Ideas about what to request for Handwriting Accomodation/Help?

[sste]

DS is just loathing all the handwriting in first grade. I have a meeting set up with his school OT but my impression is that he made solid progress in OT *but* the other kids took off during the summer and his handwriting stayed the same. When I see the class wall of writing his looks visually very different.

He gets 20 minutes of OT. I may be able to get that increased but I don't know, that is the service that is hardest to get it seems.

Is there anything your child with handwriting issues found helpful as an accommodation, tip, trick etc for daily work in the classroom?

[hillview]

Handwriting without tears is a great program. Also get an assessment maybe from an outside OT with an eval and recommendation?

[sste]

Thanks Hill! His school and school OT use handwriting without tears I am pretty positive -- will doublecheck. We did an outside eval last year and DS was only very mildly delayed -- it all seems to be focused in the handwriting and also some gross motor but other fine motor skills are quite good??? However, DS seems FURTHER behind to my eye this year so maybe we need a second private eval to keep on tracking things. Thank you. First grade just seems rough, it basically takes all the parts of school (except math and read aloud) that DS dislikes and stretches them into almost the entire classroom day . . .

[egoldber]

Are you getting OT in school? It's very hard to get any OT at school, so that is good. I would consider outside OT. I will say that I am fairly cynical about OT, because it can be very much a "do you want fries with that" service. Our OT tried to upsell a lot of services that DD did not need.

Does he have a dysgraphia diagnosis?

[sste]

He gets 20 min per week of OT provided by the school. Getting an IEP for speech I think made it easier for us to get OT added to the IEP - - they did an eval and his actual physical skills with the pencil were a little delayed but the more pronounced thing was a visual perception copying letters and shapes issue. Neither the school nor the private eval last year gave a dysgraphia diagnosis, I think he is still a little young for one? Or at least last year at start of kindy?

We have zero insurance coverage for private OT so I am motivated to try everything possible in the school/at home first. Beth, like you I have seen some OT run wild. My friend's child has been going twice a week for three years with her now paying OOP and he is fully functional in the school setting, can write, but there is always something additional one *can* work on. We know lots of little boys and so many are in private OT starting in kindy that it does make one wonder! That being said, I am noticing DS has by far the worst handwriting in his class.

[o_mom]

Can you ask the OT what things the classroom teacher can do. Sometimes things like using differently lined paper, giving them a ruler or guide, etc are things the class teacher can do to reinforce what the OT is doing in between sessions.

[hillview]

agree with O mom. Also we have things in play like
slant board
pencil grip
the good paper like Omom said
reversal reminders 3705
http://www.wilsonlanguage.com/store/item.aspx?id=37f6ffb7-55da-e111-a2d2-0050568f001b
http://www.wilsonlanguage.com/store/item.aspx?id=7df6ffb7-55da-e111-a2d2-0050568f001b

[inmypjs]

It is too bad you can't do private OT, but hear you, it can be so expensive. In my experience, school based OT is rarely intense enough to make a difference. I would take what they are offering, but keep in your mind that 20 min/week of OT probably isn't going to do much. My son did 4 Handwriting Without Tears programs. It is a good program, but if your child has dysgraphia, practicing handwriting is rarely going to improve things to the point where your child can use handwriting the way the other kids do - automatically, and as a tool for other learning. He is still young, so I would keep trying. I am just preparing you that it may never be where it needs to be. The best accommodation at his age is going to be a scribe for written work, and talk with the teachers about the expectation of doing about 1/3 of the writing that the other kids do. Type spelling tests on the Ipad. I would also recommend Brightlines paper. In a few years, you will want to add things like typing with a word prediction program such as Cowriter, or speech to text software like Dragon. And no, based on my research, he is not too young for a dysgraphia diagnosis. Good luck.

[sste]

UPDATE: Thanks so much everyone!

My school -- which is not that well funded compared to its neighbors -- really came through for us and doubled his OT time before I could ask them. So he is now getting 50 minutes per week. :) :) DS is also going to do slightly less written work in the classroom -- OT said doing it once or twice with proper form and formation is his goal, not repetition and classroom teacher has been supportive of that. I volunteered to work on a letter a week to reinforce though I swear to you all working with him is like rousing a juvenile grizzly in January, hopefully I survive.

The OT, who is very good as best I can tell, told me that she thinks he can make progress to the level where it is not an impediment or daily frustration with continued therapy/increased minutes but he is never going to be a great handwriter. I will take that! She said he has continued visual perception and motor issues and also he is trying to write out huge words that he can't physically manage to write and can't spell so it looks like an even hotter mess. She said not to discourage that though.

Overall, SLP, OT, and classroom teacher have been great, coming up with new plans and they scheduled two joint meetings to address raising DS's enthusiasm for school back to its normal high level. He in particular has a great relationship with OT and SLP, they are quite fond of him and have really come through to support him. We are very lucky with this school so far, hopefully the classroom teacher will be similarly helpful when we meet this week.

For anyone else in this boat, OT said she has been having good success using little post-it notes to help DS with spacing (major issue) and she uses a highlighter to mark off the writing area in the midlines paper (I think this must be budget brightlines Hill!).

Hillview, is the letter reversal a Wilson material? That looked handy . . .