Speed has always been one of my 10 year old son's biggest problems. He could write legibly if he had twice as much time as the average kid and if he didn't have to write very much. His hands got tired quickly. His visual motor integration was always a few years behind. He didn't get OT for this in kindergarten because he was reading at a 5th grade level and beyond grade level in math and our state does not require OT unless a child is failing. This is one of the reasons we have to homeschool. Our insurance only paid for six one-hour sessions with an OT and I told her that I was worried about his speed issues and I wanted him to be able to write quickly enough and legibly enough to do the math portion of timed tests and also fill in the bubble quickly, but she wanted to work on his sensory and physical issues first and there just wasn't time to work on speed.
He learned to type but I still want him to be able to do take notes quickly and legibly so that he can take notes in college when he needs to.
I have had him working on about 10 words a week (in cursive) from the Sitton high frequency word list and he can write those words more quickly than words he has not practiced. I let him use a combination of print capitals and the rest of the letters in cursive because it is faster for him and more legible. We figure out what works best for him and try not to worry about what teachers might think, especially the ones who think coloring in the lines is more important than learning.
I would not want my child working with an OT who was less than enthusiastic about working with him. My son only had six sessions but she had a positive influence on him.
This might be something you will have to help him with at home. My son works on handwriting speed while listening to music. He also does Guitar Hero and Rock Band and I think this has helped with some speed issues.
My son has motor dyspraxia and I think it just takes him more time to get those words into his motor memory but I think by the time he starts college he will not have to depend on a computer to type his notes--although he would certainly like to do everything on the computer if he could.
