ISO dysgraphia writing tutor recs

[Anonymous]

For a middle schooler. We're in DC, but can cross the MD border if needed.

I'm intrigued by the Writing Revolution / Hochman Method, but open to any recs for individuals or companies with a clear track record with kids who are dyslexic and dysgraphic.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

We used sensational kids when our son was younger. I still might try them. We stayed until our son was keyboard age. Now that he's in upper school, we are having issues as schools want kids to handwrite everything (I guess to prevent cheating and use of AI). This has posed a HUGE challenge for our son, and I wish that we had never let him use a keyboard...His writing when he was in 5th/6th grade wasn't great but was legible, now it is not.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Also interested in recs, thanks for starting this thread!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We used sensational kids when our son was younger. I still might try them. We stayed until our son was keyboard age. Now that he's in upper school, we are having issues as schools want kids to handwrite everything (I guess to prevent cheating and use of AI). This has posed a HUGE challenge for our son, and I wish that we had never let him use a keyboard...His writing when he was in 5th/6th grade wasn't great but was legible, now it is not.

Good luck!

NP did your DC ever have typing or talk to text in a 504? We have an 8th grader who just got this (new dx) BUT I worry that they might try and take him t away next yr. I also have a hs student and see how intense the handwriting has become.

[Anonymous]

Following

[Anonymous]

Boosting this thread as in need of recs too!

[Anonymous]

Following!

[Anonymous]

We recently moved here from Chicago, where my now 11 y/o did in person writing classes at Redwood Literacy. He now does virtual writing tutoring, and I've been pretty impressed. Their program is based on the Writing Revolution. https://www.redwoodliteracy.com/academy-online

[Anonymous]

My kid with dyslexia and dysgraphia is a first year college student, and he’s been surprised by having to go back to handwriting. He has classes where every assignment, every test, must be handwritten. I don’t know if accommodations would get him out of that - he has refused to go to the disability office. I say this just to encourage everyone to keep on with the handwriting and overall skill of writing by hand. They may need it in high school and college.

[Anonymous]

I think you need to define what you mean by “dysgraphia” because people throw it around casually. Sometimes they mean poor fine motor skills and physical difficulty writing. Other times they mean more like a language disorder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid with dyslexia and dysgraphia is a first year college student, and he’s been surprised by having to go back to handwriting. He has classes where every assignment, every test, must be handwritten. I don’t know if accommodations would get him out of that - he has refused to go to the disability office. I say this just to encourage everyone to keep on with the handwriting and overall skill of writing by hand. They may need it in high school and college.

I think this has to do with trying to stop cheating.

In any event, having poor handwriting is different from a language based disorder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid with dyslexia and dysgraphia is a first year college student, and he’s been surprised by having to go back to handwriting. He has classes where every assignment, every test, must be handwritten. I don’t know if accommodations would get him out of that - he has refused to go to the disability office. I say this just to encourage everyone to keep on with the handwriting and overall skill of writing by hand. They may need it in high school and college.

I think this has to do with trying to stop cheating.

In any event, having poor handwriting is different from a language based disorder.

Poor handwriting can be a component of a disability -- it could be a fine motor problem, or it could be one result of a a language processing disorder that makes it difficulty to accurately correlate sound/symbol connections, or it could be a contributor to broader problems with the production of writing in terms of idea organization or attending to conventions of writing (because a student finds it so difficult to write legibly that it takes so much cognitive energy just to physically write that there is not much cognitive space leftover for the generation and organization of ideas.

Handwriting or keyboarding is not an either/or proposition. Our IEP team kept trying to push a keyboarding accommodation in lieu of special instruction in handwriting, which they did not want to have to do. I kept insisting on both, saying that my kid needed the accommodation but that I also wanted him to be able to write a grocery list or a postal address or a put a note in a bottle if he was ever stranded on a desert island.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid with dyslexia and dysgraphia is a first year college student, and he’s been surprised by having to go back to handwriting. He has classes where every assignment, every test, must be handwritten. I don’t know if accommodations would get him out of that - he has refused to go to the disability office. I say this just to encourage everyone to keep on with the handwriting and overall skill of writing by hand. They may need it in high school and college.

I think this has to do with trying to stop cheating.

In any event, having poor handwriting is different from a language based disorder.

Poor handwriting can be a component of a disability -- it could be a fine motor problem, or it could be one result of a a language processing disorder that makes it difficulty to accurately correlate sound/symbol connections, or it could be a contributor to broader problems with the production of writing in terms of idea organization or attending to conventions of writing (because a student finds it so difficult to write legibly that it takes so much cognitive energy just to physically write that there is not much cognitive space leftover for the generation and organization of ideas.

Handwriting or keyboarding is not an either/or proposition. Our IEP team kept trying to push a keyboarding accommodation in lieu of special instruction in handwriting, which they did not want to have to do. I kept insisting on both, saying that my kid needed the accommodation but that I also wanted him to be able to write a grocery list or a postal address or a put a note in a bottle if he was ever stranded on a desert island.

Ok. But poor handwriting is totally distinct from a language disorder.

[Anonymous]

Will their handwriting needs to be improved have you sought out an accommodation for an iPad or laptop? We did this and because they could type everything (doesn’t have to be connected to the internet) school work vastly improved.

[Anonymous]

DP here- not sure what district you are in but a keyboarding accommodation for an ES kid in MCPS cost thousands of dollars in legal fees and many meetings. I hope other districts/schools are more supportive