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Ds is still struggling quite a bit with handwriting. He forms his letters well (although, he occasionally reverses them). One problem is that if a letter is not perfect, he feels the need to erase it and start over or just throw the pencil down and give up. It takes him a very long time to complete even a sentence or two.

He is beginning Montessori school in 2 days, and during his day-visits over the past couple of months, his teacher noted that he needs to work on writing. He wants to write stories and journal entries and is unable to transfer his thoughts to writing. He can do copy work (but still has the issues mentioned above), however when he has to actually spell the words or think of what to say, he absolutely can't manage it. If he dictates and I type, he has no problem generating the thoughts, but if he actually has to write anything he just can't get it down on paper. When he dictates, he creates beautiful, amazing stories.

In fact, he can also correctly spell words verbally but is unable to do so on paper. Is this typical for 6 year old boys? Could it be dysgraphia?

Also, I've heard of Handwriting Without Tears and the Zaner-Bloser Handwriting programs. Would you recommend using one of these programs at home to supplement work in the classroom? Do you know of another program you'd recommend?

By the way, ds is learning to type, and I think this might be a solution once he gets better at it. His fine motor skills seem to be a little behind, so that could be the problem. However, I am mostly worried that it has something to do with the ability to transfer thoughts to written form rather than the actual mechanics of writing. Again, he has neat, legible handwriting, but his spelling rules go out the window when he's writing (but not when he's spelling verbally.)

Any thoughts? As always, thank you for your input and advice.

Hopefully someone with more experience of the relevant dys-s can help, but my immediate thought is that it sounds more like simple asynchronous development and perfectionism. My DS6 also has the problem deciding what to write next (while being able to rattle away if he doesn't have to do the actual writing), and I think that's fairly typical of the age group. From school we're getting the message that he needs to work faster, but not the message that this is unusual! We've also seen the compulsion to rub letters out if they aren't perfect, though that's waning. I have sometimes just not let him rub a letter out, thought that takes judgement about when it's going to work... What I don't recognise from DS is the being unable to spell on paper what he can spell by saying the spelling: he seems to have no trouble saying the spelling to himself, if necessary several times, and then writing it down. What actually happens when your DS tries to write a word he knows how to spell? Does he then forget how to say the spelling, or does he spell it aloud but then refuse to write the first letter, or what? I'm having trouble imagining how someone can be able to spell a word aloud and be able to write letters, but not able to put the two together.

I'd be dubious about using a handwriting programme, personally, because I'd think that might just reinforce the perfectionism. I'd be keener on looking for circumstances in which he might find a little bit of writing useful for his own purposes - but now that I think about it, while I think this has been key for my DS, the ideas have all come from him, and maybe that's the main reason they've been useful! Would he go for writing you a message in code, for example?

I pretty much wrote your same post 6 mo ago. I was very nervous because DS was still reversing letters, putting capitals in the middle of words, messing up his spelling on paper but not orally etc. His ed.psych had said we should look at dysgraphia by his 7th birthday (he was 6 at the time) and see if it fit then.

Six months later, he's like a completely different child. No more letter reversal, no spelling problems nothing. He doesn't enjoy writing and it's frustrating but he can do it faster, more smoothly and without problems.

We didn't use any writing program and he doesn't have a writing program at school. I just emphasized volume at home- more and more writing. I gave him writing prompts to finish like "If my toys could talk they would say..." I had him write the grocery lists, his own thank you cards, directions for treasure hunts anything I could get him to write without stress, formation papers or anything specific- just volume.

ColinsMum- for my DS- when he'd spell a word aloud he'd spell it correction. But as soon as he'd write it, the correct letters would be there but usually in the wrong order. Then he'd get really mad, immediately erase and correct it. But he would only spell it right maybe 20% of the time the first time.