OP, another important question for the classroom teacher: is this purely a mechanics issue or does your son have trouble organizing his thoughts to get them down on paper? Our DC, like the PP's DD, has actual dysgraphia, which goes beyond motor skills. So there is a lot of anxiety about writing and it really began to affect self concept.

Good luck! And to the PP, thanks for sharing all the great resources!

Oh and one more thing OP. I am not saying he shouldn't fix the fine motor issue but my guess in just another year or two, every kid will be using an iPad or tablet and handwriting for long papers on paper will be almost a memory. So if this is really his only downfall academically, he will be okay.

Anonymous wrote:Little private school. 12 kids in class. Compared to everyone else, his writing and artwork are probably the least accomplished. He always meets standards in school and I always see progress from quarter to quarter, year to year.

He was evaluated by an OT at age 4 and within the range of normal although they said he works really hard to be stay in that range. And didn't advise therapy. I don't need him to be the best, but I don't want him to struggle. At some point does physical difficulty writing end up hindering the learning process? If he's only getting one page of a story down while his peers can write two, is this detrimental? I'm just wondering if I need to do something. Another evaluation, or something else? He complains sometimes his hand gets tired. But he's doing the work. I don't want to be the parent who pushes too hard but I also don't want to be the parent who neglects to help when help is warranted. Anyone else face something similar?

I can tell you this. If there is even a 1% chance an OT thinks a kid needs OT, they are all over that. It is their bread and butter. If an OT said no therapy at the time, I would trust that. It is not to say he does not need it right now though. My daughter is 5 and we went back and forth with 2 OT's who thought two different things. In the end, her fine motor skills were okay. It was her core and upper body strength that was the problem. She also has mild SPD (Sensory processing disorder) So we are working on gross muscles in the upper body, core exercises, along with some fine motor and hand strengthening.

Some suggestions to determine if he is weak in upper body/core (and exercises to help if he does have an issue)

Can he sit still for periods of time or shifts around like he looks uncomfortable
Can he do monkey bars
Can he do a push up
Can he stand on one leg for 15 seconds
Does he reposition on the coach all the time while watching tv - sometimes lying, sitting sideways etc... just never sits up
Does he have trouble sitting still at a movie theater
Can you put paper underneath a kids table and see if he can color on his back for at least a few minutes, without difficulty.
Can we hand walk across a room while you hold his legs (think wheelbarrow race)
Get window markers and see if he can color up real high on sliding glass door or window

If he is struggling, upper body/core could be the problem. Start gymnastics, agility, tennis, basketball. Think upper body strength sports/exercises.
Here is a link that has exercise too
http://www.ot-mom-learning-activities.com/shoulder-exercises-for-kids.html

and this toy is also great for upper body:
http://www.amazon.com/Sliding-Family-Slider-Assorted-Colors/dp/B005DS7ICC/ref=pd_sim_t_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=129D1DZABGTD48SWN5BS

this is great for core
http://www.amazon.com/ALEX®-Toys-Active-Monkey-Balance/dp/B000N40SDC/ref=pd_sim_t_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=0XZJCR9YY7J5WBC3BQQE


Now for hand muscles/fine motor

Can he tie his shoes, zipper, snap, button without difficulty
Can you weave pieces of paper in and out (like a basket)
Can he color within the lines without difficulty/stress
Can he pick up pieces of rice/pony beads with tweezers and place them in a cup.
Can he trace letters without his hand shaking
Can he string pony beads onto a pipe cleaner or yarn without a problem
Can he squeeze a chip-clip open and closed 50 times
Does he avoid play-doh, art, legos, sidewalk chalk
Can he cut in straight and curved lines on the dot or is too hard, takes too long.

All these note some fine motor issues.
If so practice the above type items, plus get perler bead sets like this http://www.amazon.com/Perler-Beads-Dragons-Knights-Fused/dp/B00B1BSF2M/ref=sr_1_3?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1411188593&sr=1-3&keywords=perler+boy and do lots of other strengthening that doesn't seem to be work. Get Gak, moon sand, play doh, modeling clay, squeeze balls, lacing patterns, etc. A great game my kids love is wok n roll http://www.amazon.com/Perler-Beads-Dragons-Knights-Fused/dp/B00B1BSF2M/ref=sr_1_3?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1411188593&sr=1-3&keywords=perler+boy

Also, make sure his vision is REALLY checked. By a professional. And you can always get your primary to send you to a development-behavioral pediatrician to be sure. I would go there before an OT again.

Good luck!

Hi,

I'm the PP whose daughter has dysgraphia. For those looking for math help:

The math app that has been most helpful for us has been Panther Math. (Maybe that's the company and the product is called Math Paper.) You can view a demo video here:
http://panthertechnology.com/#video/2/

Shortly after she started using PantherMath, the handwriting OT we'd used discovered http://www.modmath.com/ -- it looks very similar to PantherMath, so if I were exploring things now I might try this free one first before buying the $20 PantherMath.

The handwriting OT also suggested MathPad Plus as one we could try, but it was $100 and DD said she preferred the looks of PantherMath anyway. (DD also pointed out that while MathPad Plus has a calculator function that can be turned off, PantherMath seemed better to her b/c it didn't have a calculator at all--so no concerns about future teachers saying she couldn't use it during a test.)


***

Re the question about "which school?"--I hope it's OK that I wandered back onto the private school forum--she is actually much happier now in the Inspired Teaching public charter school. I definitely don't want to incite public vs. private wars--there are great experiences to be had at both--but so far (3 weeks in) this has been a better fit for us.


Strength & good wishes to us all!

Teach him cursive. My kids all learned it and used it at school in grade 2 and with each, writing speed took off dramatically

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was he actually taught handwriting?

If not, order a Handwriting without Tears book and start going it through it at home a few minutes a day.

Makes a big difference.

Most private schools in this area use HWT, don't they?

DS1 did HWT three times: once at school; at home with us, and once with a paid private OT. He can copy it in the book, slowly, but in the real world, his work is nearly illegible. Thank the tech gods for the advent of the computer and especially the goddesses who invented Dragon Dictation and its Mac sibling.

Also what technologies help. ?

Anonymous wrote:My daughter has dysgraphia--and I agree that technology has made a world of difference. It was an easier switch in language arts (where her output soon doubled/tripled that of her classmates, with tons of creative expression) but important in math too, to find an app that would eliminate the struggles of making her numbers small enough/line up well enough. Her original school seemed to have a very hard time believing that she knew a lot more than she was revealing due to handwriting struggles; so far (3 weeks in), a new school this year for 4th grade seems like a much better fit.

All good wishes & kudos for believing in your kid!

Would you mind sharing school name ? Some similar issues.

My daughter has dysgraphia--and I agree that technology has made a world of difference. It was an easier switch in language arts (where her output soon doubled/tripled that of her classmates, with tons of creative expression) but important in math too, to find an app that would eliminate the struggles of making her numbers small enough/line up well enough. Her original school seemed to have a very hard time believing that she knew a lot more than she was revealing due to handwriting struggles; so far (3 weeks in), a new school this year for 4th grade seems like a much better fit.

All good wishes & kudos for believing in your kid!

Mom of a HSer here. Yes, over time, it does make a difference. What we ended up doing was teaching my son to keyboard. By 9th grade, he was not writing anything anymore in school. Everything is done on computers. Before he moved to keyboarding, his grades continiually dropped because eventually the stress of trying to keep up and finish in time caused him to become even slower. Others have made good suggestions. I would just add that if you can teach him to keyboard at a young age, you will be doing him a favor.

Anonymous wrote:Little private school. 12 kids in class. Compared to everyone else, his writing and artwork are probably the least accomplished. He always meets standards in school and I always see progress from quarter to quarter, year to year.

He was evaluated by an OT at age 4 and within the range of normal although they said he works really hard to be stay in that range. And didn't advise therapy. I don't need him to be the best, but I don't want him to struggle. At some point does physical difficulty writing end up hindering the learning process? If he's only getting one page of a story down while his peers can write two, is this detrimental? I'm just wondering if I need to do something. Another evaluation, or something else? He complains sometimes his hand gets tired. But he's doing the work. I don't want to be the parent who pushes too hard but I also don't want to be the parent who neglects to help when help is warranted. Anyone else face something similar?

Please stop comparing your child with other children! All children develop at a different pace! If your gut is telling you to get him help, it can't hurt to get a bit of OT. My child may or may not have needed it but had terrible handwriting. After 1.5 months of sessions - handwriting is great and back on track and no need for any more sessions.

I had a similar experience when DS was younger (now a 9th grader) and realized around 4th grade that we needed to separate the poor writing abilities from the thinking work. By all means keep working on the HW but on the meantime try allowing him to dictate his work into an iPad and then edit his translated work. We used dragon dictation which is a free ap. Dictating his written work will allow him to progress in his thinking and analyzing skills which can be easily held back by the writing. My son has an "encoding" issue. He reads and decodes well but struggles encoding his thoughts into writing. When he dictates, he sounds like a genius, relatively speaking.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the feedback. The school does have a learning specialist and I think it probably is best to start with the teacher./school. Then get evaluations if they are concerned.

He's doing extremely well in math. His reading is on a 3rd grade level, so while he's in the lowest performing group here, too, I don't care because he's above grade level and I don't expect an Einstein. His reading comprehension and analysis is really good too.

We have done Handwriting Without Tears off and on over the past two years, including this past summer. His printing is actually much improved (legible, not great). It just takes a long time for him to write and makes him slower than most on a assignments.

*are

I'm just surprised OP's second grader is writing a page, and other kids are writing two! My son is a second grader at a small independent school, also at the bottom of the class in in writing due to a learning issue. He hates to write, it tires him out, and its painful to try to read his spelling. But he is creative, funny, a good friend, and endlessly curious. So it all evens out.

OP here. Thanks for all the feedback. The school does have a learning specialist and I think it probably is best to start with the teacher./school. Then get evaluations if they are concerned.

He's doing extremely well in math. His reading is on a 3rd grade level, so while he's in the lowest performing group here, too, I don't care because he's above grade level and I don't expect an Einstein. His reading comprehension and analysis is really good too.

We have done Handwriting Without Tears off and on over the past two years, including this past summer. His printing is actually much improved (legible, not great). It just takes a long time for him to write and makes him slower than most on a assignments.