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!