I'm thinking, well maybe it takes the same amount of time for him to do the assignment as the other kids, but he is spending MOST of that time concentrating on the writing itself because he doesn't NEED to spend as much time figuring out what to write because that comes faster for him, KWIM? So his intelligence is masking his handwriting issues at school? And if that's true, what do I do about it? Especially if the teacher and the school don't recognize a problem even though the OT sees it?
This sounds like exactly what is going on, and it some ways that's sort of good, because at least he isn't bored and causing an uproar that he might if he finished at the speed his minds goes at and had a lot of time on his hands. sort of.
What to do about it? Teach him to keyboard properly (fingers only, no eyes) - My son learned at age 9. I introduced it earlier, in spurts, starting around age 7 I think, with Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, because he felt patronized by Sponge Bob and similar 'kids' programs.
Meanwhile, yes, he is getting mixed messages from the OT and the teacher. I would let the OT know, and discuss with her how to phrase it - perhaps there is some favorite character in a book, movie or video game who 'levels up' to get two skill sets, and like this character, your DS needs to be able to do both.
My son had a diagnosis of dyspraxia, planning of movements and co-ordination as a result of brain messages not being accurately transmitted to the body, according to Wikipedia. For him, getting to automatisity in his movements was quite the struggle, but once he got there things were good. When he was in 3rd grade the difference between other kid's handwriting and his was very large, not on the rough draft, but on the 'neat copy' that other kids were able to produce, while my son's neat copy looked exactly like his rough draft. Our OT worked on other things, and laughted at me when I suggested that he could use some work on handwriting - demonstrating her own crazy pencil grip. A nice lady, and helped a lot in some ways, but I didn't like being laughted at. ((shrug)) Any way, I sporadically did 5 minutes sessions with the printing books from Handwriting without tears, and their 'Print Tool' finally convinsed him to leave spaces between words and keep the letters a uniform size. It's as if with the Print Tool's info, my son could approach his handwriting from an intellectual viewpoint. One day in 7th grade, the teacher was teaching how to take notes, and DS, after a year of keyboarding, brought home a beautiful paper.
Weird, huh?
Anyway, I don't expect the classroom teacher to change, so I don't have any suggestions on that part. Just try and appreciate the postives.
((shrugs and more shrugs))
Grinity
