Is there a point at which to give up trying to improve handwriting?

[MedusaIsHavingaBadHairday]

I'm not talking about giving up writing altogether.. life needs shopping lists at least but in general?

DS2 is 17.6, ASD, LDs, low muscle tone. At special needs college. His writing is roughly that of a lowish ability year 2 child. It has improved fractionally over the last 10 years but it is still poorly formed, large, no joining up. College still have him working on it, which is fine, but realistically I don't think he will ever write in more that this rudimentary fashion..he just doesn't have the skills, and frankly I'm just very happy he can write a simple shopping list or his news :)
(Having said that, he has written ' I went to drama group and bought sweets' every monday for the last 8 years

He's now at the stage at looking at moving on from college into a Mencap apprenticeship, supported employment one day we hope. He can read well, he can even spell quite decently . He can type and text slowly.

Is it worth persevering? He's never going to be able to fill forms himself anyway due to his LDs and ASD. I'm thinking of asking them to drop the handwriting practice and concentrate on typing.

Any thoughts?

We have up on his handwriting when DS started secondary school tbh...he can write 5 or 6 words legibly (ish) and then after that not a hope.

He types just about everything, takes photos of anything at college he can't get digital or hard copies of and I fill in forms for him and he just signs them.

Pretty sure these days most forms will be to filled online. My gut instinct would be to concentrate on typing! Best wishes

I agree with concentrating on typing.
My DS's handwriting is almost illegible, he has ASD and poor grip. He has a scribe for his GCSES and A levels. He's hoping to do a degree in history but I couldn't read his Christmas list!

All his essays are done on his laptop, I don't think his lecturers will ever see how bad his hand writing is.

My instinct wouls be to focus on keyboard skills too.
As long as can sign his name and a big sloppy kiss in your birthday card, everything else would be better typed, not only for his concentration and effort, but also because it's easier to read.

*would

Perhaps I should focus on typing skils too

Oh Lord !!!

skills

I went to a talk with a Dcd adult who was in his twenties and hadn't picked up a pen since he left school. He was at uni doing a degree and had jobs.

Said it wasn't needed in his life, said when he wrote out a card - if no one could make out who it was from then they knew it was him!

Quite refreshing attitude really. I personally hardly write either ( shopping list that dh can read) I don't need to write either ( just as well - dyslexic here ;0)

Mine dcs both do vast majority typing.

And why not?

My DH points out that the only time he writes from one week to the next is to sign his name at the bottom of letters (and that is illegible). If he has a shopping list it is on his phone.

BUT - I heard the other day of someone very dyslexic/dyspraxic who is using dragon dictate. You can use it for all the laptop commands as well as for creating the letters etc

It requires some patience (and maybe support) to train it up, but may be worth a look.

I tried it. It was good, except one of the commands was 'wake up' which my dogs mistook for 'Walkies' and started barking. I suddenly had 'are are are'' in the middle of the letter....

This is something that has been worrying me a lot.

Dd3 has many issues around writing, hypermobile fingers, visual perception issues, difficulties getting ideas from her head onto the paper, cant copy etc etc!

The Ep assessed her written expression as on the 1st centile recently and equivalent to 2c/2b. But said she should be taught to write using cursive to help her kinesthetic memory (i think)

School said she could have a chromebook but it wasnt forthcoming. Post tribunal (which was adjourned) they have now offered the chromebook again.

So should I throw the towel in with the writing or persist abit longer?

Thank you for your replies. I think I am going to ask his tutor to drop the letter practice . He really is still doing lines of ggggg fffff etc to try and teach him how to write them . To be honest he's probably more a yr 1 writing level, and he gets frustrated when trying to write because it is horribly slow and awkward for him, more due to his hypermobility, low tone and dyspraxia than his learning disability. He can tell me all the box office takings for every film being shown but can't write more than a few words !

He went through special school and they worked very hard with him there on his writing but rather neglected the typing approach. Cursive is out of the question as he just doesn't have the spacial awareness to do it!

Ineedmorepatience... Chromebooks are fab.. I'm typing on one now, and it only cost £229 from Argos at Xmas, so if you could, or could use DLA it would be worth the outlay if they are slow at producing one!

How old is your DD3? If she is still young I;d kind of want to use both but if she is secondary age I'd want to concentrate on the laptop... we wish we had!

We are wondering about this at the moment.
DS2 is in Year 8, nearly 13. ASD/ADHD, problems with small motor control, hypotonia and dyspraxia.

Despite much intervention, there has been no improvement in his handwriting since Y4, and it wasn't great even then.
It is on the cusp between legible and illegible. He is academically highly able, so is writing 2000 word essays that no one can read.

He learned to touch type in primary school and types all his homework, but still handwrites classwork, exams and controlled assessments.

Hang on first, are you getting typing concessions, rest breaks and extra time for exams?

dd does, and also has a room to herself as the first set of exams that she touch typed were too much for her. Now she can swap positions whenever she needs to.

The school can get those exam concessions ONLY if they have been putting them into effect for previous exams, and anyway, wouldn't ds be happier having exam/test results that better deflected his ability than disability? He is entitled to that...

rant over, sorry

How do I approach the school to ask if he can type his exams and controlled assessments? He is on school action plus but doesn't have a statement.

Hi medusa thanks for replying, the chromebook will belong to the school and Dd3 will have to either collect it everyday or sign it out and bring it home I think that will involve an insurance cost which is fine!

I am inclined to agree about not pushing the writing anymore, she is 12 and in yr 7 and there has been no improvement since yr 2 or 3 in fact she has gone backwards because she could join a bit but now wont.

First we have already been told that Dd3 will be allowed to use a laptop for her exams. Hope you manage to something sorted out for your Ds. Ring or email the senco!

Thank you senvet and Ineedmorepatience

Email sent this morning:

Dear [head of learning support]

Since I last emailed you, [DS2] says that he has been having some support from [LSA] with his handwriting and presentation.
He says that when he writes very slowly, he can make his writing legible, but at classroom and exam pace, this isn't possible. His muscles have to work quite hard to grip the pen, and after the first paragraph his hand starts to tire. Despite the amount of practice he is getting, his writing stamina is not improving.

[DS2] did a History assessment on Monday which was handwritten, and he is worried that [scary History teacher] won't be able to read it. He has a lot of ideas, but struggles to get them down on paper in the time available, because of his difficulties with writing legibly and quickly. He learned to touch type at primary school, and is able to type as fast as he can write. On [DS2's] Y7 IEP it was recorded that he may need to type his work.

I would like to request that [DS2] types his assessments and exams in subjects where there is a large volume of writing: History, English, French (writing); anything where he has to write an essay or long answer. As he will be starting his GCSE courses in September of this year, I feel that this should start as soon as possible, so that it is established and familiar to him before the Y8 exams.

Kind regards

[TheFirstOfHerName]

TheFirstOfHerName can I just add ask the school for extra time for exams.

My youngest is in year 7. Her junior school applied for extra time (25%) when she did year 6 SATS. She also has handwriting difficulties and learning difficulties. She was on School Action Plus at juniors. I don't know if its still called that now. She is in all the SEN classes and does most of her homework on-line.

I believe school can apply for extra time for GCSE.

Hope you get some positive action to your e-mail

Yes fortified there is a procedure that needs to be followed for getting extra time in external exams first you should ask the school to make sure this is sorted out in plenty of time.

There was a poster on here last year whose sons school did not sort it out and it was a right pain!

Good luck

Sorry - but a list of extra things to think about asking for:-

1. rest breaks - rest breaks are unlimited for hypermobility in the exam regulations, so dc can rest as often and as long as needed - and extra time may make dc's hands just more sore for the next exam. Ask for extra time, but just rest breaks as well.

2. laptop to be used in classes as well as exams, would that help to get notes down? - if the process of writing is hard, then that will usually be distracting from what dc actually wants to write

3. have typing concessions for nearly all exams as well as the writing-orientated ones because longer questions in science can be done on laptop - it is just about swapping back and forth between the 'write in the space below' questions which he may prefer to write on the exam paper, and then over to the laptop for ones he would rather type. This we found Really really important as maths and 2 science papers in quick succession after a typed exam were still too much for my dd's hands. If he doesn't use it, no problem, it is better to have the option there

4. It has to be worth comparing his notes with those of mainstream (bog-standard) kids in his class in case the material he is trying to revise from is adversely affected by his note-taking abilities. If so, maybe ask them give you proper source material, either photocopied notes of a star student, or text books etc.

5. does he have trouble recording the details of homework? my dd kept getting told off for missing homework or answering it incorrectly. It turned out that she hadn't recorded it properly. We are now pressing school to send it electronically, which is going OK, although her friends are helping her out too.

6. my dd looked all set for exams once she had a touch typing concession, but when she did a series of papers, nearly all her joints swelled up including her KNEES! It turned out that the effort of sitting and typing was just too much. She usually sits on bed and can shift around all the time. Sometimes she lies down and has the laptop on the floor. So last exams she had a room to herself and could curl up or lie down, or sit on the chair, and hey presto! the results went up to what you would predict from the way she answers in class.

Really hope this helps, and so glad you found this board

Any chance you can afford an OT report?

DS2 is due for his regular appointment with the paediatrician in Feb, so I'm thinking about photocopying some of his classwork notes to demonstrate the severity of the problem. In the past, when both school and NHS are on board, that's when things seem to get done.

Two teachers are in the habit of sticking photocopied work from other students in DS2's exercise books, but I don't think that's helpful. He knows what the end result should look like; he just doesn't have the fine motor development to implement it.