was clearly proof that he didn't have dysgraphia (even though his cursive hw speed was measured at three years behind grade level and the only cursive he could really produce happened when he was copying, not when he had to think and write at the same time).

Anyway, this year he's been keyboarding almost everything. I hadn't even noticed that when he has been using handwriting for brief-response answers it's been printing, and the only time he uses cursive is when he signs his name. I didn't think anything about any of that.

Yesterday his Spanish class made valentines for their parents, and ds wanted to sign his in cursive. The kids all have Spanish names in Spanish class. DS couldn't figure out how to write his Spanish name in cursive - he'd completely forgotten how to write anything in cursive, other than how to sign his non-Spanish usual name. All of that two years of practice just disappeared after not using it for less than one school year.

So part of me wonders - should we have had him practice his cursive (on top of everything else - picture me banging my head against the virtual wall!)... or really, does it matter? I can't think of one danged reason he needs to know how to write in cursive, he says he can read it a-ok and I feel certain he can - but then a little part of me starts wondering, is he going to run into some silly situation somewhere in the future where he's going to be told to write something in cursive and won't have a clue... yet I realize even if that did ever happen, he'll be ok with it - he didn't really care that he couldn't yesterday, just mentioned it in passing in case I wondered why he printed his signature... I guess it's just one of those things - you worry so much about how to get everything together and working for your kids when they are little and first diagnosed, then things start humming along and going well and you sort of forget they have a disability, then you have this odd little reminder just drop in and sorta hit you on the head....

polarbear

Awesome. One senses that a great deal of that success is due to the tremendous persistence and advocacy of his Polarbear.


Mine is not diagnosed dysgraphic, but has this problem too. Can spell anything, pretty handwriting, except when writing meaningfully. Then it goes to pot.


You know, Polarbear, I am not one to say "skip it"-- we are habitually remediaters in my family, not accommodaters. And yet-- college students mostly don't know cursive at this point, and I think if he can print legibly (so as to be able to write an exam, should he ever lose the accommodation) and type well, he ought to be covered.

I've been fretting the same question, so I'm glad you brought it up.

DeeDee

My primary concern would be if he can still read it.

polarbear - my son gave up on cursive and now uses the word processor for most everything. After years of OT, it didn't seem to be a battle worth fighting. I think you decided the same.

That said, abandoning cursive (and even printing) does come at a cost as you were recently reminded. Sigh, these things come out of nowhere and remind you of the barriers and challenges just as you are pushing them to the side. I agree with geofizz, as long as he can read it (even if he has to slow down and do a bit of deciphering) I say let the cursive go. At least this is what we have chosen to do w/my 14 year old son.

Working on reading it should be much simpler-- the daily note on the lunch napkin could keep that in shape...

DeeDee

One needn't become proficient in all cursive writing to practice a signature. Our kids will use their signature on documents the rest of their lives, so it is something that they should work on a little bit at a time.

My son doesn't do well with cursive either, so we've abandoned the endeavor of learning to communicate in cursive and simply learn to sign his name.

It's such a tough road sometimes, isn't it?

It took my DD12 almost 10 minutes last week to copy the sentence on the bottom of the SAT application. The sentence must be copied and it must be signed. Not only did she have spelling and capitalization errors, she also had to ask me how to form several of the letters in cursive. It has never been an issue for her to print in class and the OT actually listed this as a suggested accommodation on her 504 plan.

Wow! I hope I can get to this point someday. Right now I can't even imagine it. I would think at that point everything else would be gravy. But I'm also sure that all the blood, sweat and tears that went into making it there would also make it impossible to view it that way.

I have nothing meaningful to add - I just wanted to let you know that I admire your journey and am more than a little jealous.

good idea on the daily cursive note to help with reading. I need to do this......