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Primary education

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Original poster

DS yr 3 handwriting

17 replies

Stresstoimpress · 18/10/2011 01:04

This evening had parents evening. All v positive about DS personaility, ability, attitude, effort etc. However, his handwriting is a major problem and is holding him back. It is painful watching him struggle to write at any speed and he says he worries that he can see others writing much faster and he has only written a few words. His fine motor skills are still somewhat under developed eg he struggles with buttons sometimes and picking up small things. He plays with lego a lot but not sure this has helped. Teacher was v positive and said he could offer extra practice but says this may be counter productive and we agree. (We tried last year and it just became stressful). We really don't know what to do to help him any ideas?

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GoreSplattersHouse · 18/10/2011 01:08

Have you looked into Dyslexic Dysgraphia? Children with this tend to write as little as possible, despite being able to talk about things and read fluently. Is there a disparity of the writing and reading skills that is significant? It may be worth asking the schools SENCO for advice.

GoreSplattersHouse · 18/10/2011 01:11

Homework and writing can be VERY stressful for someone with Dysgraphia, it was the first sign we had that there was a problem. Meltdowns over homework that, in theory he should have been able to do!

Original poster
Stresstoimpress · 18/10/2011 01:16

Was just surfing and found something. Your sentence

"Children with this tend to write as little as possible, despite being able to talk about things and read fluently."

sums DS up. Is there a website you would recommend

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Original poster
Stresstoimpress · 18/10/2011 01:20

Was just surfing and found something. Your sentence

"Children with this tend to write as little as possible, despite being able to talk about things and read fluently."

sums DS up. Is there a website you would recommend? Am really worried it is going to impact on him in terms of self esteem and achievement

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GoreSplattersHouse · 18/10/2011 01:25

Look up dyslexic dysraphia. It is the "sister" of dyslexia. My son now gets help from the local hospital, for co-ordination skills, and touch typing lessons to aid schooling. Talk to your schools SENCO and try a referral to schools doctor. The help is there. I went on a dyslexics forum, by accident, and found lawyers and professors that had sufferend this. It is a delay of learing rather then a lifelong problem, with the right help!

GoreSplattersHouse · 18/10/2011 01:34

Good god, spelling not normally that bad...oopsWine!! By the way his sister and father are dyslexic, so seems to run in the family. My son often dictated to his teacher and, according to him, was coming out with thoughts and ideas that were above his age. When asked to write he simply put a kind of basic yes or no answer. The good news is that, often, people with dysgraphia are above average intelligence, it's the frustration of not being able to put it on the page that causes the meltdowns.

Original poster
Stresstoimpress · 18/10/2011 01:40

Thanks so much - you have described my son to a T (not sure if thats the right T) Dh gave up joined up when 11 as illegible and has printed ever since but computer whiz, DB similar so poor DS not much chance onthe genetic front! BTW how old is you son

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Joyn · 18/10/2011 09:14

Ds had fine motor problems at start of school, this week (yr3,) was told had nicest hand writing in class, but still not sure if his speed of writing can keep up with his speed of ideas (question for parents evening I think).

School doctor saw him in yr1 recommended playing with shaving foam, plastercine (you have to knead it more than playdoh,) & learning to use a keyboard. School senco suggested getting him to draw a trail in gaps between news print (from top to bottom,) & stacking cups are great, (I've even seen them in pound shop & I think a lot of schools now use them).

Joyn · 18/10/2011 09:21

Almost forgot - guitar lessons. Ds never even suspected that I first got him those to help fine motor skills, so if your ds is reluctant that might just slip under his radar!

ramblinrose · 18/10/2011 10:25

GoreSplattersHouse

I have found your posts very interesting.I'm sure my 16 year old son suffers from Dyslexic Dysgraphia despite not being diagnosed.
It was very frustrating for him as found it really difficult copying work from the board and all his work used to be left unfinished.
A piece of work that should perhaps take 10 mins would probably take him 30 mins and then be almost illegible.
I went into school on numerous occasions but the teachers were dismissive of his problem.As he has no problem reading or discussing things intelligently I think they saw him as being lazy or as though he couldn't be bothered.

Anyway,finally in yr 11 the school decided there was a problem of some kind and allowed him extra time in his gcse's.By this time it was too late as his confidence had hit rock bottom.
I can't just blame the school however.I feel responsible myself as well for not making even more of a fuss,but had never heard of dysgraphia until last year.

He is at college now and his tutor is aware of the problem,but I know it may cause difficulties in future.

Stressto impress
If you feel uneasy about your child's handwriting and fine motor skills keep on at the school about it.I hope that they will keep a close eye on the situation.
Don't let them fob you off like I did.

Good luck xx

GoreSplattersHouse · 18/10/2011 23:26

Sorry for late reply stress but have had hectic day. My son is in year 7 (age 11) and has been under schools help for 18 months. We were fobbed off before that by them stating that as he could read so well there was no problem. You mention in op (just re-read the thread) that he struggles with buttons, shoe laces are a nightmare too, that is another classic symptom of a problem with the link from the brain to the hand, the cause of writing problem. Try to get the school to refer, simple execises can aid the co-ordination and really help with the writing skills. Hope all goes well!

GoreSplattersHouse · 18/10/2011 23:33

ramblinrose that is so sad, in this day and age they really should look into things rather than dismiss a child as lazy. I had never heard of this myself until the teacher explained what they thought was wrong, luckily she was the SENCO so had experience of this. My son was given extra time for the SATs which helped. We often get half a sentence in homework book, very difficult to see what he should be doing, especially when he rushes and can't read it back himself.
You can't put blame on yourself , though, teachers should be flagging up these sort of issues so that professionals can decide if it's laziness or not. Teachers are not trained, in many cases, on these sort of problems but should refer to the schools SENCO or Doctor. Hope your son does well, having an understanding tutor may help with the confidence.

ramblinrose · 19/10/2011 10:12

Thank you for your reply Gore
I am so glad that the school has identified the issue that your son has and now that he is at senior school he gets the help he needs.
When my son did his SATs in yr 6 he achieved level 5's in Maths and Science,4b (I think) in reading and 3b in his writing.I suspected then that this would cause problems in Senior school but really hoped that he would have the help he needed.Sadly this was not the case.
I do think it's hereditary as my DP has the same problem and so does HIS dad.
Our two younger boys (12 and 8) luckily seem to have escaped this,but I really feel for DS ,as he has had years of frustration.

mrsbaffled · 19/10/2011 10:50

My son (also 7 and in yr 3) is just like yours. I took him to have a specialist eye test at a behaviour optometrist and it shows that he has tracking problems and we are about to embark on a course of vision therapy for him.

Also we have seen a GP and have our paed appt tomorrow to discuss why writing is such a problem. I have noticed he has hypermobile elbows, and this can be a physical cause for finding writing hard/painful. Also I suspect dyspraxia (his fine motor skills aren't great, still struggling with cutlery and buttons, but he also bumps and trips often. This will be looked at tomorrow.

I would definitely talk to the SENCO and your GP.

IndigoBell · 19/10/2011 10:57

He should be seen by an OT. They are the specialist in helping children with handwriting problems.

You can go on the NHS, or go privately if you can afford it.

Original poster
Stresstoimpress · 20/10/2011 23:04

Thanks very much everyone all very helpful. He got a Headteachers award for Maths because he had tried so hard to be neat and got all his 6's right way round

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