Support for children who find writing hard

[Lougle]

Can I ask if anyone with experience of handwriting difficulties can tell me what type of school (mainstream or special) and what type of 'help' is offered (equipment or support) with handwriting difficulties?

DD1 is 15 and goes to special school. She finds writing exhausting and still reverses letters/can only spell very simple words.

I've attached a couple of samples of her handwriting.

Hi Lougle. DS is 13 & is hypermobile in his hands. Hand writing is effortful and causes him a great deal of pain. We spent quite a lot of money sending him to fantastic handwriting lessons for a programme called MagicLink which was hosted by a local tutoring/workshop company called Yellowbird Education (Fulham & Clapham). The lady that ran it was a SN teacher. It was appropriate for all ages and there was a 15 year old in DS's class along with much younger children. DS produced beautiful handwriting on and after the course but ultimately could not keep it up at speed due to the huge effort in keeping his hand 'together'
Everything changed when I threw in the towel and got him touch typing on the advice of our EP. He did the TTRS programme (touch type read spell (www.readandspell.com/) at school three mornings a week for a year and can now sit looking & holding a conversation with me whilst typing up his essays - it's like magic & I'm in awe of it. Our EP said that typing uses different neural pathways to writing so all that effort spent trying to keep his handwriting neat is freed up to be channelled into content. I cannot recommend it enough. A side effect of the TTRS programmes (developed by a lady with a background in teaching children with dyslexia from memory) is his spelling really improved. You don't need to go on a course. You can sign up at home and do it but I think the key is consistency and then just making sure it's used once you finish the course. DD (11) did it too but does not use a laptop like DS so she's reverted to four finger typing which is a shame as she totally had it down pat.

@PatoPato thank you, I'll look at that. DD1's EHCP has said, for years, "it takes a great deal of effort and concentration for DD to produce written work" and I'm just wondering why we're trying to make her, when it is clear, to me, that she's not going to be able to hand write any significant amount of text. Those samples I attached took several minutes each, with me dictating spellings and reminding her what she had told me she wanted to say.

The middle one was independent for her Gateway award, but she used Google to find out the information, so used that to guide her.

Whether or not she's going to need to produce written work is a good question @Lougle & I can understand why you'd wonder whether the effort & stress is worth the outcome. It might be worth trying TTRS simply on the chance that it could unlock something for your DD.

I was just googling it again to try and find the info about the lady that set it up as she had a very strong background in SEN though it's not a SEN specific programme. I found a tiny bit on it on Wikipedia and I think the SLDs it can help with warrant giving it a go. Plus she might really enjoy it! Sorry to bang on about it but I would say it was a game changer for DS whose writing we cannot read when he does have to give it a go.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch-type_Read_and_Spell

Other things to try are a writing slope (didn't really help us) and triangular gripped pencils. The Faber Castell Grip range are the best - you can get jumbo size too, coloured pencils and a softer graphite lead like a B helps with not needing to press so hard. The triangular pencils really help with the tripod grip and your DD should have 4 dots showing.
These were the photos I took when he did his first MagicLink lesson and came home all marked up!

She has tripod grippers and was using them in those samples. She used to have a (very expensive) dolphin grip, but that disappeared.

I have signed up for a trial of TTRS, thank you 😊

We had this dolphin grip! Was it the same one? If she misses it & would like it I'm happy to post it to you - just PM me

It was exactly that one. How wierd to see it again

I'm sure DD1 is hypermobile in her hands. Her fingers seem double jointed and she can move them back beyond her knuckles when she flexes her hands

Just bumping this.

I would also question why producing hand written work is so important. She's 15, sounds like she's worked at this gor a good long time. Maybe the time has come to switch to typing (with some good predictive software if spelling is an issue) so she can concentrate on communicating in writing, which is a far more important skill.

I think that's where I'm coming from, @Porcupineintherough. Her needs are complex, so it's not just a case of 'give her the tool and she'll suddenly write essays'. For example, she's learning about eutrophication in science and we've just spent 10 minutes breaking the word down phonically and practicing each sound. She still can't say it in sequence.

However, it's clear to me that 90% of her brain power is going into telling her hand what to do so that the letters come out right, which leaves only 10% for thinking of what to write.

I'm sure she'd get scribing or typing in mainstream.

I had a chat with DD1's teacher today and I mentioned that I have to write for her or dictate the spelling letter by letter. She said that at school they will often write what DD1 says for her, or write it out so that she can type it out. So it sounds like they do support her with her writing, I just wasn't told about it.