Cursive & Neurodivergence

[Anonymous]

I think you are borrowing trouble. You have a 5 or very young 6 year old who, with help from you and no instruction from school, is mastering manuscript on time. It seems likely that in a school that offers structured handwriting instruction, and another 18 months of maturity (assuming they start in 2nd at the earliest), he will need a lot less help. Even if he doesn't do a great job with it, it will only impact his grades in 3rd when grades literally do not matter at all.

I am confused about how you think this is going to lead to "more fighting about homework" when he hasn't had homework yet, and won't have it at the private school either.

Note: if the school is starting earlier because they are Montessori, know that Montessori rarely works for kids with ASD and ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you are borrowing trouble. You have a 5 or very young 6 year old who, with help from you and no instruction from school, is mastering manuscript on time. It seems likely that in a school that offers structured handwriting instruction, and another 18 months of maturity (assuming they start in 2nd at the earliest), he will need a lot less help. Even if he doesn't do a great job with it, it will only impact his grades in 3rd when grades literally do not matter at all.

I am confused about how you think this is going to lead to "more fighting about homework" when he hasn't had homework yet, and won't have it at the private school either.

Note: if the school is starting earlier because they are Montessori, know that Montessori rarely works for kids with ASD and ADHD.

OP again. They start cursive in Kinder and continue through 3rd. He’s starting a year into the sequence so thankfully only two more to go. I’m just disappointed in the lack of effective handwriting instruction we’ve seen at his previous preschool and public Kinder. They teach the letters as 26x2 separate formations when in reality there are just a handful of categories the letters fall into (see Handwriting without Tears). DS catches on quickly to patterns and it finally made it click after making no progress at school. I can only hope private will include logical pattern-based instruction.

Same with sight words. They teach them as 100 separate sight words when in fact many are decodable and even the ones that aren’t fall into categories (would, could, should).

Lastly, for clarification when I say it’s hard to get him to do hw I’m referring to after school supplementation. He really thrives in a group setting and it’s a constant dance to keep him engaged at home. The schools never send anything.

[Anonymous]

You’ve now identified two areas where you don’t think the school is instructing properly - you are worried they don’t have a good method for teaching cursive (I think I got that from your previous post) and you gather that they are teaching decodable words as sight words. That means you have hesitations about the school’s ability to teach your kid! It isn’t just about whether cursive is part of the curriculum or not, right?

There are reasons for teaching some decodable words as sight words. If a word is decodable but the curriculum doesn’t teach the pattern (the vowel team or whatever) until later, but the word is highly used and useful…some programs will teach it as a sight word in the short term, and then revisit it when they get to the pattern. An example would be the word “do” - in K the school may not have taught open vowel sounds, so it isn’t decodable - yet. But it’s a simple, short, useful word to have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’ve now identified two areas where you don’t think the school is instructing properly - you are worried they don’t have a good method for teaching cursive (I think I got that from your previous post) and you gather that they are teaching decodable words as sight words. That means you have hesitations about the school’s ability to teach your kid! It isn’t just about whether cursive is part of the curriculum or not, right?

There are reasons for teaching some decodable words as sight words. If a word is decodable but the curriculum doesn’t teach the pattern (the vowel team or whatever) until later, but the word is highly used and useful…some programs will teach it as a sight word in the short term, and then revisit it when they get to the pattern. An example would be the word “do” - in K the school may not have taught open vowel sounds, so it isn’t decodable - yet. But it’s a simple, short, useful word to have.

Sorry I was referring to how his past school has fallen short. I don’t have any reason to suspect poor instruction at the new school I’m just jaded I guess and don’t want any additional obstacles like cursive. I like what PP said about learning how to strategically fail at low-yield activities. I’m going to hope for the best I guess. It can’t be worse than what we’ve seen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're considering switching our ND child (ADHD, Level 1 ASD) to private school. Our top choice does require cursive. We've done Handwriting without Tears to master manuscript and aside from a few troublesome letters we're doing well, but the idea of having to teach cursive too I think will lead to confusion, frustration, and more fighting about homework. Anyone BTDT? If you really like the school aside from this, would you just push through and hope for the best?

I think that if the school can't help you problem solve this relatively straightforward issue, then that's a sign it's not the right school.

Wait until your kid is accepted and bring this up. The conversation will tell you whether it's the right place overall.

This is a good response. Both of my kids grappled with penmanship - one is ASD/ADHD/Anxiety, the other ADHD or exec function. I’m not aware of a link but I’ve always had problems with penmanship (dysgraphia?) but no one thought of OT or penmanship classes back then. I don’t have any LD - I just grip the pen too hard. I took my kids to a penmanship tutor since the school was not helpful. Can’t say it helped. We all still have terrible penmanship.

OP again. Same here. I've accepted his handwriting will never be the best. DH, DC, and I are all left-handed with terrible handwriting but can type quickly and don't have any identified LDs. I just want him at a school that recognizes his other strengths and provides a smaller peaceful learning environment. Our public was a total fail. They didn't abide by the IEP, we fought them every step of the way with an expensive advocate, and the classroom environment was pure chaos. We can't go back.

Dont you dare judge You're left-hand handwriting unless you've practiced writing mirror from right-handed writing and you're judging that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The private schools require cursive, but only up to a certain grade then it’s optional. The rationale is it helps spelling and prevents letter reversal. Teaching manuscript was such a chore and he’s nearly got it and I can’t imagine starting over again with another script that will be abandoned soon enough. I’m relieved to hear it wasn’t too bad for your ND learners to pick up.

Is there any evidence for those claims?

If the kid his reversing letters in block letters, then writing in cursive isn't likely to help improve the block writing, which is still important.

No idea where the spelling idea comes from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’ve now identified two areas where you don’t think the school is instructing properly - you are worried they don’t have a good method for teaching cursive (I think I got that from your previous post) and you gather that they are teaching decodable words as sight words. That means you have hesitations about the school’s ability to teach your kid! It isn’t just about whether cursive is part of the curriculum or not, right?

There are reasons for teaching some decodable words as sight words. If a word is decodable but the curriculum doesn’t teach the pattern (the vowel team or whatever) until later, but the word is highly used and useful…some programs will teach it as a sight word in the short term, and then revisit it when they get to the pattern. An example would be the word “do” - in K the school may not have taught open vowel sounds, so it isn’t decodable - yet. But it’s a simple, short, useful word to have.

Sorry I was referring to how his past school has fallen short. I don’t have any reason to suspect poor instruction at the new school I’m just jaded I guess and don’t want any additional obstacles like cursive. I like what PP said about learning how to strategically fail at low-yield activities. I’m going to hope for the best I guess. It can’t be worse than what we’ve seen.

Ah, okay! Well then I’d echo previous posters - don’t borrow trouble, and don’t supplement at home if it makes everyone stressed and miserable. Do the therapies you must do, let school do its job, and remediate anything like dyslexia if it pops up. And enjoy your kid!