dd cannot write - year 3 - HELP!

[furrylittlecreatures]

Can I have some advice as to the way forward? Dd cannot form her letters, her writing is totally illegible, even to her. I have lost count of the amount of interventions which she has had but nothing has made any difference whatsoever. The situation is managed by the SEN manager. I have had multiple meetings, discussions, email contact, help in the class to support at home, work at home with her etc etc etc but we are no further on. I think the bottom line is that they do not know what the problem is and without that all these interventions are just not working. She has had eye tests, also tests for coloured covers for work and paper, she is not clumsy and has age appropriate organisational skills, she has a good imagination and her vocab is also wide ranging, infact school report she is above average within this area. She is also age appropriate with maths and is somewhere in the middle of the class in terms of attainment.

So, where do I go from here? I have now lost all confidence in school. I cannot say that they have not tried in terms of interventions and different people working 1:1 with him.

Should I be looking for external help? Would an ed psych assessment help which we could arrange so we get all the information/discussions etc rather than it going through school?

Advice very welcome.

Has she seen an OT? Have they ruled out hypermobility? Is the issue with holding the pencil or is it a processing problem?

I would defiantly take her to be assessed by an OT. They will be able to recommend which pencils to use and some handwriting programs.
I would also suggest teaching your dd to touch type.

No problem holding a pen. She has been given a special pencil to use but it has made no difference. I am not very clear on what hypermobility is but she does not have any issues using her hands/fingers etc in everyday life.

I agree with orangepudding - get the SENCO to refer her asap to OT.

How does she get on with drawing?

Have you asked her what the problem is? It could be that it hurts to hold a pen, that her hands won't "do as they're told", that she can't see the letters properly etc. Working out what is holding her back might help target intervention better. Can she read?

Ds will be going into Yr 3 with totally illegible handwriting. He's had an OT assessment and they have recommended teaching him touch typing using the BBC bitesize Dance mat programme to start him off.

The school are unfortunately not being helpful and insist he keeps using a pencil and joins up his writing even though he's had gross and fine motor skills issues identified

We will teach him the touch typing at home and hope if things dont improve the school will have to give in at some point.

Heres the link, it might suit your DD aswell.

www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3c6tfr

Is your dd trying to write too fast? If so she could voice record what she wants to write and then slowly write it so she's then only concentrating on forming the letters correctly.

Yes, Theo they have stopped my dd from writing as well now. What did they feel was the barrier from the assessment?

She cannot answer what the issue is from her point of view. The letters look right to her when she writes them but then she cannot read them back. Her reading is ok, there are children in the class who struggle more with this than she does.

Ds2 really struggled with letter formation. The school got him to practise tracing the outline of a circle and lazy eights repeatedly then moved on to other shapes. Not entirely sure how it helped but over a few months it did.

The OT identified gross/fine motor issues as being a barrier but also thought he would benefit from an assessment for dyslexia/dysgraphia alongside the OT assessment.

The school wont consider that until he's much older if at all so at the moment he has great ideas that he cant get down onto paper because he struggles so much. It doesnt help that he cant spell and forgets what he wants to say as soon as he picks up the pen so he writes as little as possible and it just looks like squiggly shapes of all different sizes and never in a straight line!

He can use an X box controller to type out words with gaps inbetween which is why the OT thought touch typing was the way forward, its a shame the school dont agree with the her.

Our dcs sound very similar Theold. Can I make an OT referral myself or does it have to be via school? Or could the GP do it?

Have you looked into dysgraphia op? My DD (Y2) has a similar problem although her handwriting is improving. It often comes with dyspraxia although I'm not sure if that's true in DD's case. For her it's not so much motor skills as making the connection between the thoughts in her mind and the words on the page.

For her I'm looking into doing the following:

• additional handwriting practice over the hols
• something like story cubes or magnetic poetry to help her with the process of getting ideas on paper
• handwriting tutor
• asking teacher to leave off joined up writing for a while as she is quicker writing without it
• moving onto touch typing using BBC dance mat as suggested by Theold.

HTH!

We are very lucky because Ds already has a paediatrician due to having other issues so she did the referral to the OT for us.

I would definitely pursue the school SENCO route and if she/he wont budge then maybe look at doing it privately if your G.P cant refer.

I have a GP appointment next week and will ask then I think as school is very much on 'wind down' now and sadly I have no confidence whatsoever in them anymore. She has a really strong and supportive friendship group who she adores and if it wasn't for them I think I would have moved her but given the fragility of her self esteem now I believe she may well be lost without them. If she does well in anything they always clap and cheer, they are a lovely bunch.

furry if you can afford a private OT assesment it will be worthwhile. It also means you can probably get some ideas of how to help within the next couple of weeks.

Look into software that she can use alongside handwriting . Clicker 6 is a word processor that all children can use, but it also has extra facilities for children who struggle to write. I work with a child with cerebral palsy, and it has made such a difference to his independence in writing. Unfortunately it is the end of term, so not much will happen before September.