Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Handwriting accomidation

Zia'sMom asked:
What are some practical ways to address the handwriting issue? Has anyone successfully convinced the school to let the child type?

What are people's experiences with a child who is ready to work 2 or 3 years ahead of their age in elementary school, but not ready to do the physical amount of handwriting, or penciling, that a child 2 or 3 years older is expected to do?

Thanks,
Trin

There's DS11's story.
His handwriting was "ugly" but age appropriate in first grade, age 6, summer birthday, so younger than most males in his class by 6 months. In second grade we started to hear complaints that he was writing "one word" answers to his worksheets when the teacher knew that he knew that he was supposted to repeat the the question to start the sentence of the answer. This took place on worksheets that were geard for 5th graders, becasue, although they have no gifted program, the school started a quiet experiment to keep 10 strong reader boys together. Note that all of these boys except my DS had been heldback before entering kindergarten, so they were over a year older, but no one was talking about that. They didn't tell me about their little plan. He was in the top reading group, which seemed normal to me. He was reading "Harry Potter" at home. While I was grateful that he was being challenged with harder books, and proud that he was the teacher's "lifeline" during class discussions, I was very unhappy about the beating his self esteem was taking because his handwriting was now a wee-bit below average for his age, and markedly below average for his peer group. The teacher, who cared deeply about him, was of the mind set that "advanced in one area, means advanced overall" and "He can do it somedays, so why can't he do it every day, if only he would try a bit harder." Soon the meetings started, as the school suspected ADHD, and focused on "immaturity" and "spoiled" while I think he was both bored with the "thinking stuff" and overwhelmed with the demands of the skills.

I call it "Great Big Head supported by teeny-weeny Neck." with the inflection borrowed Robin Williams' Genie, who complained of, "Phenomenal cosmic powers--teeny-weeny living space.

So, we were introduced to the world of "Asynchronous Development" but still, even after getting the IQ/Acheivment scores that got us into YSP, didn't have the word for it, or understand just how gifted gifted could be. And I started bribing him to learn to touch type.

I'm dredging this all up, Zia'sMom, to show that even though we can appreciate that a child is many different ages, the teachers tend to have a "2nd graders must develop neatly spaced printing" and "3rd graders must learn cursive and memorize their times tables" way of looking at children. A child who is not on the expected timetable may be looked at as a child who has "something wrong with them." My child picked up this (not subtle) vibe and internalized his teacher's opinion of himself. In my experience for kids who are highly asynchrounous in their development, it is a good idea to talk to the child about this, and compare their various developments to their friends, because the dissonance of "I know that I understand the book better then my classmates because I always know the answer during discussion time, but all my papers come back with "x" and baby handwriting while the other kid's papers have "c" and long beautiful handwriting. Zia'sMom, I hope you are shaking you head with pity and feeling confused about what that must be like. Lots of PG kids are advanced socially, emotionally and small motor skills-wise, and then the accelerations are smooth. I hope your boy is like that.

Does your son touch type? How many words/minute? My guess is that 35 is the lower limit for being able to use typing as a tool. DS11 didn't reach that level until he was 9, and then he quickly zoomed to about 90 wpm, thanks to a new interest in Runescape. When he started 5th, and then 6th grade at his new school, I insisted that they let him type EVERYTHING, except math. I explained that for him to show the teachers who he is, he must be allowed to keyboard. We are allowing him to bring the family laptop to school so that this is less of an imposition. It took a month, but they see my point. At age 11, he is mature enough to start is "answer" sentences with the question, although it still seems "dumb" to him, even when penciling, but he is still likely to "leave well enough alone" when penciling while when he has a keyboard, he will wax poetic. ((wonder where he gets it from? wink))

In 3rd and 4th the teachers allowed him to use the classroom computer at times, and would have provided him with an alphasmart if he was willing. To DS11, using an alphasmart would have been an admission of having a disability, as well as socially difficult. Those old 2nd grade wounds are still close to the surface. As late as last summer, DS was telling me that his handwriting was "fine" and that he didn't need to use the computer. Thankfully that attitude has melted away, and now he says just as forcefully that he "must use the keyboard."

Other accomidations I have heard of kids getting include, a notetaker, a scribe, dictating their report into a tape recorder. In some families they parent sets a timer, and after X minutes, specified by the teacher as how much time she wants devoted to homework, the parents signs the sheet and demands that the child leave the desk. This is a good alternative because it avoids the slippery slope of "Ma, I don't want to do this homework because I already know the material." 15 minutes of busywork isn't going to ruin anyone's day, and doesn't set up an adversarial "How dare you give my child hours and hours of senseless homework!" between parent and teacher.

I am quite aware of families that have radicle acceleration and wouldn't dream of asking for any accomidation of any kind. They believe that the child will do best in the long term if they are treated exactly like everyone else in their new grade. I think so much depends on the child, this would have meant misery for us, but this approach seems appealing for those whoes kids can pull it off.

Smiles,
Trinity

I'm still really curious, Zia's Mom -
Is your son typing, if so, at what WPM,
and if you had to "go without accomidation" - would you still want him in 2nd grade?
I'm sure it's the right choice for some kids. Doing 2nd grade level work at 5 is probably somewhat common for homeschooled kids.
Smiles,
Trin

Thanks Dottie and Trinity for so much useful information.
Our son just started the typing program about a little more than a week ago and is typing at about 10 wpm. Keep in mind this is about 10 times faster than he can write. (He is a perfectionist, too.) He really enjoys the program and I suspect we will see that number increase very quickly.

The answer to the question of whether or not we will put him in second grade without special accomodations, is YES!(If our lobbying efforts are successful) We feel so strongly that is where he belongs and learning as much as we have so far, we are driven to be his most vocal advocate.

I am gathering all my thoughts for our big school meeting on Friday. Any final words of wisdom?
I will keep you posted on how it goes.

I will certainly think of you all while I'm in there. This forum has become a great outlet. It is so hard to discuss these real issues with parents who haven't had to travel down this path. Their skepticism and disapproval is hard to mask.

I am hopeful our new school, a private "gifted" school will be one of the few schools attuned to special needs and won't fight too hard with arguments that have no teeth. I unfortunately believe that to be a pipe dream and expect to come out having done battle. But victorious, none the less!

I have to chime in here, speaking with my Occupational Therapist hat on. My own GT son does not have handwriting problems - but I work with so many kids who struggle with handwriting. For many of these kids the issue with handwriting lies in underlying impairments that fall in the areas of visual-spatial perception, body awareness, praxis skills, visual-motor integration and other areas of development. While accommodation is appropriate for an older child, my opinion is that a 4 or 5 year old who is not developing handwriting skills, at an age appropriate level, needs to have intervention to remediate this skill as much as possible.

For a GT kid, this means looking at the asynchrony and identifying whether there really even IS a handwriting issue. If the child is age appropriate in handwriting but advanced in many other areas, then accommodate the need for the child to create stories or poems or whatever he wants to do that requires handwriting. Provide a scribe, use keyboarding if they are more efficient at getting their thoughts down, use a recording device for them to dictate, use a dictate computer program, or whatever else works so the child can create without being frustrated.

BUT, if the child is assessed and shows handwriting that is below what is expected for the average child that age, then I personally think that you need to look at intervention. The sooner the better. See a qualified OT for assessment, preferably one that specializes in handwriting and/or sensory integration treatment. Sometimes you can locate an educational specialist who also understands handwriting. There are ways to facilitate skills and decrease anxiety about handwriting.

Just my 2 cents!

Thanks Debbie,
You make a good point. In our case we were told specifically that our son is ahead in his handwriting skills for his age. But, if he grade skips to second, his age-appropriate handwriting will be a hinderance unless we consider special accomodations.

You mention providing a scribe. How does that actually work?

In order to get yourself in the Mediator's Mindset, you can, if you had U.S. pop music drilled into your head as a Teen, replay a "mental clip" from Meatloaf's 'Paradise by the Dashboard life'

"Let me sleep on it"
"Will you love me forever?"
"Let me sleep on it"
"Will you love me forever?"
"Let me sleep on it, I'll give you an answer in the Morning."
"I GOTTA KNOW RIGHT NOW"

((appologies to those that didn't waste their youth on memorizing Rock and Roll songs))
Trinity

((shrug))
It's a classic in it's way.
T

My DS 7 has had handwriting issues during all of Kinder and 1st grade; he also hates to color. It would take him forever to finish up a writing assignment in class, when I know he can make up all sorts of complex and elaborate stories in his head - he just has a problem writing it all down.

In our meeting before the 2006-07 SY came to an end, where we all agreed a grade skip for my son this school year to 3rd grade with 5th grade reading, was the best route for him, our Clark County HG rep brought up his handwriting issues because she's also had the opportunity to work with him for a few weeks during our SENG workshops. She mentioned the HG Program would be willing to donate a laptop for my son's use to the school if they will allow him to just type out his writing assignments. The principal, however, said she wants to see my son try his best at first, and should there really be no improvement, then that's when they will allow him to use a laptop.

I think the principal made a good call regarding this, as she was able to compromise the need for my son to realize that he still needs to try and fit in with his classmates, to do the same work they have to do, and that just because he skipped a grade, he doesn't really get any "special" attention -- with the need to accept alternatives if my son still isn't able to communicate his thoughts well through writing.