Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Dysgraphia Interventions

Hi all, Just wondering if anyone can tell me if there are any specific, well-renowed, dysgraphia interventions for remediation? My son has been getting OT for about three years now - private and at school. He has all of the necesasary accomodations, i.e., scribe, extra time, use of computer, etc. at school. He is picking up typing and the school teacher and school OT are working on a plan to start teaching him typing at school. However, his handwriting is still so bad... now, this is complicated by the Ehlers Danlos so I realize there is a physical pain limitations at play as well... But, yesterday he said to me (as I corrected some of his backwards 9s), "how do you know which way a nine goes? how does eveyone just know which way numbers and letters go?" I know time will probably help to some degree b/c just this past summer he began to consistently write his 5s going the proper direction - they had been backwards consistently before that. But I am just wondering if there is some specific program that I should be looking to get for him. For example, for dyslexia I hear the way to go is Wilson certified tutors (notwithstanding that it is incredibly expensive and difficult to find such an intervention, it is, I am told, THE intervention for dyslexia.) Is there such an intervention to remediate dysgraphia?

Irena, as you know, I am still learning but I have always been very impressed with Handwriting Without Tears (which was developed by an OT). I have seen no research from them on Dysgraphia but they are one of the few handwriting models that promotes research. Personally I found the songs and methods helpful for my son.

There is a logic (with memorable stories) to the formation of the letters. They are grouped based on formation patterns. Capitals are broken in to 4 different strokes. Practice materials have raised borders which helps with the vision issues. I've seen the most success using their programs and methods. Before I knew Dysgraphia I was so impressed with HWT that I attended their training workshops to become fully certified in their program.

I would add that other handwriting methods introduce more opportunities for errors for those kids who struggle with reversals and can't "retrace" in the same space to move to the next stroke.

Hope that helps! I'm interested to see what else you learn.

I agree 100% with HWT for all the same reasons above. And use all the materials for your son (little chalk board and wooden letter parts, etc.) because those are just the things that might help him (I did make my wooden letter pieces out of craft foam sheets though instead of buying the wood pieces, the teacher's manual for K level has the patterns).

Oh and I always made my assignments for my sons' based on time. 10 minutes tops and then we pick up the next day. The idea is to do it right and not rush to finish a specific amount. With your son you could break it into a learning session (minimal writing with chalk and more manipulation with the pieces of the letters) and then a separate...review what we learned earlier and practice in the work book but cut it short of when he gets pain. The practice pages aren't huge anyway but you can always be creative with how you assign the practice.

And you wouldn't believe the number of times I have considered becoming a certified HWT instructor. If I thought I could make a living from it, I would.

He's been doing HWT for years - all of the OTs are big on it. I also had him do a HWT camp. But it really doesn't seem to be "all that" - at least for us, so that is why I am wondering if there is anything else? The school OT will use the HWT program to teach my guy cursive (private OT said cursive may be really good for my guy - easier b/c you do not pick up the writing instrument over and over and also elimates the reversals issues). Anyway, is there anything else?

We are giving DS7 a reference card of well formed letters to keep handy when he is working as he gets lost on the forms. I'm thinking of including a start point and motion arrows.

p.s. He had downloaded a Harry Potter spell iPad app that requires drawing shapes on the screen to cast spells. And it was instructive to watch him practice. Like one that is similar to a Z; first attempt was spot on, then next attempt was smaller and more round like a backwards S, then next rotated and smoother, and finally fourth try he failed. Almost the opposite of what intuition might suggest in terms of working towards mastering an action.

Although there are different reasons behind dysgraphia (fine motor vs visual etc), the thing that I understand to be common is that it is essentially a challenge with developing automaticity of tasks. From my perspective, the thing to do at this point is to take a deep breath and.... let it go. Focus on typing and accommodating and give your ds time and opportunities to focus on his academic strengths (science or puzzles or math or whatever they may be!).

Our neuropsych's advice when our ds was first diagnosed (2nd grade) was to *try* HWOT, *try* OT, and then to move on to typing. We tried HWOT and it was *horrible* for ds - partially due to pain (we tried prior to his handwriting OT, while waiting for an opening to get him into OT), and part of it was the emotional frustration of doing something over and over and over again when he wasn't developing automaticity like a neurotypical child would be - so we let it go. OT was helpful for him, but only in a limited way - he learned how to hold his pencil, and he learned good posture while writing, and these two things helped lessen his wrist pain while writing - but he was done with the improvements he was going to make after 9 months.

I've mentioned it here before, but will mention it again - our ds learned cursive along with his class in 4th and 5th grade. He had very nice-looking cursive writing (for a 4th grader lol), but by 6th grade, when his class was no longer practicing cursive every day, he completely (and I mean *completely*) forgot how to form his letters in cursive, and the only cursive he was able to remember was how to write his name - because he was routinely signing his name in cursive.

So I'd take a deep breath, and move on at least for awhile. Here are a few tips we've heard along the way, fwiw:

* Cursive is easier than printing for some dysgraphics (not all) - so you might consider having your ds learn cursive. The key is that the pencil doesn't leave the paper as often as in print, and since letters are connected there is less confusion about where to start a letter and about direction. Note: it isn't the case for all dysgraphics.

* Some dysgraphic children have a noticable improvement in handwriting during puberty


My ds says the same thing. He also has told me that he "likes" writing numbers better than writing letters because "it's easier, since there are only 10 numbers to memorize instead of 26 letters". Keep in mind, this is a teen with an incredibly high IQ stating that - put that into perspective - it's *not* typical - so from my perspective, as parents we have to let go of expectations that we have developed from our own, usually more typical, life experiences. It may sound like giving up in one sense, but I honestly feel that it was more helpful in the long term for us to let go of hopes of improving handwriting and focus on helping our ds learn and get used to accommodations. Realistically, handwriting wasn't ever going to be something he could rely on to show his knowledge, just as my dd who is nearsighted most likely isn't ever going to suddenly wake up one morning not needing her glasses. And it's all ok - the world we live in is increasingly less and less reliant on handwriting

And just to be clear - I have a dyslexic dd, and I would not just "give up" on reading instruction for her - she needs to learn how to read. I see that as very different from handwriting, both the need for the skill *and* the reasons the skill is a challenge (hence the ability to remediate is different).

Best wishes,

polarbear

ps - please note, I hope this sounds kind and not disrespectful because that's not my intent at all - but as the parent of a dysgraphic child seeking advice for dysgraphia, it would be helpful to me if the posters who are replying would state whether or not their child is dysgraphic. I don't have time to refer back to previous posts to see if each child is dysgraphic, and it is information that makes a difference in reading about people's experience with HWOT etc - because the children who are going through the instruction are coming at it with a very different set of abilities if they are or aren't dysgraphic. My non-dysgraphic kids were all taught HWOT at school and it worked very well for them - but they don't have a challenge with developing automaticity.

My dysgraphic DD showed a lot of improvement with HWT.

I have EDS on my mind today since DS has his appointment with the geneticist this afternoon.

I am wondering about EDS and dysgraphia.

My son has been in OT for eighteen months. Proprioception is still really bad. I have read that EDSers often have proprioception defecits. As I recall, the theory is that EDSers get inconsistent feedback from their joints. I am wondering if in the same way an EDSer doesn't automatically know their body position if an EDSer might not gain automacy in handwriting because the connection between how it feels to write an "a" and the idea to write an "a" is muddled.

I have also read that increased supportive muscle strength can help stabilize joints and improve proprioception. Of course normal weight training would not be appropriate for a child with EDS but maybe something with high reps., limited range of motion and low weight might help.

Now I could be wrong on this, but in my opinion, the gains a prepubescent child would have in supportive muscle from such a routine would be minimal. It might just be something that comes with time.

My mom says I was "embarrassingly uncoordinated" as a child. I remember being frustrated with my handwriting in elementary. It always looked sloppy like the trouble maker boys in my class. These issues went away with puberty. I still write more slowly than other people and I am not particularly graceful but it isn't as obvious as when I was a kid.

Anyway, I am just rambling. I don't have any recs. on dysgraphia remediation. I have just been looking at this stuff since the standard proprioception remediation isn't working for my son.

My son is not diagnosed dysgraphic, but he has a terribly hard time with 9's and P's. I am suspecting dysgraphia (not just for the 9's and P's, but also for handwriting mechanics as spaces between words, capitalizing the first letter at the beginning of a sentence etc). His handwriting is legible (to me), but seems below average when compared to some of the kids in his class. I do make him practice every day for 15 minutes.

I've taught him to proofread, before submitting the work to me/his teachers. He is an excellent reader, however, he sometimes does not catch the backward Ps (he always catches the backward 9s though). Is this par for the course ? The other thing that worries me a lot is that he routinely gets his right and left mixed up. He knows it when he has time, but in a gym-like setting, he says he cannot think ! We moved a couple of months back, and I am wondering whether it makes sense for an OT eval or a neuro-psych eval. Irena, sorry for adding questions to your thread -- this has been worrying me a lot, and I never seem to find the time these days to log in and post.

Thank you all. I'm so glad for the feedback and insights, etc. Polarbear, I was hoping you'd chime it! Thanks!

I totally agree with this but I think I just need reassurance regarding this sometimes. So thank you! I got to this point last year and decided to force the school to get to this point as well (as you remember), i.e., let it go mostly and focus on typing and accommodating and give DS time/opportunities to focus on his academic strengths. But, like you alluded to in your post, I, at times, get a little concered that my letting go is "giving up" and also I find myself wondering - with dyslexia there is/are proven methods of successful remediation (albeit hard hard to find and expensive, etc) - why isn't there something for dysgraphia? maybe there is and I missing it.

I think the catalyst for my post/question was this year I am stopping the private OT (he'll continue to OT at school - but they will teach him cursive and typing). I want DS to do swimmming, chess club and mathansium (i.e., I want DS to start extracurriculars that he enjoys and are his passion and make him feel good about himself instead of spending yet another year in therapy focusing on his deficit that never seems to really go anywhere or get much better).

mom2one, a lot of what you wrote sounds like my ds who has a diagnosis of Developmental Coordination Disorder and fine motor dysgraphia.


The description of his handwriting fits dysgraphia, although I'm also not sure how old he is (?). You noted you're having him practice for 15 minutes every day - if there wasn't a challenge, I would expect you'd see improvements from that practice (unless he's still not quite developmentally ready for handwriting, in a totally neurotypical age-appropriate way :)).


I don't know that there are any standard commonalities in this among dysgraphics, but I have noticed with my ds (he's 13), that proofreading handwriting doesn't work all that well - he doesn't have any challenges with reading, but he misses some things when he proofreads what he's handwritten. Proofreading works much better for him when he's typing For my ds, the reversals lessened over time - a *lot* of time lol, he still does them every now and then. The other thing he tells me is that he is often surprised when he looks back at things he has handwritten (notes, for example), because he "knows he told his brain to do it a certain way" and then when he sees it on the paper "it's like I wrote something entirely different than what I was telling my brain to write".


Same for my ds! It still takes him obvious thought to get his directions correct, very out -of-sync with what I had expected compared to his other obvious thinking abilities when he was young


You're seeing symptoms and it's worrying you, so yes, it makes sense to get an eval. The worst thing that can happen is you might find out everything is a-ok, and really, that would be nice, wouldn't it? And if there is a challenge, it's better to find out now rather than hesitating only to find out for sure in a few years. Time is so valuable in terms of remediating and learning how to accommodate and live with a challenge for a young child. Don't hesitate to act on what your mom's instinct is telling you.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Irena, if it helps, please know I need reassurance at times too, and I often question what to do. It's easy for me to write a post about our experiences and to sound like I know what I'm talking about, but I am just one mom who's trying my best without much of a roadmap other than researching online, talking to everyone I can (professional or not), and figuring out what makes sense for my one child and my one family.

My dd9 is struggling with reading - she's not classically dyslexic but has a challenge with associative memory and has a dyslexia diagnosis. She's in a new school this year, with a new teacher, and when we were having our beginning-of-the-year conference and I was handing the teacher dd's reading evals, telling her about dd's history and challenges and all that, the teacher asked what we had done to remediate spelling. We haven't done anything - we chose not to because it was a struggle, because it drove dd nuts, and because we felt we needed to focus on actual reading, not worrying about whether or not spelling was automatic at this point in time. I can't tell you how many shades of guilt through embarassment through second-questioning what we'd done up to this point in time I went through just in that one split-second before I asnwered, and how worried I was about the teacher thinking I'd been negligent plus the teacher thinking I was a slacker-mom or whatever. But fortunately, the teacher agreed that was the thing to do based on everything else I only mention all of that to let you know, I may sound like I have a clue or have it all together sometimes here, but I'm really still just in the same place the rest of us all are - looking for answers, thinking everything through re how it applies for my own child, and hoping I make good choices. I doubt there are really any "right" choices, and I'm still learning from everyone who posts here

Re the remediation available for dyslexia vs dysgraphia - I think the difference is in the root of the challenge combined with the need for remediation. I also think that dysgraphia has gone largely unrecognized until recent years because it's easy to mistake it for sloppy handwriting, whereas a child who can't read stands out and falls behind quickly in early elementary.

polarbear

This is interesting and I definitely think you are to something here. My DS has the dyspraxia - uncoordination and proprioception deficits. My DS also has EDS.

My husband does not *seem* to have EDS (as far as I can tell but I am not a doc) but he certainly seems to be dysgraphic (I am almost certain that he is, at the least, mildly dysgraphic) and had many of the same issues in elementary - including the spelling and the proprioception deficits. He said much of such issues resolved when he hit puberty AND, coinciding with his physical improvements, middle school was when using computers to write and complete work became more the norm so that helped immensely as well. He says before puberty he couldn't tie his shoes, and didn't know his left from right consistently. I think he is exaggerating a bit but I believe that it was quite late before he could tie his shoes or know left from right (whereas my brothers and I had both of those basic skills master by the age of 5 and with very little trouble). Now, DH is a very "normal," coordinated guy who plays roller hockey and volleyball and works as a very successful hardware engineer. He's no star olympic athlete but he plays well and at least appears "quite normal" He still avoids writing by hand at any cost, however. (Oh and I believe his EF skills are still weak - LOL)

This summer we did an "out of the box" therapy for my DS. It involved a "listening therapy" (specifically tomatis and I will say I have no idea still if tomatis is "snake oil" or not LOL. We did it anyway.) combined with "balametrics" and some other type of therapy (name which escapes me at the moment) designed specifically to help with proprioception and coordination. I have to admit DS is much more coordinated now - he can do jumping jacks, he knows his left from his right now (automatically!!!!), he suddenly is "getting" the hang of true swimming (coordinating strokes, for example), etc. Yesterday, he picked up a string and shocked himself by tying it. I am glad we did the therapy b/c even though knowing how to do jumping jacks or tying a piece of string, on the surface, doesn't seem like that big of deal - the general increase in coordination (and ability to do seemingly simple tasks that had always somehow eluded him) has given him confidence and he doesn't feel like a "fool" or an 'oaf' as much anymore. Also, DS's reading suddenly and significanlty improved with the therapy... The therapist says that the work on the proprioception directly contributed and helped his reading - I have no idea but, heck, I'll take it!

The therapy was expensive, intense and hasn't accomplished all it seemed to promise (e.g. his EF skills were suppose to improve and while they *may* have improved 'slightly' - it certainly hasn't been anywhere close to a significant enough improvement to make any kind of difference.

Anyway, just some rambling thoughts

No diagnosis, but good odds for me and perhaps slightly lower odds for DS. It would be interesting to know some better categorical root diagnoses. Like lack of automaticity versus hand eye control versus mirror neuron dysfunction versus ?

The best thing I did for myself and writing is dropping lower case letters some time in HS. The upper case letter forms are much easier to remember and distinguish versus the mass of same basic instruction lower case. Seriously: a, b, d, p, q, g,(sometimes also h, r, j, e, c get squashed in); line and a curve, got it. Where do you start the circle, do you do the line before the circle, is it always a circle or is it sometimes more of a c? can I retrace the lines or do I have to pick-up the pencil each time?... etc.

This is a really interesting tip - fwiw, I went to an engineering school and most folks there dropped caps once we'd taken our first-semester drafting course, because in drafting you only use caps

There are also a few forms of "new" handwriting that combine cursive and printing - they leave out all the fancy loop-de-loops etc, and it looks basically like printing but with connecting lines. I'll try to see if I can find a link to info on it - I first heard about it on NPR, but also have read about it with respect to a simplified way for dysgraphics to learn handwriting.

pbear

Yes, please see if you can find the info on it! I tried googling it but haven't found anything yet!

He might not be exaggerating! My ds was very close to puberty before he learned how to tie his shoes and is now well into puberty and is just now starting to have an easier grip on knowing left vs right


This is *really* interesting to me - thanks so much for mentioning it. My older dd went through a listening therapy (tomatis-like) when she was 5 as well as a Bal-a-Vis-X program and it helped her tremendously, but she has a very different set of challenges than ds - so I hadn't thought about any of this in relation to the challenges ds has.

[quote[he suddenly is "getting" the hang of true swimming (coordinating strokes, for example), etc.[/quote[

This is another reason I love this board and love having others share their experiences. For all the awareness that I have about DCD and my ds' challenges, I never until reading this put together his dislike of swimming lessons as being related to coordination challenges, don't ask me why! Now that you mention it, it totally fits with what he's told me about his struggles with swimming lessons.


I so totally understand that - being able to do a jumping jack *is* a big deal.. when you're a kid who hasn't been able to. My ds still can't do one - he'd love love love to be able to. Not that he cares about jumping jacks at all, but because he wouldn't feel so different from other kids.
[/quote]

pbear

yes it is... My DS has this issue and he writes in a combination of upper and lower case becasue of it. I was giving him a hard time about it but I think I'll stop now.

Oh yes! Veyr related. For my ds, coordinating on each side of his body isn't nearly as much of an issue as coordinating arms and legs... He could not kick his legs while doing the arm strokes (and vice versa) because he could not coordinate two different movements on the top half and lower half of his body. Poor guy was so determined to swim and so frustrated. The therapy helped, as well as one-on-one swimming lessons (and tremendous determination in his part with me supoporting it - i.e. making swimming proactice almost as high as a priority as sleep - seriously.) Now, will he swim the olympics? No. Will he be on swim team? I doubt it. But he'll be able to actually swim, compentently. The other thing I am doing is doing the lessons year round. His instructor says it looks like he'll be able to go on to group lessons in a month or so.

I am not sure if the tomatis helped. I really do not know. And now they want him to do at least one intensive of IM. My DH thinks the "listening therapy" part is crap. I'll probably have him do it b/c if it can't hurt and there is a chance it could help, I can't help but do it. I do think whatever the exercises they have him doing while he is doing the tomatis/IM is helping, though!

But my DS's Executive Functioning skills still really stink. My four year old's EF skills, on the other hand? Through the roof! To the point that the 4 year old 'helps' the 8 year old with EF. My DH said his EF skills sucked too but they also improved with puberty. DH's father said he had the exact same experience - crappy attention and exective functioning skills till puberty! Nowadays, my DH doesn't have the level of EF skills that I have (imo!:) ) but he's completely competent and fine. He does not look like an adult with un-medicated ADHD or anything. However, do not ask him to multi-task LOL. My hope is DS will improve with puberty. If not, I will seriously start trying out meds. (I mean how many years does it take for a kid to get in the habit of putting his folder in the in-basket? OMG we're gong on four years now and he still can't do it!) I figure till then we can do the scaffolding and supporting.

Can I say this? Polarbear... I love you :-)

This board has given us the confidence to let the writing struggles go with DD11. And, it has been the best decision for her. She tried so hard, for so long, and she made very little improvement. She has flourished since we stopped harping on what she *can't* do and chose, instead, to focus on her strengths. We bought her an iPad and Bluetooth keyboard for school this year. It is loaded with dysgraphia-appropriate apps. The PC in her classroom has Kurzweil and Ginger (an amazing editing program!). The teacher gives instructions and it is up to her to do her work however she chooses. When she types, she AMAZES people. She is beginning to like this, lol!

With DS5, we were able to obtain an early diagnosis of learning disabilities (likely dysgraphia and/or dyslexia, based on family history). We are hoping to get ahead of the game rather than play catch-up later on. We want him to learn to read and write using a method best suited for his learning needs. He will see OT for HWT (I dread this!!) and a private tutor for Orton-Gillingham and Lindamood tutoring. I am interested to see how early intervention works. He has an older sister and two cousins to compare with, all of whom received interventions at different ages. He seems likely to be the most impaired of the group but time will tell if we can help him more by helping him early.

FWIW, there is no right answer as to how far and how long to attempt remediation. In the end, it comes down to what is right for your child. It takes a lot of confidence to 'give up'. I, like Polar Bear, have lost a lot of sleep over our decision. But, DD has NEVER looked back. She is full of confidence and a straight A student.

Hear, hear!


Could we please have the app list?

DeeDee

DS7 is a diagnosed dysgraphic - largely thanks to polarbear pointing me in the right direction, so I heartily concur with the kudos! We tried everything short of flogging prior to the diagnosis (I'm kidding, of course): HWT, tutors, OT, endless homework with me hovering/exhorting. Finally, with the diagnosis, every one of the professionals involved said Stop. Just stop. So we did and this year he has an iPad with bluetooth keyboard as well as computers in class and the massive, crushing weight that was squashing all of us has finally lifted. It's still early days, but the relief (adults) and freedom (DS) that have come from the decision are priceless.

And I'd love the app list, too - finding good ones has been a challenge.

no it isn't disrespectful...My older son has Asperger's with hypotonia (not hypermobility) which can be typical for a child with Asperger's. His hands fatigued easily from the hypotonia (and still do but less so than before unless it is like a 45 minute writing test). He also had motor planning and motor memory problems from toddlerhood through about age 8 or 9 and gradually started growing out of those two problems. No, he doesn't have dysgraphia but he did have significant problems and challenges and tons of anxiety on top of all of that.

He did find HWT helpful and the verbal rehearsal of the steps of the strokes to make the letters was helpful "up like a helicoptor" "down the fireman's pole" etc. But I understand the fact that I don't know exactly the needs of dysgraphic students. I only knew that HWT was very helpful for my older son with all his issues and it is widely loved by many.

My younger son is another story. He can go through the HWT program 100 times for print and still can't get it to generalize to everyday usage. His handwriting is beyond typical 8 year old boy and is worst in the class/what are we going to do with him horrible. I taught him HWT cursive this summer and he did a real good job learning it but once again is having a hard time generalizing it. I have thought it is time for an OT eval for him because something is really up with his handwriting (but he doesn't have Asperger's or hypotonia or anything that his older brother has so I wonder what his problem could possibly be seeing as though he doesn't have any physical or neurological challenges to the naked eye and he just had a visual/motor integration test that showed smack dab average so that isn't the problem).

Hi,

I'm so grateful to see these topics lately about dysgraphia, developmental coordination disorder (Ds's diagnosis and also hypotonia), etc.

DS6 has had OT the last year and daily HWT, with a little improvement, but honestly not very much. When I look at his letters they are anything but smooth, each example is different from the next, there are just random movements in there. The school seems to think he has a learning disability style problem, ie that more practice or help would be good. Whereas I feel the opposite is true, that above a certain point practice is just damaging to his self esteem. So that's not going well.

A question along the lines of this thread is has anyone seen a physical therapist rather than an OT, for motor skills of the type that kids with dysgraphia or DCD have?

Do they ever do fine motor skills work? What tasks did they teach? The OT DS has seen is very focused on writing but now that DS has started school with PE class I am realizing he has had no work at all on sportsy type things and is further behind in those areas than I realized. Do PTs do things like learning to catch a ball, or is that exclusively a OT thing and we just happen to have a OT obsessed with handwriting?

Part of me feels like if we were seeing a PT rather than an OT perhaps that would help the school to get the point that there is real motor disability. I'm not sure how to convince them that actual accommodations are needed, since he's technically speaking at grade level on writing.

Here is the list of suggested apps we were given from various school/tech ed people. DD does not have all of them yet, but we are working our way through the list. Some are quite costly, so it would be great to get reviews if anyone has an opinion:

Pages
Dragon Dictation
Inspiration Maps
Evernote
VoiceDream Reader*
Read2Go*
iReadWrite
IWordq
Typ-O HD
Merrimac Webster Dictionary
Google Docs**
Drop Box**
Paper Desk
Jot Not Scanner
Type on PDF
iAnnotate PDF
Math/Graph paper

* these are to accommodate her dyslexia
** assist with sharing files with other programs/teacher

By far, she says iReadWrite is her absolute favourite! Dragon is not recognizing her speech easily and is too frustrating. She uses the iPad's text-to-speech function to help her edit work. She is still fiddling with the scanner and PDF apps, so we don't have a review of those yet. I'm most excited by Inspiration Maps, will let you know how that helps with the brainstorming process. I think this iPad is going to change the world 😊

Thanks MON, that's exactly the type of input I was hoping to hear -- from a PT no less. And very interesting about qualifying for adapted PE without having the educational delay part, I had not thought about it from that angle as usually what we are worrying about is the handwriting. His issues are not terrible and I hate to have some huge red tapey process going on if it can be worked out informally. Still it needs attention because he's already discouraged by PE. It sounds like an evaluation would be helpful to have in hand to go talk to the PE person and I think our insurance would cover that.

He is 6 years old, and in 1st grade. I have him practice his letters, but it seems like he just does it for the sake of doing it, so, if one looks at handwriting sheets (alone), I think one may think he is fine. I was also wondering how much practice is enough.

However, when he writes words like "spots" or "spoon" or "abort mission" or something on these lines, he has a hard time with the p's (mostly), but also occasionally with b's and d's and a lot of times with 9's. I will try to teach him to visualize in his mind, and hope that sticks. He is an awesome speller when he closes his eyes and visualizes the word, and then writes it, so I am hoping this method sticks. We have done air drawing, writing on sensory stuff, making it out of random objects etc.


How long does it take for kids to learn to type ?
I will look into some online typing programs, but when I tried bbc typing mat (or something like that), he seemed pretty challenged. It was his first typing session, and so I told him it would improve with time


Yes, same here. I don't get it -- he seems to compute rather large numbers in his head pretty well, yet seems to have issues with right/left. He also seems less co-ordinated when it comes to certain things (like catching a ball or hitting a ball). He also runs a bit slowly (than peers) -- he sometimes gets teased by the other kids, and feels horrible about that. He is very good at climbing, riding a bike, etc.


OK, I will act on this. I am wondering if I am over-thinking this, but there are too many issues (not just writing) that has me worried.

Polarbear, thanks so much. Your post has given me a lot of things to think about.

Has anyone tried a weighted pencil or pencil weight? I'm wondering if that would help.

In response to someone's question, DS has been in and out of private OT/PT for hypotonia and DCD. No one has ever mentioned dysgraphia but the OT won't diagnose anything. In both OT and PT they work on a lot of core strength building, saying that that upper body core strength will help with fine motor, although the OT also does some things specific to his hands, like writing or manipulating objects. At one point DS did metronome therapy. The OT and PT both make DS do wheelbarrow walking, sit-ups, crab-walking, but in PT they also do hopping, skipping, jumping, walking on a balance beam, some throwing and catching balls or other objects. OTs can work on throwing/catching as well and they seem to prefer having OTs work with anything that has to do with the hands.

OT's and PT's can evaluate and treat for fine/gross motor issues but can't give a diagnosis, like DCD (and probably dysgraphia as well). Even when we didn't have the neuropsych diagnosis they still treated him and just coded it as muscle weakness and lack of coordination. Since he scores under the 10th percentile, our med. insurance pays for therapy, but they only approve therapy for a certain length of time, like 6 months or 1 year.