mommy5 Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Does anyone have any experience with occupational therapy for a child that has been slower to have neat handwriting and who take a really long time and/or cries when asked to write more than a couple of sentences a day? I'm curious...we were told that our son might benefit from this but I only have experience with severe delays at therapy. This child is great at art/drawing, manipulating legos, playing video games... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymonster Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 My DS7 sounds like your son. We recently were referred to OT through our pediatrician because DS7 has handwriting and general hand strength issues. The OT did a number of assessments (handwriting and fine motor skills). It was actually very useful. My son was slightly above the level where he could have received services under insurance (but still behind his peers). It was a bit of a good news/bad news situation, in all honesty. The OT was really helpful, though, and gave us a number of printouts on increasing hand strength. My son liked the OT, so the OT went ahead and showed him some cool, manly "handcrafts" (namely leather work and metal work), so DS7 is interested in trying them and other handcrafts. Might as well see if you can get an assessment, and at least figure out, objectively, what you are dealing with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoVanGogh Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 We started OT last year for penmanship issues. Unfortunately in our case it led to us being referred to specialists then multiple problems being diagnosed so we are now in for much more than penmanship. But penmanship has improved greatly already, very much worth it and we really needed the diagnosis no matter how much it hurt. My child was great, too, with Legos. He has a well developed pincher grasp, which is so different from holding a pencil. The Special Needs forum here is awesome, especially for therapy info, if you want to cross post. I would say: listen to your mommy gut feelings. If you think the child would benefit, do the eval and see what they say. I so regret that I listened to my husband and pediatrician when they blew off my concerns. The sooner you get help, the better. I know that is an obvious thing to say. But I wasted years trying to tackle at home when there was so much more going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stayseeliz Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 We've been doing OT for handwriting and attention issues. DD just turned nine. It has helped a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommy5 Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 Thanks for your input and sharing your experiences! Our oldest son (who is quite delayed) had received OT along with other types of therapy for years. I guess I always thought it was for more severe problems. My 8 yr old is a pretty typical kid but has struggled in the language arts area of learning (he's great at math) and has struggled with not just handwriting but reading, too. Did you kids also struggle with that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.