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Post by Annette on Nov 15, 2003 18:01:59 GMT -5
My daughter's writing is horrible.Who within the school system does the testing for this?
What can I do to help her? She's 8 years old. She still has problems with tracing the dotted lines.Her eye sight is fine.
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Post by eaccae on Nov 15, 2003 19:52:59 GMT -5
Request in writing to the school that you would like your daughter tested for dysgraphia and other writing LDs. The occupational therapist and/or the special ed teacher should administer the tests. Usually some visual/spacial perception tests, motor skills tests, written language tests . . . Also - have you taken your daughter to a pediatric eye doctor? The school might ask you to do this to check tracking which they usually don't do at the pediatrician's offce or school - just to rule it out. The school may have her start typing her content work - which is the best thing for children with writing LDs. But if they do have that - still fight for OT in handwriting because it won't get better without remediation. But at the same time - the pressure from trying to write for content with handwriting LDs can cause great frustration and become a roadblock. So you would need to do this in an OT setting without pressure. Here are two sites on dysgraphia (DS has this so this is really the only one I am familiar with): When Writing's a Problem
A description of dysgraphiaand Dysgraphia
Learning Disabilities in WritingAlso - you may want to get her a typing program at home anyway - just to have her start practicing now. We went through 4 programs before we found one that DS liked. I guess they use this at his school too - but the one that he really likes is Type to Learn 3 Home Version which can be downloaded from their website at sunburst.comType to Learn 3 Home Version |
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Post by Linda on Nov 15, 2003 19:55:53 GMT -5
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Post by Annette on Nov 15, 2003 20:19:15 GMT -5
She's been tested. They did the IQ test. Wouldn't the hand writing have been in that? They showed no learning disabilities.Her written expression is 11 points to high to quilify.
She does get special ed every day.I know she has problems getting her thoughts to the paper,but her special ed teacher and I work with her on this.
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Post by eaccae on Nov 15, 2003 23:05:56 GMT -5
Annette
Testing for writing disabilities are specific and are usually not part of the full eval. The IQ test is different and doesn't test for this. We had to ask for it specifically in writing as a battery of separate tests. The written expression test alone isn't enough to identify something like dysgraphia. Even the copying part of the IQ test isn't enough. DS scored extremely high on this subtest - but they were looking at different things on this test and were picture based, etc. I would check out the dysgraphia websites and see if it looks familiar to you at all. (To give you my own experience - DS scored VERY high on the two IQ tests they gave him - all of his subtests - everything was VERY high - not one subtest even on the average rating - but . . . writing LD - dysgraphia. This obviously didn't come out in the IQ tests and this is a problem for him that we are trying to work on in the IEP.)
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Post by mom2tj on Nov 17, 2003 10:13:38 GMT -5
Ask of an OT to evalutate her.... DS has the same problem is going to be followed starting in Jan she evaluated him and thinks he will benefit from therapy the problem with ds is that he has such a hard time writing and has to work so hard at it that he forgets what he is suppose to write  he also writes miror image but we've ruled out dyslexia a long time ago! |
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Post by sierra on Nov 17, 2003 12:10:31 GMT -5
Sounds like both my sprouts.
I have to look over L'il Sprout's graded papers real carefully because a lot of times he gets marked off when he answered something correctly. But it was illegible.
If the teacher has students peer grade each other's work this can be a big problem. Another kid won't make the effort to decypher the handwriting.
His handwriting affects all subjects including math.
Testing by an OT is a great idea. Hope you get some answers.
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Post by Annette on Nov 20, 2003 8:04:31 GMT -5
I brought a progran at a teacher's supply store.You can print out what you want to in the dotted lines,that they can trace.I talked to her doctor about her problems.He wants her to practice with this program for two weeks,At the end of the two weeks,I have to bring all the papers to him,to see if there is any impovment.If ther is no improvment he will send her to an occupational therapist .
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Post by finnmom on Nov 20, 2003 12:54:08 GMT -5
Hi
My son, now 8y, was terrible drawer as younger, he just DID NOT draw any pictures. I didn´t thought so much of it, until we go the dx for him. he also has a terrible handwriting, although it has improfed a lot during first year at school. he has OT, mainly for SI-issues, but that help´s also with fine-motoric skill´s. Hopely it´ll help your dd too.
Good luck for you!!
Marja
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Post by tridlette on Nov 22, 2003 10:34:46 GMT -5
I just got HANDWRITING WITHOUT TEARS (HWT) yesterday, fell asleep at 2 this morning reading the teachers guide. It makes a lot of sense, and I have high hopes that it will work.
They have printing and cursive. The most important thing I didn't know, the vast majority of TEACHERS NEVER WERE TAUGHT HOW TO TEACH HANDWRITING!
Having 2 boys that don't have ADHD that are my two with writing problems makes me wonder if it is THIS district, because the ADHD boy went to parochial school for 2 1/2 yrs and he can write!
The best thing about the HWT program is the workbooks only cost $5.95 (US) and the strongly expressed rule by the guy at the company when I called and the booklets themselve... ONLY 5 MINUTES a day, absolutely no more time or the kids get frustrated and the program won't work as well!
I will let you know what I think when the boys have been at it for a while. Patrick is 11, 6th grade and he will be working on printing since he is homeschooled (I gave him his choice which he would rather use) and Shaun is 9, 4th grade and will be working on cursive, since his public school demands cursive on everything (I think they would make math be done in cursive if they could find a way!)
Laurie
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Post by sierra on Nov 24, 2003 12:02:48 GMT -5
Odd thought just popped into my head.
We had to use those old cartridge fountain pens for penmanship when I was a sprout. Bean Sprout's 4th grade teacher begged the parents to get the modern day version of these pens for her students to practice writing. The new ones don't blotch the way the cartridge versions did. Bean Sprout learned to write with one. Just this year he asked if he could get another one because he enjoyed writing with his old one so much.
With the fountain pen the angle has to be just right and you have to make little adjustments of the angle by rolling the pen between your fingers as you form the letters. And there's more friction with the paper. Maybe this feedback helps?
Li'l Sprout didn't have the same teacher and didn't learn cursive the same way. Maybe it would have helped.
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Post by rosyred45 on Nov 25, 2003 10:02:49 GMT -5
I know that my sons fine motor skills are terrible. Besides practicing(which after a lot of "are you done yets") Mikey's teacher recommended for him to get one of those stress balls to knead. Play dough or any other clay type fine tuning aid would help as well. Mikey's never been big on drawing or coloring, he would rather take all of his toys apart to see how they work, and he does get to the minut things, but his overall personality feels that he is wasting his time, in a sense.  Hope this helped Kaiti |
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Post by LitlBaa on Nov 26, 2003 1:43:59 GMT -5
I'm going to look for some of those pens. Katie still can't write cursive so we can read it. Last year her teacher didn't accept work that was printed so she had to make an effort. This year she doesn't. I'm willing to try anything to get her to write legibly.
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Post by mom2tj on Nov 26, 2003 9:47:54 GMT -5
I think a fountain pen is a great idea I'm definetly going to try it... thank you....
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