Dyspraxia and handwriting year 3

[ike1]

Can anyone help me and DS? DS is in year 3. His reading skills are ok (has received help from the SALT) he has very good verbal skills, but does not want to write. He has been diagnosed with dyspraxia and is left handed. He is able to form letters appropriately but slowly. However his motivation and attention seem to waver greatly. Some days he will achieve a task to the completion other days he will write 2 words!

His teacher is frustrated with him. She claims she explains tasks to him and that he understands what he has to do but now at this level he has to 'get on with it' on his own.

When I ask him does he understand he says sometimes he does. Yet when he goes to the head teacher he is able to finish the task quickly!

I am finding it difficult to get to the bottom of all of this as his teacher seems to get annoyed at me for bringing up dyspraxia as an issue, blaming his motivation as a problem. Have another meeting tomorrow what can I do to move this forward??

My DD is aged 5 and has dyspraxia I have just posted a thread wondering if my DD has dyslexia as it takes her forever to form letters numbers etc her verbal skills are higher than average though. Have you considered dyslexia the 2 conditions seem very similar? I am not sure but might ask for DD to be tested.

Well sorry now; but teacher may need to come to understand what Dyspraxia is.
In its pure form as a stand alone diagnosis, Dyspraxia is characterised by higher verbal skills than performance skills (as you've described).
The frustrating thing for the child and the observer/parent/whoever is that there is this discrepancy and that it seems and even feels as if the child should be able to do the task. But the reality is that they cant.

And it would also be fairly typical that the child can produce the movement under pressure but the effort for them is much higher than a typical child...so while he may be able to do it for Head Teacher, thats not an accurate reflection of his day-to-day function.
He may in fact be a candidate for using a netbook/laptop to produce written work; +/-using a word recognition software.

I think he needs more OT intervention, ironic really as I am training to be an OT!

Wannabe this is exactly what I have been thinking-but I cant seem to get it through to her!!! She gets ANGRY at me-wants to blame him all the time! Can he have a laptop at this age?

PS who made the diagnosis of dypraxia- best practice is for a Psychologist to make the diagnosis in tandem with an Occupational Therapist; that way the verbal skills are assessed, fine motor skills, any sensory processing issues identified and any co-existing conditions. So dyslexia might also be present (some research says 50% co-morbidity).

Ah well it was just the OTs. So what shall I do next?

ike, I sent you a message.

Cheers Wannabe Ill check it now!

sorry- cross post.
The OT should have identified the range of his needs and how they should be handled in the classroom?
Does the teacher not understand the OT report...or to be fair, does s/he have access to it?

Dyspraxia is a problem with motor planning - so of course he is going to struggle with handwriting...some of these teachers I just want to slap them....deep breath......

I have just had DS at an assessment today with an OT - it would seem (Don't have final report) that he has dyspraxia, but he is also sensory seeking as well...anyway the recommendation from the OT - was OT, to help him modulate his sensory seeking and further develop his motor planning....

have you read the Out of Sync child? maybe worthwhile lending it too the teacher - although there is quite a lot of info in there....I am also going to start DS with activities from the out of sync child has fun, and raising an in sync child....

My understanding is that it is very common for child with dyspraxia to move onto using laptops b/c writing is so hard and time consuming for them.....

Thanks so much for all your help. I ll keep you updated. Hx

My DS2 had moved onto a laptop for all written work by Yr 5, and really it should have been earlier. He spent a good few years getting increasingly frustrated with his inability to put his thoughts on paper.

The teacher sounds gobsmacking ill-informed and/or unsupportive, whether there's additional dyslexia there or not. I would be having a nice chat to the Head if I were you. Maybe ask for a copy of the school's Inclusion Policy (might be called their Single Equality Scheme by now) and see if they're doing what they say they should be.

I am writing down what I want the school to do and giving copies to the teacher and the Head tomorrow. Also I will ask the Head to attend the meeting. In return I will do all I can to support the school and re-refer DS for further OT intervention.

It is so tiring trying to get through to teachers sometimes! There are only 13 kids in her class for goodness sake! She of all teachers should be able to give time to kids who struggle and she has a teachers aid!

My DS is also year 3 and the OT has gone awol so here's what we've been doing. Hope my rambling helps.

Theoderscu "Write from the start" is summat we started at Easter with my DS - also Year 3. I expect it to take a full calender year to complete working on 10 mins a day and repeating some lessons up to 6 times till DS gets his head round the sections he finds really tough. (This means we sometimes spend a full week on just 2 pages!)

Ds also has an a large whiteboard that he does some homework on. I photograph it and email it to teach rather than him writing it down with paper and pencil and getting upset. (My thought is it's the mathmetical process he's learning - not pencil control for that specific lesson iyswim).

At school he uses an alphasmart/laptop for science lessons cos he's GOOD at that crap and taking away the focus from crying over handwriting means he can FLY and it boosts his confidence to be good at something.

His TA does stand over him to make sure he puts in a good 30 mins sustained effort everyday to write in literacy. The focus is either on forming letters correctly OR on self-expression, grammer etc - NEVER both together at this stage.

It's working - his handwriting is still abysmal but he has gone from barely able to write his name to asking to try writing about a topic in class. His writing is deffo improving and my only worry now is what comes after the "write from the start" programme as we'll need something else from the summer term. Our OT has gone AWOL.

We also do lots of simple fine motor skill crafts like sewing and model making weekends and holidays - good for a play date and help his general fine motor skills. Threading beads is a good activity. He thought making Xmas decs at home was fun - his teacher was really pleased with the improvement to his writing skills over Xmas. win- win!!!!

I have to be honest - the sewing is a flippin chore for me as DS gets very frustrated, but it is making a measurabe tangible difference as measured by his teacher so is worth perservering with (even if I do need a glass of wine once he is in bed!).

Tools I'm using (not too dear!)

Formal writing programme you can do at home (to ensure it's done properly if you are anything like me lol!)
www.amazon.co.uk/Write-start-Programme-Perceptual-Handwriting/dp/1855032457

Whiteboard - at least this size (you can get a posher one if you have the funds)
www.amazon.co.uk/Q-Connect-KF03571-Whiteboard-Wooden-600x900mm/dp/B001O3I8KG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1326886037&sr=8-5

Source of simple sewing/beading/craft materials. (pm me if you want some more ideas). Be aware boys go off this sort of craft as they age - do it now before peer pressure reduces his motivation!

LOTS of simple sew your own kits - best site
www.yellowmoon.org.uk/find.asp?src=ADWORDS&name=sew&cid=HYNMPF5Y1CHE2U27L44Y7BDR64FQEM4Y

A couple of useful bits from another good site.
Sew your own teddy
www.craftycrocodiles.co.uk/new-products-c52/felt-teddy-kit-p2184

Bead craft materials
www.craftycrocodiles.co.uk/beadcraft-c38

Plastic saftey needles
www.craftycrocodiles.co.uk/search/needle

When he was younger I used to buy pavement chalk for him to write giant letters/buy value shaving foam for him to write on the sides of the bath. This worked to get the direction letters were supposed to go in.

The teacher needs a reality check. My DS1 has Somatodyspraxia, SPD and Hypermobility. I took his reports into school to discuss with teacher and SENco. I made sure they were aware of what his difficulties meant. First I explained that he has an issue with post rotary nystagmus - a feeling of 'woosiness' after drinking where it takes a few moments to focus when you look from one thing to another. So, imagine doing his whole day when having that feeling - whiteboard, paper, screen, teacher, ... his head must spin. Add this to his chronic motor planning skills. Its his persistence and desire to achieve that has got him to the stage where he remembers how to form his letters. The hypermobility makes his hand ache, as does the pressure that he puts through the pencil when he writes. I told them how proud he made me for keeping up such a good academic level, behaving so well (doesn't at home mind!) and achieving all this under such duress - didn't they agree?!!
In fairness, the school is good. But they did need to know how much extra pressure dyspraxia puts on a child.
I totally get what bochead says about there being a window where craft is still OK. My DS is in yr4 - he had no patience at christmas with crafts. We have upped things to using lego. There's lego to suit most interests now! I find that getting out the bits, reading a plan, following instruction and clipping those fiddly little bits together quite good for him.

Gosh ladies you are just so dedicated. Saw the teach today and Head teach, again I am just not sure how much she is helping him-only 13 in the class and yet she will let him do just 2 words wtf??? They are getting an Ed Psych ass for him at least and I am going to rerefer him for some more OT help. Thanks for your tips. Hx

hi my ds 1 is nearly 5 and speech therapist thinks he has verbal dysphraxia,he has OT appoinment on monday hopfully her will get help,he is on the forum for a specialised unit school tht i am waitin to see if he gets in as i think he wld struggle in mainstream school,as the education physgologist assessed him said he would too,this is all new to me and find it hard getting information does anyone know any good threads with information im new to this too x