HWT problems

[amo_mea_filiis.]

I posted over in the main forum about my son's language and reading, and from those responses, I have some questions for you guys.

 

I love HWT. DD did amazing with it. DS was on a good start with it. However, now we're at the point where he could be doing something with his writing and it is looking like poop! LOL.

 

He has always tested well in visual tasks. When doing HWT he "refuses" to see the lines! He will not write a letter on the block paper and stay IN THE BOX!!! It is very frustrating. I'm going to hook up my printer shortly and scan what he's capable of vs his typical work. Lowercase r usually looks like a funky v which also resembles f and somehow n! He still puts random capitals in the middle of words.

 

Where does everyone stand with handwriting? Anyone put it on the back burner and work on other types of writing (typing)? Anyone write for their child in areas other than handwriting practice? He is young, only 6, but I know from experience that his errors need to be corrected. For history, my other post is Speech pathologist titled.

[merry gardens]

I posted over in the main forum about my son's language and reading, and from those responses, I have some questions for you guys.

 

I love HWT. DD did amazing with it. DS was on a good start with it. However, now we're at the point where he could be doing something with his writing and it is looking like poop! LOL.

 

He has always tested well in visual tasks. When doing HWT he "refuses" to see the lines! He will not write a letter on the block paper and stay IN THE BOX!!! It is very frustrating. I'm going to hook up my printer shortly and scan what he's capable of vs his typical work. Lowercase r usually looks like a funky v which also resembles f and somehow n! He still puts random capitals in the middle of words.

 

Where does everyone stand with handwriting? Anyone put it on the back burner and work on other types of writing (typing)? Anyone write for their child in areas other than handwriting practice? He is young, only 6, but I know from experience that his errors need to be corrected. For history, my other post is Speech pathologist titled.

I glanced through your other posts. I see your son has some reading struggles and possibly has some other language processing problems that need to be addressed. At age six I certainly wouldn't give up on handwriting to turn to typing, but there are other problems that are probably getting in the way of your son's handwriting.

 

I believe that handwriting is very important. It not only reflects what's going on in the brain, but it may be able to make changes to the brain.

 

My nine yo son has dyslexia. His writing reflected early that something wasn't quite right with his understanding of the alphabet, and that there was probably some neurological problems contributing to that. Those problems showed up in his speech too. I didn't know at the time what I was hearing and seeing, I can look back and recognize it now.

 

By age seven, my son was still seriously struggling with reading and writing. I discovered multi-sensory methods. He learned letters through building the alphabet with clay and in writing them dry cornmeal (similar to salt boxes). Tracing the letter shape on sand paper letters helped too. We focused on doing lower letters primarily, not capitals. (While capitals are important, reading and writing primarily involves lower case letters.)

 

My son eventually learned the alphabet, but his writing wasn't neat. This year I stepped away from letter shapes for a little while entirely to just work on the stroke formation, zones and rhythm, via another handwriting programs that occupational therapists sometimes use. (Calirobics) Once the basic strokes were established, we added handwriting the alphabet daily back to our work.

 

I tell you all that about my son in the hopes that it can somehow help you. I do believe that handwriting is very important, and your son's handwriting might be another clue that there's something going on that needs further work through different techniques before his handwriting improves.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

I just checked out callirobics and love what I see! Thank you for that info.

 

She suggested we start with the 4-7 pattern book, but in the beginning to let him use blank, unlined paper. I think I'm going to order it. 2.5 minutes of writing per day should appeal to his never-going-to-sit-and-do-anything boy brain. I can put formal handwriting out of the picture and work on the 4-7 book and then go from there.

 

ETA: We've done years of play-doh letters, sand writing, shaving cream writing, air letters, etc. I think he may have been pushed too early since it was known he was delayed.

Edited March 23, 2011 by amo_mea_filiis
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[Dobela]

It could also be signs of a visual issue. My son seemed to have good visual skills at that age, but his handwriting was the first real clue that his eyes and brain were not completely working together. He did receive OT and that helped some but we could never cross that line into handwriting success until we did vision therapy. A good place to look for other signs and symptoms of a vision problem is www.covd.org. And, yes, my son had 20/20 vision but his eyes were not working together. Only a developmental optometrist caught this.