computer for poor pencil skill

[wads]

my ds is 6 & will start his 1 st proper school year next year (we're in Portugal). Along with other probs he has very poor pencil skills & pre school teacher is going to request a laptop/pc for him to hopefully accompany lessons as much as poss - given that he is in no way able to practise writing letters. Would like to know what sort of laptops/pcs are in use for sn in the uk so I can make suggestions rather than let them buy whatever, thanks!

[COPPERfeelunderSantasTOP]

I started a similar thread a while ago about my ds1. He doesn't quite need one yet but this is the advice I was given at the time.

computers

HTH until someone else comes along.

[isgrassgreener]

Hi Wads
DS1 is 9 and has always had problems with pencil skills. He is left handed dyslexic with dyspraxic traits. We use yorropens to help him and have done lots of exercises with putty, threading, etc, fine motor skills stuff.
School have always said about him using a laptop when he gets older, touch typing etc... however I have been taking him to private lessons which use the spaulding method and they have taught him a different way of doing his handwriting, it has really helped his flow and he now has lovely handwriting.

It is still very slow and difficult, but the more he practises the easier it becomes.

I have now decided that I will not teach him to touch type for at least another year, as I think he does need to be able to write and his spaulding teacher (who is also a speach and language therapist) believes that the action of physically writing actually helps in learning spellings, as you physically feel the words so to speak.

I do think laptops/computers are a great idea, as I know DS1 gets really frustrated at not being able to get things down on paper, but I also know that he does not get very much access to the computer at school. They did start to try and teach a small group touch typing but it didn't really work and they gave up.

I hope you don't think I am being unhelpful as that is not my intention, it's just that I have been surprised by how much DS has achieved, something I would not have expected when he was 6 and I am glad that we have kept on trying with the writing skills.

[wads]

thanks both of you, I've been offline for a few days. Will look into the alphasmarts but will need a portuguese keyboard so may have to get whatever is available here. What are the yorropens? My ds has quite good motor skills when it's spiderman lego or something that is of huge interest to him but hates drawing/writing/painting so just getting him to even hold a pencil requires much bribery/threats/promises of tv!!

[snugglebumnappies]

HI my DS is 11 and in his last year at primary school, he has Asperger's Syndrome and both his gross and fine motor skills are in the lowest 5% for his age, his handwritting is poor and he finds it very labourious when he has to do extended writing at school. It was all becoming very frustrating for him as due to time limits placed on pieces of work he could never get down on paper what was in his head. He has recently been given a laptop to use at school, therefore there is no concerns that it won't be available, it is for his sole use, we have had this put in his Statement of Special Needs. We have just encouraged him to use the computer more at home to aid his typing skills and also installed the Mavis Bekam (?sp) touch type programme on his computer, it's more like a game, eg the faster you type the more aliens you shoot down etc than learning so he seems to really enjoy it.

[wads]

I wrote a few emails to the alphasmart people who were very helpful & informative & they still have some alphasmarts with portuguese keyboards so fingers crossed I can persuade local edu authority to get that. Thanks for all the replies