What can I do for DS? what will school do?

[Pattertwig]

DS has DCD (Dyspraxia, in old money)... he's had 6 weeks therapy for his gross motor skills which did improve and a couple of months later he's just had 6 weeks for fine motor / pre writing skills (to aid his illegible handwriting, control and speed mostly). He is on an SA+ IEP with the goal to finish 50% work a week at school... he is not meeting this IMO - certainly not to a good enough standard to be read / clear / presentable.

These sessions have just finished and as yet, there is no major change in DS's school work... a major battle is also distraction and effort; but his hands ache after too much writing

I don't know what to do now; he's having a review in a couple months but from now until then... what happens?

What will happen as his handwriting doesn't improve fast enough (he can take up to an hour to write a legible sentence excusing all grammar mistakes including no size differentiation in his letters; his classmates are writing pages worth by now)

He's in Year 2 - he'll obviously go into juniors in September but what if he still can't write well enough to cope with the workload? (he's not coping now, tbh)

would he be better off using a computer/word processor? or if he had a 1-1 as a scribe if using a computer wasn't feasible...

My 9yr-old has similar issues with his motor skills and ability to write.

Short-term (ie until the review at least) it would help if your ds was able to record his work in a different way:

In Yr2 my ds' books would have up to a sentence of barely legible handwriting and then underneath in pen the teacher or TA would add notes of their own to supplement it. This would be either a summary of what else ds had intended to write or sometimes it would be word-for word.

Another possibility for your ds would be a voice-recorder for him to speak into and dictate his own work. Again it's a short-term option but would also be helpful in reducing his frustration at not getting his ideas down and would help him to get further.

Long-term I would look into learning how to touch-type. It will take a while to get to a decent speed but even a short practice session each day would be helpful. There are some free ones on the internet like BBC Dancemat. You could probably also buy or borrow other courses. If you're interested in the touch-typing idea it would be better to start practising now rather than wait for the review.

Carrying on with the fine motor exercises would also help. As well as things like threading, playdough etc the OT also suggests learning how to play the keyboard or piano if at all possible.

Has anyone ever tried writing without tears just heard another mum mention it on another site (USA)?

Voice recording or scribing work to you so that he can actually get work onto paper.

Word processing, including learning to touchtype.

Get him to paint big sweeping pictures.

If you live in London and can get a statement, beg borrow or steal a place at Fairley House School.