Handwriting -How to improve

[greeboclovis]

DS has always had problems with his hand-eye coordination - as a result, his handwriting is very poor, and he didn't draw anything until he was about 5. We raised this numerous times at his primary school but they would dismiss it, despite the fact that his writing/drawing ability was far worse than his contemporaries - possibly because he was enthusiastic and did well in tests. DS used to get upset if I mentioned it or tried to help, & without school buy in, it was hard to do anything.

Now he is in secondary school, he has recognised that it is an issue for him which is increasingly holding him back.

Any ideas of best way to tackle this with his school or help him outside of school? [NB he did have an assessment for dyspraxia when younger but although he was borderline, assessor did not consider that he needed any support].

In what way does it hold him back? Is it that his writing is difficult to read or is it that he finds getting his thoughts written down difficult. My son was diagnosed with Dysgraphia and is encouraged to type instead of write. I was told when he was 8 that writing will hold him back and typing is the way forward. He will need extra time in exams.

When my ds was in primary school he did daily fine motor exercises at school and at home and this did help his writing. His writing looks nice now but typing is still the better option for him.

His writing is very very difficult to decipher-I suspect that any teacher seeing his writing would assume that the content was rubbish. I hadn’t heard of dysgraphia- will look into it.

Would his school be open to him using a laptop as a normal way of working?

My dyslexic DD has beautiful handwriting, but pretty much every word is spelt 'creatively', and she has hyper-mobile finger joints so holding a pen is painful and every letter takes forever to write.

We spent lockdown learning to touch type using English Type Junior (designed for dyslexics so no nonsense words, and is pretty interactive with games and prizes to keep them focused), and she started secondary with a laptop. The spelling is still creative, but she'll do a couple of pages now instead of a couple of lines - and the computer will read it back to her and has spell check which is a big help.

Had a few issues with other children in the class saying it wasn't fair, and why did she get tech and they didn't, but the teachers have been 100% supportive, and after the first week everyone just got used to it. She does have an EP report which states that she should use a laptop instead of writing by hand, but no EHCP or anything.

We have similar . What age was he assessed for dyspraxia ? I am pretty sure my DS would have only been borderline at a younger age as he is bright and had great coping mechanisms . We have got to Y5 and now Y6 and with the increased pace there was major red flag impacts with pace, stamina, being able to decipher his writing etc and we had him assessed and confirmed affirmative . If dyspraxia is mild it can be very common for coping mechanisms to make up for it till reasonably late . I found having an OT do the assessment incredibly helpful in any case as explained a lot ! V uncoordinated , clumsy and disorganised!)

It is unlikely he can improve his handwriting you need to work with the senco at the school and get him on a laptop and get him a diagnosis that will allow him to type his exams in the future