How do you handle writing/handwriting mistakes... dyslexia/dysgraphia

[Jenn in CA]

9yodd has pretty severe dyslexia, and other learning issues. She has a tough time w/making mistakes when writing, whether it's leaving out a letter, reversal, etc. I hate that whole "scribble it out" thing, and was taught to strike out your word with a line through it, then start again, so you don't have a big black storm cloud in your writing. But, I think she doesn't want to see her mistake at all. She'll try to mark it out completely, or try to convert the mistaken letter into the correct one (takes quite a bit of effort sometimes), or just write the correct one over it so you can't tell which was the one she meant....

 

I don't get why it's such a big deal to her when she needs to correct.... I don't make a big deal about it. She's also so much more concerned with the neatness of her letters than with the words she wrote. 

 

Using pencil helps, but doesn't take away all the issues...

 

Anyway, anyone else's kid have this issue? Any tips?

 

She's painstakingly slow, between dyslexia, and wanting to be neat, and not being able to remember the sentence/word she's writing.... We're on sentences in Barton write now, and an entire sentence takes usually 15 minutes.

 

 

[Rosie_0801]

My dd's isn't so severe, but I'm intending to teach her short hand when the quantity of writing required becomes burdensome. I expect my best friend, Youtube, will help there.

 

 

I've never let my dd erase her writing. There's enough going on without cultivating perfectionism in areas you can never be perfect.

 

Many people seem to find dysgraphic kids do better with cursive. It's like the letter shapes wouldn't stick in her head until she learned to join them. 

[Heathermomster]

I like LOE's dry erase board using a pencil sized dry erase marker.

 

Handwriting is a chore for my DS whether he writes in cursive or manuscript. He never purposefully writes using cursive.

[Plink]

Try having her write on a table-top white board. It erases completely and she will know that it isn't going to be saved.

 

That being said, 15 min for one sentence is excessive. How much of that time is her first writing, and how much is revision? Is it really the writing that is slowig her down, or does she struggle with remembering the sentence and/or spelling it?

 

I'd be concerned that you are hitting a wall simply because of frustration. If so, back way off - adding performance anxiety to the mix won't help. It is okay to stick with just words or phrases until she feels confident. Maybe practice the parroting skill (having her repeat back a sentence word-for-word) separate from writing for a bit, and make sure she has that solidly under control before asking her to remember and write and spell all at the same time.

[PeterPan]

Does she have an SLD writing diagnosis or need some OT? Maybe it's time to move on from handwriting the Barton and use dictation or tech? Barton actually told us to give up. Like not everyone should write the exercises, even though it says to. Depending on her diagnoses, it might be time to move on.

 

Is that anxiety showing up in other places as well? 

[OneStepAtATime]

That really is an excessively long time to try writing a single sentence.  For now, while you maybe tweak things out, figure out what is happening, I would look at switching to a dry erase board with guided lines and a fine point dry erase marker.  DS has dysgraphia and he does better working on Barton using the dry erase board.  Maybe it would help your kiddo, too.

 

Maybe something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Classics-Whiteboard-Complete-Inches-TPG-388/dp/B00DU66XKM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1486227509&sr=8-2&keywords=dry+erase+board+with+lines+for+kids

 

with something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Markers-Eraser-Assorted-8-Count/dp/B019QC70N2/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1486227548&sr=8-6&keywords=dry+erase+board+fine+tip+markers

 

As for why it is such a big deal to her when it isn't to you, that could be perfectionism/OCD tendencies or just anxiety in general or whatever else but the reality is that it IS a big deal to her.  Regardless of whether it seems like it logically should be, she is suffering a lot of stress over this, which may seriously interfere with internalization of the Barton lessons themselves.  I would work hard to find ways to reduce the stress by even eliminating the writing sentences part for now if necessary.  

 

Do you break up the lessons into smaller pieces?  I know both of my kids do better with the lessons being shorter.  Since DS struggles with handwriting in particular, when we get to the handwriting I do it in phases.  He does the writing words one day, writing phrases another day and writing sentences on another day.  And he does it on a dry erase board with guided lines.   It has worked soooooo much better that way.

 

[Jenn in CA]

Dry erase sounds like a great idea. Thanks!

 

I am breaking up the writing

... We do just 15 minutes per day of Barton. So the last two days were just one sentence each session. Yesterday's sentence ... "He'll summon the falcon"... Involved a couple minutes each for: repeating the sentence a few times, making a mental image of what the sentence was talking about, contraction review, defining summon, defining falcon. I could instead just say "He'll... it's a contraction of he will;

.. summon... The... Falcon", pausing to let her write each word. It would go faster. But I felt hopeful that maybe her recall was getting better. :( It was discouraging. I'm working on getting evals through our charter school.

 

 

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Edited February 5, 2017 by Jenn in CA

[PeterPan]

What happens if you have her *dictate* the spelling? Is she fluent on the spelling and the struggle is actually getting it on paper? I agree the working memory aspect (can you hold the thoughts in your head while you manipulate them) is valuable. However the *writing* itself is negotiable. If she can spell through the sentence aloud just fine, then I would say the issue is the actual act of getting it on paper, a writing disability. And then I'm going to ask how functional this is or if it's a self-defeating method and time to move on.

 

If her evals aren't updated to show writing SLD, then maybe update them at some point.

[Jenn in CA]

What happens if you have her *dictate* the spelling? Is she fluent on the spelling and the struggle is actually getting it on paper? I agree the working memory aspect (can you hold the thoughts in your head while you manipulate them) is valuable. However the *writing* itself is negotiable. If she can spell through the sentence aloud just fine, then I would say the issue is the actual act of getting it on paper, a writing disability. And then I'm going to ask how functional this is or if it's a self-defeating method and time to move on.

 

If her evals aren't updated to show writing SLD, then maybe update them at some point.

No she can't spell orally either. She does good with Barton, I need to sometimes remind her of rules but sometimes she remembers them herself.

 

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[PeterPan]

Hmm, that's conspicuous. How far do you have to back up for her to be able to do the spelling orally at least? You might be seeing a working memory issue there. You might want to play games a variety of ways to work on working memory and make it easier for her to hold the letters and get them out. Also consider harnessing visualization. She can visualize the word and spell it aloud backwards.

 

If she's crunchy on the rules, you want the Spelling Success games. They're AWESOME.