Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional workbooks without fine motor emphasis?

Hi,

We're going to do a little afterschooling this year. One of our goals is we want DS5 to be comfortable with and used to doing worksheets as that's a prominent feature of our local public system that he may join next year (this year he'll be at an alternative semi play-based K). Having him do some worksheets should be easy as in the past he's loved that type of thing, just hasn't done it in a year or so.

I've hit a stumbling block though which is it looks like now at his grade level (1st to 4th depending on the subject) the sheets are asking for quite a few written answers, and typically have quite small spaces for writing the answers. DSs weakest area is fine motor skills where he is either behind or at the lower end of normal, he can easily manage matching tasks (draw lines between things), or with some effort circle the right answer. Or print out one letter or one number in a large size space. Printing anything in a small space is beyond him. He'll be getting practice printing at kindergarten so I'd like to skip that frustration in the worksheets.

Anyone have any recommendations for specific brands of work books to buy, or places to download worksheets, that appeal to kids with fine motor challenges?

Thanks,

Polly

I thought you would have been answered by now. I've read about, but never seen, a set of workbooks Called gifted and talented reading workbook grade 2, etc., at Barnes and Nobles. The deal with these books is that a child who is an advanced reader can read the passage then the questions have a multiple choice that they only have to be able to mark the right one.

Otoh, I'm just asking my son to tell me the answers on the math workbooks so I can reuse them for my daughter. Also wanted to tell you when we started the fine motor skills there were a lot of "draw a line between the items that go togeather from each row.". I would ask him to point to the matching birds, then I would put a finger on each of his answers and he would draw the line. Rinse, repeat, produce a nice sheet for the fridge.
http://www.tlsbooks.com/preschoolthinkingskills.htm

Similar to La Texican, I sometimes wrote out DS' answers or let him figure it out and tell me verbally (thus saving the workbook for his little sis). I also didn't push handwriting too much and am hoping he can learn some good habits in K this year.

Hi,

Thanks!! I'll look for that Gifted & Talented series. The array of choices out there is dizzying. Frustrating to search for something appropriate, both because at the right level the presentation is colorless and over-compact, and because of not enough space to write for people who write large -- he needs the "large print" edition. I think it's going to come down to purchasing a bunch of these books and tearing out one out of every 4 or 5 pages for him to do and then pitching the rest, seems like such a waste.

Normally I wouldn't care if he wrote the answers or said them aloud, but in this case one of our goals is that he be able to read over a page of work and check that it's all filled in and legible, name at the top etc. Especially as fine motor is an issue for him we are wanting him to be at home with what a fully completed legible page looks like.

Polly

Ok, so he can write. It's just big. When I read he could barely circle an answer I didn't realize what the problem was. Do you need something with a large print fill in the blank worksheets? What kind of subjects do you want? I did work on the handwriting at home. We started with the Kumon book Mazes which kind of shrunk the fine motor skills nicely. My neighbor said it looked similar to what they started off with at school.
If you're only going to use part of books why don't you just google and print random worksheets? Dot-to-dots also make nice results.

why not make you own worksheets in power point and change them up as needed?

He can't do the Kumon mazes book or tracing book, well he can do the first few pages that are the easiest but as soon as the size of the paths get narrower it becomes pretty frustrating for him. He can do most any maze with a finger, it's the tool use that throws him. He can circle answers like multiple choice (he loves multiple choice and often makes his breakfast choices or clothing choices multiple choice just for fun, as in "I think I'll go for c, blueberries". Or he can write very big one number or letter at a time... but the trickier ones come out illegible. At kindergarten they will be having him do writing practice, at home I am hoping to separate the frustration of writing from the idea of worksheets so he doesn't get the feeling that worksheets are intrinsically frustrating. So I want things that as much as possible don't push his fine motor skills for what we're doing at home.

I guess I could make my own worksheets. That's a good point. Just have never done it, not much of a power point user, may be about the time to mess around with it. Was thinking it would be too time consuming but considering how much time I just spent in one bookstore today rejecting workbooks it might be faster in the end.

Polly

Go to the Dollar Tree, not the bookstore. Mr google just told me they have Fisher Price preschool workbooks. Those ought to be pretty good.

Oh yeah, and on the harder ones on the kumon mazes let him follow your finger and talk at the same time, "now follow my finger twords the door , now down, now tword the tv, now down again". (stuff in the room). It's not going to happen overnight. Don't try to do them all in one day. It did lead us to where I was able to tell him how to move his pencil just using my words. That's how I made the Kumon work for us. Just saying' because if you already have it and if you want to know how to use it that's how. Somehow that gets them oriented and they can start doing it on their own on and off. Just trying to be helpful. I don't know if what works for one works for the other.

I got most of our workbooks/flash cards/learning tools from our local dollar store (Deals). I just use what works from the books and don't feel pressured to finish the rest. I've also found scores of science books there that are theme-based (space, earth, body, weather) and at about 3rd/4th grade reading level (perfect for my ds). Our shore had a big teacher resource section with all kinds of yummy things.