Dysgraphia and a 12 year old - any hope?

[Rhonda in TX]

I'm pretty sure my 12 yo DS has dysgraphia. His handwriting is atrocious and we've done handwriting programs every year until this one. He also has Asperger's and I know those two often go together. Is it time to just give up? Is there ANYTHING I can do?

 

I am very, very worried about the composition part of the SAT. I let him do all his writing on the computer. Would getting a formal diagnosis of dysgraphia allow him modifications for the SAT? How would I go about getting a diagnosis? Start with the pediatrician?

[Michelle T]

it's part of his dyspraxia, he has very poor fine motor skills and motor planning abilities in all areas, not just handwriting. He also has dyscalculia and ADHD.

 

He was diagnosed by an educational psychologist. With the diagnosis, he will be able to get accommodations if he takes the SAT, or needs them to manage college.

 

I let DS use the computer for all writing other than in his spelling book. That's made a huge difference in his willingness to write at all.

 

In terms of hope, I don't know. At 12, I guess there is room for improvement, but probably they are never going to be great at writing. My DS struggles with anything requiring hand/eye coordination, or motor planning. For example, he cannot figure out how to pick up a stack of mail and carry it without dropping it all over the floor. He cannot figure out how to sweep, or spread peanut butter on bread. He just learned to tie shoes this year, and still really struggles with buttons and zippers.

 

Whoops, sorry, started rambling. I do think there is benefit to the diagnosis if you feel your DS will need accommodations for college, or if he goes back to PS.

Michelle T

[Laurie4b]

You definitely need the evaluation and diagnosis to get the accomodations. They are supposedly difficult to get and you need 1) a paper trail of the diagnosis some years before the test (so it doesn't look like someone is scamming by getting a diagnosis right before the test) 2) retesting near the time of the test (so they are sure that the disability is still there) and 3) a history of accomodations in the normal school setting. (You are making accomodations with the typing. If he has any outside classes, I'd recommend that you ask for accomodations in those as well and document them.)

 

Ask whoever does the testing to list the accomodations that should be made in an academic setting.

 

There isn't a lot that requires actual handwriting in a computer-based culture. At our house, ds 12 types almost everything and practices his signature.

[Rhonda in TX]

Thanks, ladies.

 

DS also has difficulty tying his shoes. He learned within the past year and he is still slow and very loose and sloppy. I've also been forcing him to making his own PB&Js. That's getting better, but I couldn't believe how poor his skill level was at first! He still doesn't spread butter well.

 

I'm going to look into getting the diagnosis soon.

 

Thanks again!

[Laura Corin]

I don't know if you've tried it, but starting over doing cursive using Handwriting Without Tears has made an enormous difference to Calvin (SID, motor skills delays).

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

[Rhonda in TX]

I don't know if you've tried it, but starting over doing cursive using Handwriting Without Tears has made an enormous difference to Calvin (SID, motor skills delays).

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

 

We've gone through one of the printing and two of the cursive HWOT books. At what age did you start over?

[Laurie4b]

Occupational therapy could really help him. This is just the kind of thing that they work with!

[Laura Corin]

Calvin was much younger when we started over and he hadn't used HWT before - if you've already used HWT I'm not sure if that would help. Sorry.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

[jensway]

My 10 yr. son has quite a bit of trouble with handwriting. He is writing some, but really hates it. He also cannot tie his shoes yet. He has a AS diagnosis, with SID, I'm wondering if he could have dysgraphia as well. Any thoughts?

[Once]

I'm not sure I have a child with dysgraphia but I noticed your post when I hit "new posts" button. Coincidentally, our homeschool support group just had a meeting about dysgraphia Monday night and I listened to Diane Craft. She had a very simple and interesting remedy. Via CD, she presented a figure 8 exercise that is helpful in connecting the left and right hemisphere causing a correction in the corpus colosum. Here is the link to her book that covers it.

http://stores.diannecraft.org/Detail.bok?no=1

 

I'm not sure you need to buy the book since the excerise was fairly simple to learn but hearing the CD might make you more likely to follow through with it. I could send you the copies of my handouts if you want. Just PM me if you wish.

HTH

[jensway]

I think the Diane Craft info is like Brain Gym. Here are some links to check it out.

 

http://esl.about.com/od/englishlessonplans/a/braingym.htm

http://www.braingym.org/about

 

[Rhonda in TX]

I think the Diane Craft info is like Brain Gym. Here are some links to check it out.

 

http://esl.about.com/od/englishlessonplans/a/braingym.htm

http://www.braingym.org/about

 

 

They mention the books Smart Moves, which my library has. I've put in a request for it.

 

The school my kids went to when they were younger did Brain Gym. I know some of the teachers were better at following through than others. And, since DS is not the type of kid to really participate in things like that, I'm sure he didn't get the full benefit.

[Laurie4b]

The figure 8 thing can be helpful, but it is not, by any means, a remedy. My son has had years of OT, including exercises like that. While his handwriting has improved (he can write legibly if he writes r.e.a.l.l.y. slowly) he is still dysgraphic.

 

Kids with true dysgraphia typically end up with work-around solutions such as typing, or if that's not possible, voice-recognition software.

 

There is another kind of dysgraphia--dyslexic dysgraphia in which the dysgraphia is only present when the child is doing self-generated or dictation work and must simultaneously think about too many things at once that are not automatic, such as writing, spelling, punc, capit., etc. The dysgraphia disappears during copywork.

[cillakat]

:iagree: with laurie4b.

 

It's mostly getting accomodations in place. You keep working on the handwriting b/c there will always be a need to fill out forms and that sort of thing.

 

But the major players will be

1)excl keyboarding skills (read, write and type! is the best of it's kind)

2)voice recognition software (dragon speech for pc's, dicate for intel based macs)

3)using a wordprocessor or laptop for taking notes in class.....or having an assigned 'notetaker' in class

4)getting the proper paper trail in place to get accomodations for school/college/standardized testing. start now and be meticulous with dx'ing and documentation.

 

:)

[lori in tx]

I have two boys with dysgraphia, and what helped the most with them is they both started to take guitar lessons. One did very well at it and still plays to this day, the other did ok. But it helped a lot, we also learned to type.

hth

lori