I know you all said that i might be making ds write too much, but...

[amo_mea_filiis.]

He is still writing uppercase letters in the middle of words. Yes, he is 7. Yes, he has some special needs.

 

He is writing wgatever comes easier. How can i cement upper vs. lower? I do not think the different letters have "clicked" yet. If i find a daily activity todo between now and June, he shoyld get it. There are only 12 pages left in his handwriting book then he is done with planned handwriting until June.

 

Ideas? I will also ask his OT tomorrow.

[AvasMom]

I didn't read the other thread but are you doing copywork or dictation with him? That seems like the best way to correct that because you can correct the errors as soon as he starts to write them so his isn't continually reinforcing the error. It may take awhile to stick though.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

A little copywork. The problem is that he forms his letters correctly when there is a model on handwriting without tears paper, but one the model is taken away, he is all over the place with spacing and capitals.

 

He is 12 pages away from being done with the first grade/yellow hwt book, but this is the second time through the book and he did the orange/kindy book twice.

[Melissa in Australia]

I wouldn't be worried at all. You say he has special needs, MY dyslexic brother can only write in upper case he is nearly 37. He has never been able to write in lower case.

My Ds 8 has not been able to write any original work at all yet, he is still doing copywork of everything, He will narrate it to me, I write it down, and he then copies it. we have tried dictation etc, and he just falls to pieces, it is way beyond him at the moment. I am suspecting dyslexia as his older brothers have it.

[Butter]

We're still working on all lowercase (except when a capital is necessary) with my 10 year old (dyslexic) son. I think he's pretty much got it down so the big focus now is the letters that need to go below the bottom line (g, j, p, q, y). When he's writing on his own he still mixes his capitals and lowercases, but schoolwork I require that he does them properly. It has taken a lot of consistently showing him the proper way to write them and going over and over and over the rules.

 

My daughter (no special needs at all... in fact she's ahead) took until she was 8 or 9 to quit putting in random capitals. She did a year of Handwriting Without Tears when she was 5 and it solidified the capitals in her mind so strongly it took a lot to break that habit (I've heard similar experiences from some other people, too). She just grew out of it.

[cathmom]

For people with dyslexia, capitals are easier because they are harder to be reversed. My dd had this problem until she got tutoring where she learned a beautiful cursive which helped her tremendously. But you say that he has problems with spacing too, and that sounds like dysgraphia. My dd has both dyslexia and dysgraphia.

[Butter]

Oh, yeah, Cameron has dysgraphia, too. Spacing is getting better over time with practice. Cursive didn't work out.

[Mom0012]

I don't know if this will work for you, but you might try cursive. My son was never able to become truly fluent in print. We tried from K - 3rd or 4th grade and then switched to cursive. I wish so much we had just started with cursive. His writing is not beautiful and never will be, but he can write without thinking through every letter and can get his thoughts down on paper at a reasonable pace with cursive. I think I could have saved us both a lot of aggravation by starting with cursive.

 

Interestingly, people always talk about how reversals are avoided with cursive. My son still spent a long time reversing his cursive J's and his F's, but it's finally worked itself out.

 

Lisa

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

Many occupational therapists recommend cursive since it is easier to learn than print.

 

IMO I would consider cursive by starting out tracing cursive letters first and then words and then sentences. You could use a chalkboard with handwriting lines already on the board. Write high interest words for your ds on the board in a lighter colored chalk. Then have ds trace over the words. Pick words and sentences like slimy, Jupiter, robot, or whatever interests ds. Use very short chalk since it helps with proper grip.

 

Also, have ds trace a cursive letter chart with pencil daily depending on his ability Tell him it is big boy writing which may interest him;) Use a pencil gripper for proper hand grip. Then have in trace words and sentences. I use Pentime which has tracing and about 8 years worth of books.

 

 

I started out about 10 to 15 minutes a day with ds when I was trying to start teaching him cursive. If I had to do it over, I would have skipped print and started with cursive as they did 100 years ago:D:D Now about 3 years later I am switching him over completely to cursive and it has worked like a charm. His cursive is much nicer than print.

[lmrich]

I know several engineer type people who write in all caps. It is not a big deal in the BIG picture. There are bigger fish to fry.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Much bigger fish, i know. My goal is for him to be able to functionally write at some point.

 

We start cursive in june and will take most of the year to finish the book (will start with letters on the white board and add other fine motor activities). If cursive doesnt help, he will move to typing the following year.

 

I just wanted to do a little more from now until june with upper and lower.

[Terabith]

Sigh. I'm in the same place with my daughter who is turning seven this month. No real advice, though, just commiseration. I'm teaching her cursive letters, but she can't connect them yet. We're just practicing letter formation mostly. I'm starting to do a little copywork and just like your son, she can copy (laboriously) from a model, but not when she's writing on her own at all. I'm hoping that when forming the letters is easier she will do a better job with capitalization.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

Sigh. I'm in the same place with my daughter who is turning seven this month. No real advice, though, just commiseration. I'm teaching her cursive letters, but she can't connect them yet. We're just practicing letter formation mostly. I'm starting to do a little copywork and just like your son, she can copy (laboriously) from a model, but not when she's writing on her own at all. I'm hoping that when forming the letters is easier she will do a better job with capitalization.

 

How about her doing strictly tracing of cursive letters and then words to start. After a few months of tracing, then try copywork perhaps. You can use a chalkboard for this that has the handwriting lines on it already.

[Paige]

My DDs will be 8 this month and I just had them evaluated by the school. I thought they were very far behind because they still struggle with not putting random capitals in their words, not capitalizing the first words consistently, not remembering end points, and making huge run on sentences with and then, and then, and then....instead of making sentence breaks. Surprisingly, the PS teacher told me they were average. The top students don't do those things anymore but it is still a very common problem for many 7 and 8 year olds. I'm sure they'll eventually get it.

[swellmomma]

DS8 still does this. We were told my SLP and OT not to worry about it right now. IF the letters are properly formed to not worry about whether they are caps or lower case to just get him writing at all (well in our case reading and writing at all) and learning how to spell correctly. Once the literacy is there then focus on which form of letters to use.

 

With ds8's language delays he is at a K level of literacy. Mixing up capitals and lowercase in his writing is appropriate for K level. The focus is on building the hand strength to form the letters and keep them on the lines, and to get him reading/writing.

 

Our OT wants us doing copy work and continueing with HWOT. THe SLP LOVES what she sees with AAS and AAR and wants us using those while we work with her on other language stuff. Both have said to fluff off the mixed case of letter for now.

 

You need to chose the skill that is most important right now. Chances are ds will eventually be switched over to typing only so the key right now is to get him reading, doing any writing and learning to spell. I know you mentioned that you may be switching your ds over to typing next year too, so I would pick the most important skill you need to work on and focus on it rather than what case of letter he uses.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

having some issues with that with my 9 yr old kiddo....he KNOWS to start sentences with capital letters-and names etc but I'll get them randomly in words (--example ThE caT SaT oN tHe mAt.) It's something we've been working on for a while now-still frustrating when I know HE KNOWS/HE CAN do better.....

[MomatHWTK]

Just my opinion- I would focus on being able to spell and do some basic writing for the circumstances where typing won't be an option. Make sure he can sign his name and at least write a short note that someone could figure out, even if it's not all in the proper case.

 

Then, for the actual mechanics of proper writing and grammar I would go with typing. My oldest DS this week decided to write a short story and a newsletter. He is typing it using Open Office and I am gently pointing out the capitalization issues for proper nouns, etc. I don't correct everything because it's not a school assignment. But between my prompts and the program's spellcheck feature he is learning what I want him to know. ;)

 

ETA: I have also started using Happy Scribe materials for copywork. The download includes cursive, print and italic so it is very flexible.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

OT reassessed today and thinks the letter problem is all motor planning. Our treatment? MORE writing! LOL.

 

He finished the HWT book (the last 12 pages were numbers, 1 per page, and the assessment page so we did it in 2 days).

 

When we move to cursive in June, I have to add a bunch more writing. She threw out some ideas like having him write the curses when he says them (it could possibly decrease the cursing), sand, soap, and dirt writing, a LOT of body writing (writing on his back with my finger, and him to me), finger tracing, etc.

 

From now until June I'll add more fine motor; play-doh, beading, and everything else you wonderful people have suggested. I'll also get him coloring and drawing. I'm sure I can find zombie coloring pages.

[JFSinIL]

My son with autism is now 20...and still makes his letters exactly the same as he first learned them eons ago. It seems like once something is learned, for some special need kids, it is cemented into the brain and can not be altered (sigh). Block letters, and many laboriously written with strokes the opposite of what a neuro-typical person might do (and upward stroke for a t instead of downward, for example). His "a" letters look just like the typed letter a, not like the small "a" most folks write.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

My son with autism is now 20...and still makes his letters exactly the same as he first learned them eons ago. It seems like once something is learned, for some special need kids, it is cemented into the brain and can not be altered (sigh). Block letters, and many laboriously written with strokes the opposite of what a neuro-typical person might do (and upward stroke for a t instead of downward, for example). His "a" letters look just like the typed letter a, not like the small "a" most folks write.

 

That's not good for us! He writes a q backward, but adds a little loop so it is different than p. He learned very poorly in kindy.

 

What's funny is that when he writes the alphabet, he always writes A B C D E V before he realizes. The first 3 letters of his name are Dev.

 

Now that I think about it, what you said makes sense. He is still writing his name exactly the way it was taught in preschool. Those handful of letters look no different now than 3-4 years ago. He has a really hard time writing d and almost always writes D, I think because of his name.

[Amy in NH]

Get a package of 2nd grade ruled paper, have him dictate to you and then copy it onto another piece of the same paper. I sit with them to work on letter formation until they have that part down. This is all the writing my kids do from ages 4-8 or so, until they can reliably print with proper letter formation and spacing.

[momtotkbb]

I may be misunderstanding, but do I understand that as long as he has model to write from he writes the letters/words correctly - but take away the model and have him write and he forms the letters incorrectly?

 

My middle ds is highly gifted but also LD/ADHD/SPD and one of the things that I had to learn is that it takes him longer to get the letter shape/formation into his brain. He is 13 now and even though he can write beautifully in cursive - esp considering he's a lefty and dysgraphic - only if he sees the letters in front of him. His Dev Ped and OT both told me to simply give him a letter formation chart - so he has one on the wall above his desk and one on his desk to refer to. After a number of years, for the most part, he recalls the correct formation/placement for printed letters - now we're trying to move to cursive as well. They also told me by 9 to get him typing and any longer written work to allow him to dictate until he could type on his own.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

I may be misunderstanding, but do I understand that as long as he has model to write from he writes the letters/words correctly - but take away the model and have him write and he forms the letters incorrectly?

 

 

Basically, yes.

 

All recommendations may change after seeing genetics and neuropsych. But right now, OT thinks it is all motor planning and to work on motor planning, you do an activity over and over and over and over, etc.

 

We do this repeating with any activity he'll tolerate. It makes sense to do it with writing as well.

 

ETA- Keep in mind that he ONLY does writing in his handwriting book that he just finished, and very minimal copywork right now. The few times he tried without a model were when he had to finish a sentence with a word or two, or when writing something bad.

Edited April 5, 2012 by amo_mea_filiis