Teaching an autistic 5 year old to write

[henryhsmum]

Hi, my DS is 5 with ASD. Above average in most academic areas with exception of pencil skills. He basically has never liked drawing/art/writing and is very reluctant to. He still holds the pencil in something between a pincer and a fist grasp. Because he has refused to write for so long, he now lacks confident and gets very distressed, he will attempt it but is very frustrated. He can write his name but it takes up abouta third of a sheet of A4 as letters are so big. Does anyone have any experience and tips of teaching autistic children to write and links to resources? I am concerned that it is a barrier to mainstream so want to try and address it as it is almost a phobia for him.

Are there any other conditions he should be checked for in terms of his writing skills? I have noticed he is quite un co-ordinated with his hands generally. For example, I tried to get him to the nursery rhyme about the church, steeple and people where you interlock your fingers and he just couldn't work out how to interlock his fingers.

Don't just stick with paper. He can use a megasketcher, or a whiteboard and marker, both of which allow him to do it all on a big scale without paper being involved. He can completely bypass the "writing" things by making letters with his fingers in sand or with playdough. You can also get books where he can trace over the letters with a pen and it wipes off again.

Yes, problems with fine motor skills come under the label 'dyspraxia'.

It would be good if he could be seen by an OT.

He needs to do things to improve his pincer grip:

• play dough
• theraputty
• cutting
• pegs
• ripping etc

He also needs to practice writing letters. But don't do it yet on paper. Just do it with the tip of his finger. (If he doesn't have sensory issues can do it in sand etc)

Then when he can write letters using the tip of his finger he can start to write on a whiteboard with a big fat whiteboard pen.

Yep, pencil grip has been a biggie for us and tbh it's still not great. Theraputty helped a lot though.

For confidence, trying lots and lots of different art materials helped, he got really into pastels (I think?) which are like a pen but give lovely smooth lines and that brought his confidence up. A triangular pencil for writing and also special scissors (who knew there was so much cutting up in school?) which were labelled for him and 'special' helped too.

Whiteboards great as others have said, and there's one in his classroom too.

And the main thing is - of all the things I have to worry about - I have just let this one slide. I figure by the time he's taking formal exams, working etc we'll all just have giant ipads welded to our left forearm...

I hadn't heard of theraputty will definitely try that. I see it comes in soft, medium soft , medium firm and hard- which one do you start with? Where's the cheapest place to get it?

P.S. If you don't mind me asking is your child at a mainstream school? Do they cope ok with filling out all the worksheets. I'm just a bit worried as to if my son's writing skills will really mean he struggles at mainstream.

dd aged 6 is at mainstream and has only just learnt to write her name. We are working on it, but are also looking at use of keyboard or ipad as an alternative. Your ds difficulty with writing should be something school will work on with him as well.

I'm not sure if DS is dyspraxic, it's hard to tell as he is un cooperative so can't be sure how much of it is that.

I do think he is ADHD though, he is very hyperactive and quite outgoing for an ASD child. No friends as such but he does really like being around people. I think if he is ADHD that is also part of the problem ad he literally can not sit or stand still for more than about 30 seconds so very difficult to get him to concentrate.

Cansu- It's good to know that the writing can maybe be worked around in mainstream. My DS can write sentences and spell well on a keyboard. He is at special school at moment but as he is bright I am thinking of moving him to mainstream with full 1:1 and ideally ABA

My ds was reluctant to write his name, hold a pencil or draw, he has had 1 to 1 support since he started nursery at 3(which is part of his school). The school have never put a lot of pressure on him to write, he has had a lot of encouragement.

Although his writing isn't great at 7 at least he is less reluctant - things that have helped was the set of drawers that have pens and pencils and paper in them and they are always there, by the kitchen table. Seeing his big sister and any visiting kids using this to draw pictures was a good way of getting him started. He draws stories now, which I he dictates to me what is happening.

Sometimes I write letters and words down when he has spellings in thick black writing and get him to go over them in gold/silver pen when he has spelled them correctly. I still try and get him to write independently and he does quite enthusiastically, if it is something he really likes.

Doodlebuddy is good if you have a phone for on the go drawing with fingers.

Theraputty was great for us too. We used the green one (medium I think).

Also agree with the drawing/tracing letters in sand, foam etc with fingers or a stick.

Also practicing writing/painting upright with an easel or chalkboard - this strengthens shoulder muscles which are actually used for writing.

You can get rubber pencil grip things which slide onto a pen or pencil, and keep the hand in the right position. This helped ds massively - he lacked confidence & motivation too as he couldn't do it so was put off trying, but actually it was using the grips that got his confidence up more than anything, as he could see the results for himself.

Still working on getting the letters a reasonable size!

Things like threading, beads, lacing cards etc are good for improving and refining pincer grip generally.

I've heard positive things about Write from the Start as a resource but haven't tried it myself.

early learning centre do pencil grips now - a bag with a variety. ELC also good for arts and crafts. DS liked the wipe off letters you trace over (galts did a nice one), he used to do this perfectly at 2, then regressed and dx with asd, and now at 5 we are still working our way back to a good pencil grip. He has an ipad and has learnt to type on that eg to find nursery rhymes on youtube. Although I want him to write, i also think its not as important as it used to be. I work in an office and almost never need to write anything if I don't want to - type it, voice record a memo, use digital dictation machine. DS also used to be obsessed with vtech machines at 2 so even though he can't write very well, he knows how all the letters should be formed perfectly having learnt them off by heart from vtech.

Just breaking it down and doing copying of one step at a time can help. eg put two pencils on the table and just practice him picking it up the same way you do eg holding the right part of the pencil. Then the grip etc.

Does he use two hands together? Does he look at his hands? We had to practise just doing activities where DS watched what he was doing and co-ordinated two hands together as he has a habit of just using one and looking into the distance.

DD hates arts/crafts types of things and also hated writing but is beginning to like writing a little bit more now (she is in Y1). We used Theraputty and they use it with her at school. I would advise starting with the green putty (medium soft I think) - you should be able to buy it for a reasonable price on Amazon. DD is in mainstream school with support and if your DS gets full 1:1 at mainstream they will be able to work on his fine motor skills on a daily basis - so do not let the fact that his writing is an issue deter you from mainstream school. Certainly in DD's case I am sure it was the fact that she could not write rather than she did not want to write that made it such an issue and frustrating for her.

Poor pen/pencil grip is a typical ASD trait. The suggestions made here a good. We used chopsticks in sand to start with and made everything a game.

no advice other then if its pressure or controll painting might be good , thing like toy soldiers and such fine control and fun

Your all describing my son! He too recognises letters but is too cack handed to write and then his shame and frustration puts him off trying. He generally hates then open ended-ness of drawing a picture but is happy to paint an object eg match box cars, toilet roll tubes, garden shed.
I wish there was more research into this link between asd and poor motor skills. I wonder whether you could fix one aspect it would sort out the other.

Sorry missing apostrophe "you're all.... "

Have you thought to try IPads? There are some brilliant writing Apps which have a phonic back up and as it has a touch screen DS will use a lovely pointing finger to write. Plus the added bonus of the motivational interest IPads have for children on the autistic spectrum. They are using IPads a lot in the States and have done a lot of research on the learning outcomes and the results have been really positive!!

OP, he's mainstream, yes. Does the medium theraputty twice a week at school. I don't have it at home as he does it at school but fledglings is good, or just google.

Tbh his teacher and I have decided we'll have targets (eg making writing smaller) but we'll focus more on the content of his writing - so what his sentences are about, rather than how well he writes. So apart from me yelling 'quacking fingers' a lot... We've tried really hard to not make the actual writing stressy for him, and it's paying off. His sentences tonight were really good even if they each took up a whole page. I reckon what I don't get in support I'll take back in stationery

itseasyifunohow Could you give us names of some of the writing apps for the iPad. Ds is struggling with writing even though his reading is off the chart.

I was thinking of getting him an iPad for Xmas as he responds very well to computers, learnt to read off a phonics programme on computer. I would be interested to know of any iPad apps too

My dd started to write in a month after using Ipad app called "I write words". Previously for five years she couldn't write her name but now she can copy writing and drawing.

www.nationalautismresources.com/ellie-grip.html

We have the same problem with DS, he will be 5 inFebruary, I seen these and thought they would be great but can't find them on a UK site.

I found that my DS could write ok on the different apple apps but then struggled to write when he was holding a pencil.

My ds (ASD) had similar issues at that age and couldn't really hold a pencil properly until sometime in Yr1. The things that have helped him over the years (he's now 11) are:

• Activities that encourage manipulating objects, eg threading beads, those cards with holes in that you thread laces through.

• Exercises with playdough. Squeezing and rolling it into shapes.

• Letter formation on different surfaces, eg fingers in sand or flour, writing on the school's smartboard.

• Using a sloped writing board to support him properly and get his hand into a better position. You can use readymade ones or make your own. At a push even a big A4 folder will do to start with.

• Wedge cushion on chair to keep his body in position (ds used to slide off chairs due to poor muscle tone but I don't know if this would also apply to your ds).

• Learning to play a keyboard instrument (either an electric keyboard or piano). I was sceptical when the OT suggested this but ds' co-ordination and fine motor skills improved a great deal.

In the early years of primary school, the staff would often act as a scribe for ds so that they could have a record of what he was capable of. As he moved further up the school he was allowed to type his work on the school's computers.