Touch-typing and dyspraxia

[BigGlassOfWine]

Hi, I have a 9 year old DS with dyspraxia, reaching the end of Y4, who is still struggling very hard with hand-writing. It is difficult to decipher what he writes, let alone tell if his spelling is correct, and he also has difficulty reading it back. He is very reluctant to write anything, "running out of puff" - he used to at least try to write stories, but is losing interest. (example, spelling practice, once he would have had ideas for a paragraph on "knight", not limiting himself to just "the knight sat on the horse", but now he would definitely go minimal, i.e. putting all 10 spelling words into one nonsensical sentence).
I want to introduce him to touch-typing, to give him another way of getting his thoughts onto paper/screen, but school is not keen, they say it is too early. Any views, oh wise Mumsnetters?

DD2 is younger (she's only 5) but getting anything written onto paper is becoming a bloody nightmare already so I'm starting to pick through this minefield and do some preliminary groundwork myself. Very intelligent kid, exceeding expectations in terms of reading and phonic ability etc... last piece of written work was, apparently, a complete disaster and went upside down, around the edge of the paper and off onto the table at one point! Now while part of me would love to see what the SATs marking system would make of a table being submitted along with the returned scripts - that's not realistically going to happen in the future!

I'm already starting to get her at least familiar with using a PC - this generation are really the ones who've grown up with touch screens having taken over completely - so I've started with basic ideas like using a PC mouse, and just the odd sentence on a keyboard to get her used to it slightly (she emails an-in-on-the-plan grandmother every day or so) with support... the difference in what she can record just typing versus with a pencil already is bloody frightening (with the only support being helping her find the next letter on the keyboard).

I figure at least if I'm chipping away at that now it'll be a more viable option in years to come and then I can steer her towards trying to work on things like more "proper" typing skills as she gets older (even if she ends up like me who can type very well but not using the "proper" fingers for the letters she'll do well with that). I've actually sent work into school so they have on file what she can produce when a bloody pencil is out of the equation - just so they've got an accurate level of where she's actually at academically more than anything else - and school have included it in her writing book along with her handwritten work so they do take it seriously... but of course they need to make sure they can all handwrite proficiently enough to be able to function as adults if they're filling in forms or whatever - so it's balancing that out and I do see both sides of the argument. What we're currently doing is helping her let her record the sentence she's trying to write - so she can play it back as much as she needs to in order to reduce the mess of her having to keep the whole of what she's planning in her head while trying to work out how to record it as well and the letters disappearing off on a grand safari across the classroom table in the process!

I'll be really fecked off if we're still in that situation by Y4 to be honest and by that point I'd be gently mentioning you want him to be used to it and to be usual classroom practice so that he is going to be able to achieve the best he can in SATs... that might provide some miraculous leverage to get sense with them for some peculiar reason! It is as irritating as fuck to endure listening to - but even my Year 1 older child is bloody addicted to Dance Mat Typing at the moment (it's what she's choosing to do when she gets her hands on the family laptop so at least it's productive). Yeah personally though by that point (I used to teach Y4 and they do have a fairly hefty writing load by that point) I'd be starting to be pushy about them finding some form of him being able to record without the constant handwriting pressure though.

Might be of interest, even if it's just getting him re-engaged with trying to write stuff if you let him muck around with voice typing at home informally? Only found out recently it's available in Windows 10 for free (www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-set-up-speech-to-text-in-windows-10/) although obviously not as amazing as things like the Dragon software... could just get him a bit more engaged back into writing that way?

I'll admit I was the queen of dodging unnecessary writing at school myself - it just bloody hurt the crap out of my hand holding the pen for any length of time and my brain gets halfway through letters and blanks out which way I need to go next to finish the letter. I now think I'm probably a missed dyspraxic (other stuff makes me think this too - but the "stuck pen" thing was always something I knew was as odd as hell but never knew why) so I'd cut everything down as much as I possibly could... I did OK in school in the end but the second I could I started typing everything remotely possible and still do these days.

Can also quote this document from dyspraxia foundation dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/handwriting_and_dyspraxia.pdf which references about age 8/9 as a good point to introduce word processing. (Found it randomly today and thought of the OP)

My son likely has dyspraxia, (awaiting paed to confirm what physio/OT/ed psych have already said). He is in yr 3
He has had some lessons in touch typing by the teaching assistant as part of his IEP. He's really enjoying it and is learning lots. I think it will definitely help in the long term. Although his arms still get tired easily.
They are also using iPad to record him so they have a visual record of his learning as a lot of the time he can't always produce written work for them.
I would speak to your senco at the school and talk to them about other methods other than writing to record his work whether using computer or iPad type thing
Good luck

Just come across this app - won't work for us since my tablet's an odd one that doesn't have a camera rear facing but it looked interesting to try out if it does work?

www.snaptypeapp.com/#features (seems to be iPad and Android - free limited as hell version and paid)

There is a specialist touch typing programme for dyslexic children, it's called TTRS. DS is severely dyslexic and at a dyslexia specialist school - they all use this programme from Y2 - it's quite strange his school said it was too early. DS started a year ago when he was in Y3 and I'm really impressed with the progress he's making - it's not a fun programme with dancing bananas or anything, but they have stats which is a big motivation for us. DS gets a real boost from typing words without the same processing difficulties that would usually hold him back when writing. It's definitely the future for him.

His teachers often scribe stories for the kids in class, so he gets to enjoy producing his own story without having to write it. I sometimes sit next to him when he's in the bath and he tells me what to put.

Audio books can keep them engaged with stories.

If the problems with his writing is his grip of the pencil (it is with DS) I would recommend a handythings - it's like a hairband with loops for the pencil, really good.

Good luck

Our DS also has dyspraxia and has 2 x 20 mins per week touch typing (school applied for extra funds for a TA who has had a couple of training sessions). His writing is unreadable and letter formation goes wonky half the time and this is despite practice. Typing will be a godsend. We haven't done much at home, been working more on reading and maths but I think we will in Y4 try to get more to grips with it at home too. Like the ideas for other kinds of recording like ipads. All reasonable adjustments I'd say. Being dyspraxic - especially at school - is really hard work!

Children with Dyspraxia or fine motor difficulties absolutely need another way of recording their work. Typing, using a Scribe or Voice to text are the 3 methods I have come across. (There’s a free voice program as part of Google docs). I chose typing for my DS aged 11 as I thought it was the most useful for him long term and although he can’t touch type yet it’s a million times better than him spending his energy on trying to write (illegibly). He is also entitled to extra time in exams x