Nik, my ds isn't an adult yet, but fwiw I have a few thoughts for you. DOWD can impact a person in two very distinct ways - the physical act of handwriting and the ability to put thoughts into written expression. My ds has struggled with both.
I think this is a tough issue. I always think of accommodations in the workplace as in- you are paralyzed and in a wheelchair, so we need to make the bathroom accessible for you, etc.
What if you didn't have any hands or you have cerebral palsy, so you can't physically write or type? So an accommodation for that.
It's trickier if you can't write physically fast;
FWIW, many kids/adults who have dysgraphia/DOWD can't write fast, but it's not a purely physical challenge - it's a neurological disconnect which impacts their ability to develop the automaticity that comes naturally to most of us when we learn to write. There is not really (for most people) a way to remediate or improve this; most people with this type of handwriting challenge use keyboarding instead of handwriting in school and in the workplace. (FWIW, most people *without* this type of challenge use keyboarding in college and the workplace for long writing assignments at this point in the history of the planet... but I digress :)). ABQmom gave a good overview of other types of accommodations which are typical for dysgraphia/DOWD impacting the physical act of handwriting. Many times people with this challenge also need accommodations for spelling/punctuation/etc - not because they don't know how to spell or understand punctuation rules, but because the act of writing (either by hand or on a keyboard) takes up so much of their working memory that there isn't any WM left over for spelling/etc.
DOWD can also impact a person's ability to express their ideas/thoughts on paper, and this can manifest in different ways (generating ideas, organizing ideas, etc). This is an area which potentially can be helped by remediation/targeted tutoring. Our ds has made good progress working with a speech therapist specifically on written expression. He's never going to be a great novelist, and chances are he's never going to enjoy the act of writing, but it's helped tremendously with his ability to express his thoughts on paper. He still will most likely need extended time accommodations for written expression (on testing) throughout college, simply because it takes him a long time to put his thoughts into writing even when he knows what he wants to say and how to say it.
FWIW ds has an accommodation for extended time on testing and for oral response of fluency tests, but he hasn't ever had any kind of accommodation for extended time for homework or class assignments or reduced amount of classwork/homework. HOWEVER.... he spends much more time completing his classwork and homework assignments than his peers do - not because he doesn't understand or know the subject matter well and not because he doesn't grasp concepts, but simply because it takes him a long time to write. I think that in some cases in high school and college where work loads and overlapping assignments between different courses can get crazy busy for typical kids, requesting an accommodation of extended time or reduced workload that still shows subject mastery is a reasonable accommodation for students with DOWD.
polarbear
