5 year old with handwriting probs - is there ICT that might help?

[captainhook]

DS is 5 and in Yr1. Just been referred to our local Child Dvelopment Centre for a few issues with things such as fine motor control, muscle tone, awkward co-ordination, and some behavioural things likes poor social skills and lack of eye contact. (they don't think ASD but want to get it sussed out generally).

He's making perfectly OK progress in most areas and his reading has come on a lot since reception. However his handwriting is really holdoing him back - struggles to form the letters, lots of reversals, and goes very very slowly.

Obviously he needs to learn to handwrite in good time, but if the problem is about fine motor control and muscle tone, is there any ICT that would help him bypass the physical problems and get what he's thinking onto paper? Am thinking eyboard with lower case letters or even a tablet computer type thing that he could 'handwrite' on.

Any advice gratefully received!

[IndigoBell]

Personally I wouldn't go down that route yet.

Plenty of time to 'get his thoughts down on paper'. It's very important at this age that he's doing daily fine motor skills exercises, and keeps on trying to learn to write.

School won't care what he writes. If it's unreadable they'll just get him to 'read back' what he's 'written', and they'll mark that.

It's only going to get harder to improve his fine motor skills as he gets older - not easier. Much, much harder.

You can buy lower-case stickers to stick onto a normal keyboard. (I had to use them with my DD). You can also use your finger to write on an iPad.

I would def spend the rest of the infants doing everything I could to improve the problems you mentioned, rather than worrying about his academic attainment.

Reversing letters isn't due to fine motor skill problems, it's due to visual perception problems.

[IndigoBell]

Lowercase Keyboard Stickers

Theraputty is what OTs normally recommend to strengthen hands.

[CecilyP]

I agree with IndigoBell. At this stage in his life, it is far more important for him to learn handwriting, than getting his thoughts on to paper. Is that really something he is desperate to do? I doubt if writing on a tablet computer would be all that different to writing on a piece of paper - the computer would still have to recognise what he had written and would probably be no better at that than an early years teacher.

Others would probably be able to advise on things to improve fine motor skills. And things may simply improve with maturity.

[madwomanintheattic]

completely agree with the above.
way too early to be looking for ict solutions to a pretty ordinary 5yo problem.

ot referral, lots and lots and lots of fine motor exercises and lots of practise.

if no joy in a year or two, then ask the ot what they recommend as far as solution. some kids just use a net book, some use a scribe for a while until they are more able, some use voice software ie dragon.

most cope with some ot tips.

try a zillion or so pencil grips. the ot will look at underlying cause and work from there.

much too early to be looking for tech solution.



he can type to his heart's content at home to practise in case it becomes ncesary later for school. but at 5, it's not.

[madwomanintheattic]

search mrz's oft quoted fine motor tips. they are all over the boards.

and use them until the ot therapy gets going. (essentially they are what the ot will be doing anyway)

[captainhook]

Hi and many thanks for the advice. Sorry - I realise I misexpressed myself. Was not thinking of him using ICT in the classroom and quite agree this would be a massively over the top reaction even for a PFB :)

I was just wondering whether alongside all the handwriting practice he will be doing at school it would be useful to try him out with a bit of ICT at home. Just to see whether without the labour of forming letters he can get some practice at writing sentences and whatever else they do in Y1.

Also quite agree there are bigger fish to fry in his infant years than whether he can write. I was chuffed to bits yesterday to hear that this was his biggest problem - it hasn't always been so!

Many thanks for the fine motor skills tips which I shall follow up.

[madwomanintheattic]

lol
yy, let him e-mail his grandad and use the computer as much as he wants at home. dd2 writes stories. if she doesn't use the computer we can't read them, so as long as he's getting plenty of fine motor stuff and progressing his pencil work, nothing wrong with using the computer as well.

[captainhook]

good plan. His grandad only lives round the corner but I am sure would be thrilled to get an email anyway

thanks for the advice.

[betterwhenthesunshines]

More play at home with things like tweezers to pick up rice? picking up and making Hama beads so he won't even know it's motor skill practice? building things like Lego? Tracing lines in maze puzzles? Fimo?

I don't know as I'm not an expert but I would guess these are all regular activities that might help his fine motor skills, rather than OT exercises?

[clopper]

an alphasmart is a good tool - do they have one at school?

[betterwhenthesunshines]

re use of Tweezers - 'Operation' game for Christmas could help pincer grip?

[silverfrog]

as well as working on all the letter formation things, you need to get him to practise all the pre-writing skils too.

all the wavy/zigzag lines, and tracing shapes, getting used to changing direction with the pencil.

what is his pencil grip like? I have used pelikan graffix pencils for both of my girls - they have inbuilt tripod grips, and are nice and easy to hold, which eliminates (or at least alleviates!) one major issue.