dysgraphia?

[Writingwrite888]

My year 5 DS has had problems with handwriting since reception. It is getting him down, and he is struggling to write “enough” in lessons and complains that it’s uncomfortable and hard and making him dislike school. He’s bright, always in the top of the class for everything else. He will draw pictures willingly, but not that often. He does do things like Lego perfectly well though.

I posted about his handwriting last week which led me to come across dysgraphia. Anyone have any experience with it?

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DS1 got diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia in Y5 - we weren't in the UK at the time tho.
Sounds very similar - except he would never willingly have drawn.
Now in Y10. We think he won't get extra time in exams as his processing isn't slow enough - despite there being a massive gulf between his verbal and written work.

We've been typing, where appropriate, homework since primary. Strongly suggest getting him touch typing. His writing is shocking. His spelling is awful. His full stops and capitals are hit and miss. Copying is really hard, writing is slow and painful. We get predicted grades for GCSE near Christmas, hopefully. The English ones are currently worrying me, but we will cross that bridge if not passes when we get there. He has self targeted as straight 9s. It's possible in maths and science, I think. I'm most concerned about passing English.

I have a child with dysgraphia. Note it is also referred to in medical literature as "disorder of written expression".
There is no "cure" but an OT or physio may be able to make helpful recommendations. An adjustable chair (eg tripp-trapp) to ensure the right height, and sitting at a slight angle to the table/desk to ensure that the forearm and elbow of the writing hand are on the desk rather than dangling in free space can help. Writing on alternate lines can improve legibility.
If writing is uncomfortable it's worth checking for hypermobility or other physical/medical issues, which can be a cause/contributing factor.
Experimenting with different pens/pencils and writing styles can also help. At one time there was a specialist who would customize the writing style to the child, with dramatic improvements, but she has retired and nobody else is doing it.
Touch-typing is, in general, the way to go. EnglishType is a decent software app to learn it.
If dysgraphia / disorder of written expression is confirmed, getting this documented and extra time and the use of a laptop established as "normal way of working" well in advance of GCSE's so that these accommodations are available in the exams is important, though the goalposts are constantly shifting regarding evidence needed so who knows what it'll look like in a few years.

Get him touch typing (EnglishType Junior is what we used) during Y6 and send him to secondary using a keyboard as normal way of working.

DD is in Y10 and has used a laptop since she started secondary and will have it for all exams (she has iPad with keyboard and e-pen so she can photograph graphs etc and annotate and keep everything online).

She has dyslexia and hypermobile fingers. It was one of the best things we did.