Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Writing disorders

5 replies

lisylisylou · 12/09/2014 23:18

I just thought I would tell you about my sons journey in case it could help anybody. My son has always been pretty confident in himself and everything was generally ok up until the end of yr 1 where the teacher came upto me and said "I don't understand, your son is very bright but he just can't form letters". Through year 2 she kept saying that he would be ok and grow out of it. However, it wasn't ok! Luckily he's always had a love of reading but I found his confidence was going and he simply wasn't able to get on with the other kids as more work was being introduced. His teacher still couldn't understand why his writing was so poor but again she said he would grow out if it. Whether he was being picked on or teased I'm not sure but he was very overly sensitive at school but at home he was ok and he was brought in to see a counsellor at the school who said he was very sensitive. By year 3 the difference in my sons writing and other children's was completely different but so was his behaviour. Myself and mil knew something was going on but we couldn't figure it all out. His imagination was huge and there was no concentration span. By the end of year 3, I was demanding the head teacher to look into his writing but still the same old answer. So I got books that sencos use to help children write. Every morning before school I would get him to do 10-15 minutes of the books and his writing started to improve but still his behaviour was still very much low attention/concentration span and would get easily upset. Then during year 4 I had a parents evening where the head told me that he had to write some poetry, he hadn't completed it in time and his writing was a mess. My son was so angry that he snapped a pencil in half and I was told he had anger management issues. I was furious and told her that it was due to writing difficulties and what were the school going to do about it? Again no response! Then in year 5, we moved abroad and changed schools. Within one term we were advised by the new school for him to be screened by an o/t. The results came back and he had 3 separate issues to do with fine motor skills/dysgraphia and hand eye coordination! I couldn't stop crying as I felt he'd been let down so badly but he'd been given a 2nd chance. Plus all behavioural issues have melted away! He's now just been made house captain and he's confident and happy! His writing has improved tremendously! I think what I'm trying to say is trust your instincts and keep at it if you feel something is wrong!

OP posts:
starlight1234 · 13/09/2014 00:11

Thank you for your story . I am glad your son is progressing Sad it took so long to sort out

BrieAndChilli · 13/09/2014 00:24

We were lucky that my sons school were really proactive and got him referred to OT, they bought him a slope to write on and also let him use a laptop for some writing. They also do lots of exercises with him and scissor practice etc on a one to one basis.

sixlive · 13/09/2014 07:33

What age were you referred to the OT. My 5 year old boy obviously has writing problems but I've been told to wait until January to see if we need a referral in case it improves on it's own. My poor DS has his first spelling list, he can spell the words out to me but can't really write them.

dontknowwhat2callmyself · 13/09/2014 07:52

Hi lisy would you be able to share any strategies or exercises the ot recommended. My dd has terrible writing too - how was your son with things like catching a ball? Nice to hear he is doing so well now.

AnonyMust · 16/09/2014 05:36

I find this book particularly useful when working with children who have dysgraphia and other related handwriting difficulties: Speed Up by Lois Addy. She's a Paediatruc OT. It's a comprehensive and very easy to follow programme of exercises and lessons to improve kinaesthetic feedback, handwriting fluency and speed.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page